Now you will be able to print up a working handgun in your own home — and it will not be detectable by security. [UPDATE, 5:00: Nod to Ryan C. here — “will not be detectable by currently employed regular security measures.” It could still be detectable by, say, strip searches.] That Second Amendment, huh? The BBC tells the story here (unfortunately I can’t embed the video, so you’ll have to click the link):
Toy for tots?
As you’ll see from the video, it apparently works. The only metal part is the small firing pin. (I’m not sure about the composition of the bullets.) Even the barrel is all plastic.
I’ve been following the career of University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, who I don’t think would mind being termed a Second Amendment extremist, for a while now. Smart kid. One might even say “scary smart.”
Wilson believes that this will allow people in repressive regimes (like, oh, Afghanistan or New York City) to bypass any government constraints on gun manufacture and ownership. I think that Wilson needs to spend some time stuck in a repressive regime and see if that changes his calculations. Scary smart can also be scary dumb.
He says that he plans to distribute the blueprints on the internet. The good news is that only good and trustworthy people will be able to afford the $8000 for a printer (or get access to their parents’ printer, or a friends) and crank these suckers out. Right? It’s not like we’re already having any problems these days with home-manufactured weapons. Right? Right?
Rather a clunky looking firearm.
It probably won’t be too much longer and they will be able to do 3D printing with metal.
Are you the sort of person who fears honeybees more than bumblebees because the latter don’t look like they should be able to fly?
The advantage of not using metal involves evading metal detectors.
Hyperbole barrister, I wouldn’t fire it and the cartridge would be detectable.
Would you mind it being fired at you? Or would you consider it the equivalent of someone firing a cap pistol or a t-shirt gun. I wonder how hyperbolic you’d find this if one were pointed at you.
Wilson says that the only metallic part is the firing pin, which is small. Do they make bullets out of non-ferromagnetic metals or other materials?
So bullets can pass through metal detectors as it is? I didn’t know that. (I never really had need to know that before now, because guns themselves would be detected.)
OK, I admit — my metal detector knowledge is limited. Pray educate me, Ryan.
I believe that I’m quoting the story — but I’m sure that it would show up in a strip search, if that’s your point. Do we agree that, if we wanted to keep these off of planes and courtrooms, added security measures (probably onerous ones) would be required?
Again — if I change that to “not detectable by currently employed security measures,” will we agree that I’m on firm ground? Because the story says that nothing’s made of metal other than the firing pin — and it implies that that is not enough.
I don’t know enough about its function yet Greg, to be honest. But I would be VERY reluctant to fire it. As for being fired at, I suspect, from what little I’ve seen, it range and accuracy would be VERY limited. If I were 2 feet away I would worry. 20 feet away not nearly as much and 50 feet away I would probably be laughing so hard it would be harder for it to hit me.
There are several firearms currently produced that don’t use ferrous metals in their production, as such are virtually the same when looking for them via scanner. Not all scanners look only for iron containing metals.
Any fool can legally build their own firearm for personal, non commercial use. Fire at your own risk however.
*Reminds us of that old Raymond Chandler or Mickey Spillane story about the lady that used the ice bullets to kill her husband. May work….might not…..but you will probably only get one chance to find out. Since, the chamber pressures may exceed several thousand lbs per micro inch……you could just be wearing that puppy…..hair, teeth and eyeballs….everywhere!
*Did also forget the biggie…in the 1940’s and 50’s the Zip guns were all the craze. A piece of wood cut out with a Coping Saw….into the shape of a handgun. They need taped a piece of lead pipe on top….just the right size for a .22 short cartridge. Then they drilled a hole in the back above the handle and put a clothes pin with a nail on it. They added a return spring from any carburetor on the market….. In those days…. a .22 short cost about 3 cents. They even had these in West Side Story……no plastic fantastic baloney that needs to replace the barrell after every firing……
By the way, another word of caution. Zip Guns were known to blow up in people’s faces too. Not exactly a nice Colt or Smith and Wesson mind you.