IIRC the first amendment is generally more strongly protected than the second. Do I need a permit to start my own blog? Do i need a license to own a large volume printer? Are there catagories of words that are prohibited from being spoken/written?

You can argue that there might not be enough regulation of the second, but this cartoon is just full of ignorance. My guess is the creator probably knows better but chooses not to show it.

I wish more people realized that the ends don't always justify the means and that unintended consequences are very real.

there is even a famous list of banned words on radio and tv.

Carlin had fun with a list of words, but they are not on any list of words banned from use over the broadcast airwaves.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_seven_official_dirty_words_banned_by_the_FCC

The seven dirty words first aired over the radio by comedian George Carlin in 1972 caused the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to formally establish what they call "indecency regulation" in American broadcasting.

A complaint was filled with the FCC after a father and son heard Carlin's "Filthy Words" monologue on their car radio. Following the complaint, the FCC asked Pacifica radio station for a response, then issued a declaratory order upholding the complaint. Eventually, the FCC appealed to the Supreme Court which ruled in its favor, declaring certain English words unacceptable.

To read more about the seven dirty words and more on the FCC v. Pacifica Foundation case see the link below, "The Seven Dirty Words."

over broadcast airwaves, but there is no actual list. Instead of a link to wiki, here is a link to the FCC.

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-and-profanity

we can still post them on the internet, we can write them in books. We can yell obscenities in the middle of a public NYC street- even if school children can hear them.

Can we shoot a machine gun in the middle of NYC?- no

Again, there is an argument for greater restriction of the second, but this arguement isnt.

Granted... it doesn't apply to free speech restrictions as DU is a privately run entity, but the overly anal uproar still applies.

The 'yelling fire in a crowded theater' analogy was employed by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes regarding a case about socialists printing anti-draft literature during WW 1. It is purely a Twentieth Century limitation on the First Amendment, and in retrospect, a gross over-reaction to a phenomenon that presented no imminent, existential danger to the USA.

Even Holmes himself sought to dial-back the restrictions he had unleashed upon the 1st Amendment later in his career, but that genie was out of the bottle by then. Like too many abrogations of 'inalienable' rights, We the People lost out.

The cartoonist thus inadvertently makes a point on behalf us pro-2nd-Amendment folks: an unnecessary further restriction on the types of firearms and magazines that can be kept by peaceable citizens will inevitably diminish the liberty enjoyed by us all in the long run.

-app

This is not a good strip this week however, some weeks he is brilliant but this week he could have done so much better.

We don't duct tape mouths when going to a theatre.
We don't have software scripts what prevent words from showing up in emails or discussion groups.

Instead we punish after misuse because some words are legitimate in some contexts.

After all one can scream "fire" in a theatre if there is a fire in the theatre.

Gun banners seek to keep arms from being used for legitimate purposes out of fear of them being misused.

you can do it without there being a fire. You may face punishment for doing so...