Say, remember last month when we praised Dell for its clever antiterrorism tactic of casually asking each customer ordering from its UK web site whether or not the PC in question would be used in connection with "weapons of mass destruction," "nuclear applications," "missile technology," or "chemical or biological weapons purposes"? Well, it appears that the company wasn't content to stop there, and has now gone above and beyond the call of duty by making sure that no Dell computers fall into the hands of prospective terrorists in the hostile foreign nation of Pennsylvania. (We know that we'll be sleeping more soundly tonight...)

You see, faithful viewer Kenneth Reed tipped us off to the bizarre story of Jack Weigand, a gun enthusiast and the president of the American Pistolsmiths Guild who was in the market for a new portable computer. As described in a Wired article, Weigand ordered himself a new laptop via Dell's web site, but when the reported delivery date arrived, the Inspiron was nowhere to be seen. So Weigand gave Dell a call-- who eventually informed him that his order had been summarily cancelled sans notification.

It turns out that Weigand runs a business crafting custom revolvers, and that business is named "Weigan Combat Handguns." Apparently someone in Dell's export compliance department spotted the name, decided that Weigand's company "sounded a bit too terroristic for comfort's sake," and nixed the order as one that was "prohibited under U.S. law." It seems that the U.S. now has strict regulations about exporting crappy laptops to Pennsylvania, which evidently seceded from the union at some point and we just never noticed. Go figure.

Now, Weigand is casting this whole cock-up as an example of the systematic oppression of gun enthusiasts in the U.S., and regardless of where you might stand on the issue, we personally don't feel like getting drawn into a spirited debate about whether or not the intent of the Second Amendment still applies in modern American society. (Homer Diplomacy: "Maybe Lisa's right about America being the land of opportunity, and maybe Adil has a point about the machinery of capitalism being oiled with the blood of the workers.")

Personally, we're choosing to interpret this solely as a bizarre but strictly apolitical story about a Dell employee who thinks that U.S. export law somehow applies to an order shipping to Pennsylvania. Still, we applaud Dell's efforts to keep its gear out of the hands of hostile foreign powers; why, if Missouri ever got its mitts on enough innovative Dell technology, we'd probably have a full-scale invasion on our hands.