In my view, the edge cases like so (I think peasant railgun even mentioned in dm handbook) are more of a community problem than the game's. If it can be called a problem, of course - some tables enjoy those shenanigans, some don't.

What players and DMs are forgetting more often than not is the wording somewhere in the start of dm book: dm can overrule any rule. [to facilitate the game mood and direction that the table has agreed upon] [and a larger overarching problem is probably that there's often no such agreement before the game]