Alrighty-o,
@Rizzo. To start, I don’t believe this will impact shipping all that much, because the proposed rules say (emphasis mine) that “weapon-carrying systems capable of being
easily deployed or launched from a host platform’s cargo bays or internal stores” are what counts as weapons. That word, “easily,” is what makes all the difference - because the crew of a freighter under attack by pirates having to...
- Manually unload the shipment of missiles they’re carrying.
- Cobble together an interface between the computers of the missile and the freighter.
- Orient the freighter’s open (and, as you pointed out, highly-vulnerable) cargo bay in the direction of the pirates.
...isn’t what I’d call something that can be “easily deployed”; in contrast, that same crew launching a specially-designed, pre-loaded, and ready-to-fire missile pod (or “gun” pod) out of the freighter’s cargo bay with the push of a button
is what I’d call something that can be “easily deployed.”
Regarding the mechanical reason such a thing can’t be done, well, it’s due to the fact that it’s a way of bypassing the Weapon Limitations as
@Alex Hart eloquently explained
here; on the topic of it contradicting past canon roleplay, that’s...not really a problem, in my opinion. A single PA was, for instance, capable of taking on a full-sized
warship in SARP’s early days, yet such a feat obviously isn’t really doable now. Is that a contradiction? Yes - but it’s one that, similar (in my opinion) to this, would simply be accepted as being one of those instances of “things that were doable in the past but can’t be done anymore.” The roleplay wouldn’t be invalidated - it would simply be left as is, similar to how roleplay involving the since-removed concept of FTL interdiction is, to the best of my knowledge, still considered canon.