parados wrote:oralloy wrote:parados wrote:The use of machine guns is not banned completely either then. It is illegal to use them in certain circumstances.
I'd say not banned at all (within the context of military use).
Saying that you can't misuse something is not a ban on it. A ban would prevent you from having it in the first place.
Simple grammar Oralley. Read my sentence. I never said an item was banned. I said the use of an item is banned under certain circumstances.
Banned refers to the noun use.
I don't see how "the use of machineguns" could reasonably be called banned either, simply because of a prohibition against intentionally targeting civilians.
parados wrote:A smoking ban doesn't mean cigerettes are banned. It means the use of cigerettes is banned.
The term "ban on use of cigarettes" would imply that there was a widespread prohibition against using them.
There is no widespread prohibition against a military using either napalm or machineguns.
Now, if you were to say there is a ban on intentionally targeting civilians,
that would be accurate.