What you call "loopholes" are what I call "magic". I don't mind magic, but you need to make it very clear that you are operating in an alternate reality; either way off in the future, where we've figured out how to do hyperspace and transporters, or way off in an alternate reality like Lord of the Rings or whatever. Don't get me started on Harry Potter. As soon as she started mixing magic with something that was supposed to be present-day Britain, it began to irk me to no end. She tried to back out of the whole technology and magic problem in later books, but it was too late, I began to ask the hard questions. Why not make a gun that shoots either normal or magically enhanced bullets? The gun would work in no-magic zones, and it would penetrate magical shields (the bullets would also travel too fast for most counter-spells to be cast), and the bullets could be made to do terrible things once they hit the target. It would be like that scene from Indiana Jones where the guy waves his sword around and Indy just shoots him. Aaanyway. Just my skeptical opinion.