Geiger Counter Ban?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Earlier this year I read that New York City was going to ban privately owned Geiger Counters and other environmental detectors without a license. I also read that it was being pushed by the Department of Homeland Security as a model for the rest of the country. However, I have not heard anything more about this since then. I am curious as to where it went right now because I just purchased a Geiger Counter (CDV-700 6B) and a Survey Meter (CDV-715) off Ebay for a combined total of less than $100 with shipping. Both were US Government surplus from the old Civil Defense fallout shelters and bought as a curiosity. I have always wanted one, and find it disturbing that the government is afraid of me having information that could save my life in an emergency. If I take it out to play with it will I get arrested? I kind of wanted to check out a local toxic waste site's perimeter to see if it read higher than normal background radiation, but now... I dunno if I should.

I also have to love the fact that the government wants to limit raw information from getting to the people. It seems to me that it is all about control in the end. That's why The Democrats wish to limit free speech on talk radio, and why things like this get banned. The Soviet Union was very good at controlling information and look where it got the people living near Chernobyl, or the ones who were brought in to clean up that mess. Pretty much all of the "Liquidators" died within a few months of working on the cleanup, and thousands-if not hundreds of thousands- of civilians were killed too because the government didn't want panic.

 

[yourownself]

i never heard of this ban, and it seems a little extreme, but i do agree that american citizens shouldn't be privy to every detail of national security.

for example, lets say, hypothetically, there's an explosion in a subway tunnel. nothing major, no injuries, possible that it's terrorist activity, but also possible that it was an equipment failure.

as a national security official, what do you do: release all details, and risk a massive panic, and the immediate boycott of mass transit, causing thousands to drive to work, congesting the city with traffic, essentially shutting down the city for as long as the panic takes to subside,
or: cover the incident up. protect the citizens from a fact that could possibly disable a city for any amount of time.

i understand that it sucks to feel left out. believe me, i know, i was a fat kid, and was always picked last at football, and first at dodgeball, but when it comes to the awful truth, i would rather not know!

there's a great reason why they say ignorance is bliss. i know you won't all agree with me, but i hope you can at least understand where i'm coming from!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I'd rather know if I am in danger or not when it comes to this sort of thing. I do not see myself as a member of society's herd, but rather as an individual who is capable of making my own decisions and calculations based upon empirical data. I want the ability to get that data for myself rather than have to wait for an official to decide it is time for me to have it. Plus, in the worst case scenario of a nuclear attack, radio and television will be of no use since the EMP will destroy all solid state electronics. Then what do you do? You can't detect radiation without instruments and without that data, how do you know if you are safe? I am not saying it will happen, but the possibility exists. Putin is a bit of a nut job and has made threats against us. Russia after all poses the greatest single threat. I am also scrounging up a points ignition so that I can drive my car around if the worst did happen. Points after all do not rely on transistors.

This is NOT a national security issue. National security is implied when discussing military secrets such as strategies or weapons systems. This is the mere ability to detect an environmental hazard. People have a right to information that concerns their immediate health and safety. Too often the government has lied about threats to public health and used it's citizens as guinea pigs. (Eugenics anyone?) What has always made this country unique is that the power of the individual is more important than the power of the government. Sadly, the people have lost their vigilance against the increasing power of the government and more and more accept what they are fed rather than questioning it.

 

[Stoopud]

85CB - Remember Obama is not in power yet, and this ban first came up when the Republicans controlled congress. This is the type of thing that scared me about the Bush administration. They have been the most secretive, anti-free information administration in US history.

They do not want you to have personal geiger counters for exactly the same reasons you want them. They do not want you to know where the radiation is, then they would have to fix it. Think of the embarrassment of having to explain a hot waste site, or the cost to repair it. That could cost some corporation or the government alot of money. We don't want to hinder industry, you know.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I don't see this as a Republican/Democrat issue. I have stated before that I think both parties are crooked and out for themselves. I also find it funny that now Obama's people are talking about how good it is to have domestic spying and Guantanamo Bay should maybe stay open. I think that whoever is president will always be corrupted to some extent by either power or necessity. I think in the end that Obama will reneg on both these issues, and the media will give him a pass. He knows this and that is why he wants to shut down opposition speech via the Fairness Doctrine. That way he can continue on unopposed and use it like LBJ did when his policies were unpopular.

No matter who is in power, you need to be vigilant. I fear the lack of vigilance displayed by the majority of the great unwashed will lead to the ultimate downfall of our form of government. After all, "The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force." Adolf Hitler from "Mein Kampf".

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Got my Geiger Counter today!!!! What a neat little toy!!! It let me confirm that an old aircraft clock I had found in my grandfather's toolbox is fairly radioactive and has Radium painted numbers on it. It maxes out two of the three scales on the thing (the x1 and x10), and it scales up to 0.5. So, this thing when I tested it on the X100 scale is actually giving off 15 REM!!! (0.15x100) It's far hotter than the depleted uranium test source that comes on the detector. Fortunately, it's all Beta so it does not penetrate too far. I also couldn't get much of a reading off the smoke detector despite the fact that they are usually radioactive with Americium 245 as a part of the ionization sensor that sets them off.