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Sen. Chuck Schumer Seeks To Extend Ban On 'Undetectable' 3D-Printed Guns
SonicSpike writes with this snippet from The Guardian: "As the technology to print 3D firearms advances, a federal law that banned the undetectable guns is about to expire. The New York senator Chuck Schumer says he is seeking an extension of the law before it expires on 9 December. Schumer said the technology of so-called 3D printing has advanced to the point where anyone with $1,000 and an internet connection can access the plastic parts that can be fitted into a gun. Those firearms cannot be detected by metal detectors or x-ray machines. Schumer says that means anyone can download a gun cheaply, then take the weapons anywhere, including high-security areas. The Democrat is pushing the extension along with Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Bill Nelson of Florida. The effort was announced on Sunday."
From those who kill it in the name of defending it.
It's already illegal to conceal carry without a permit, it's illegal to shoot someone else. Why do we need yet another law telling us that it's illegal to possess these weapons? If someone is going to 3D print a gun and use it to commit a crime, they really don't care if it's illegal.
Besides, all the government needs is one story about a poorly constructed 3D printed gun that exploded when fired and injured the would be shooter
+1 - wtf is the point?
Anybody that really wants to can already manufacturer their own weapons in the airport: Terminal Cornucopia.
No need. C4 fits in rectums, along with detonators, etc.
No sig today...
Making a bullet is relatively simple. If the control fell mostly on bullets "cheap" home made bullets would be soon sold.
Making gunpowder, as most of what could be made in the 9th century, isn't very hard. If the control fell mostly on gunpowder we'd be able to buy in online "cheap".
Anyway, it's moot. You can't stop people from making medium range weapons with laws.
What are the bullets made of? Are they detectable? Also: Don't we need plastic guns if Magneto attacks?
It's pointless trying to get a gun on a plane. What would you do with it, exactly? Kill another passenger or a flight attendant? There's no escape route afterwards and a SWAT team will be waiting for you when you land. It seems much better to shoot the other person in the airport security queue then run away.
Maybe a plastic, single-shot gun is useful if you want to kill a particular person inside a secure building and don't mind getting arrested afterwards. That seems like an unlikely scenario to me. If I was that sort of assassin I'd to wait for the person to go outside the building then show up on a motorbike with some heavy artillery (purchased from Walmart).
All in all, plastic guns don't seem very useful. Can you suggest a realistic scenario where a plastic gun would be essential (or even make a job much easier)?
No sig today...
If I was a boss at Al-Qaeda I'd be getting people to stuff things up their ass and sending them to airports all day long. The chaos that follows when sheeple figure out that the TSA cannot protect them would be priceless. Chaos would ensue, the economy would tank overnight. That's real terrorism, I'd sleep soundly afterwards knowing I was doing my job.
The fact that they aren't doing this is just more proof that there's no real organized terrorists out there, just occasional lunatics (Boston).
All the security, all the gropings and inconvenience is just theater for the masses.
(And a way for a few people to get richer - the head of the TSA owns shares in the company that make the scanners ... surprise!)
No sig today...
Certainly not much harder than methamphetamine, which the black market has little problem supplying.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Can't we all agree that when certain political figures speak (Chuck Schumer, Sarah Palin, Nancy Palosi, Charlie Rangle, Michele Bachmann, etc) that we should just all collectively plug our ears and say "Nanananananana" as the thing they are about to say is likely an appeal to the citizens of our country with IQ's bellow 90, to reduce our freedoms, increase government power and generally bring ruin to the country in the name of some un-realized threat that sounds scary but could never really cause us much harm?
Chuck Schumer is either:
a. an idiot and does not realize he can not stop home made weapons, they've existed since the country was founded, there's just a slightly new method.
b. fully aware that this legislation is pointless and is just pandering to make headline with whatever made up fear 20/20 came up with for this week.
Says someone who has never made either.
Making either gunpowder or smokeless powder is dangerous. You could easily kill yourself being careless while doing so.
That said, it's not really all that hard - don't make a spark and/or use the usual handling precautions for nitric and sulfuric acid, and you're golden.
As to primers, it should be noted that they were mass-produced with 1850's technology - it's just not that difficult, if you know how.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
They should just make killing people illegal. Surely that will stop someone from using any weapon to do it because criminals always obey the law.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
In nearly all of Europe after WWII there were guns, grenades, and explosives all over the place. They seem to have done a good job at makine most (but not all) of them go away and not be widely available
You've never been to Finland, have you?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.