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The $1,200 DIY Gunsmithing Machine

An anonymous reader writes: You may recall Cody Wilson as the man behind the world's first 3D-printed gun. He built a company behind the ideals of DIY gun-making, and now he's come back with another device: the "Ghost Gunner," a CNC mill designed to create the lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle. "That simple chunk of metal has become the epicenter of a gun control firestorm. A lower receiver is the body of the gun that connects its stock, barrel, magazine and other parts. As such, it's also the rifle's most regulated element. Mill your own lower receiver at home, however, and you can order the rest of the parts from online gun shops, creating a semi-automatic weapon with no serial number, obtained with no background check, no waiting period or other regulatory hurdles. Some gun control advocates call it a "ghost gun." Selling that untraceable gun body is illegal, but no law prevents you from making one." Wilson's goal is still to render government gun regulation useless, even as debate rages on banning this kind of manufacturing.

46 of 651 comments (clear)

  1. the solution: by therealkevinkretz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ban "Assault Lathes"!

    1. Re:the solution: by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's exactly what California is proposing to do, and why he made this. It's in TFA, not that anyone here reads them.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    2. Re:the solution: by mi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But in the mind of libertarian nutball Cody Wilson

      Instead of calling people names, why don't you and yours simply campaign to abolish the Second Amendment altogether? If we read the First the same way we are told to read the Second, our freedom of speech too would be limited to "petitioning the government" — and only for "redress of grievances". Oh, and only after a "cool-down" period.

      "Assault firearms" my foot — you can't even carry a freaking sword or brass-knuckles in many parts of the country nowadays. If only the British kept those blades away from Patrick Henry and his "nutball" cohorts!

      --
      In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    3. Re:the solution: by pla · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But in the mind of libertarian nutball Cody Wilson, lawmakers will just say "Welp, he beat us, time to pack up and go home, I'll see if I can charter an APC for us since it's gonna be like Somalia out there. This is the worst day since the basic theoretical disproof and repeated cracks of DRM made us give up on digital copyright issues."

      Not quite - He knows perfectly well that the haplophobes won't just pack it in and go home, just as the anti-DRM crowd know that Sony won't just give up and release everything without adding in-house developed viruses to them.

      More importantly, he does what he does to point out absurdity. CA's legislators will pass a band-aid over this particular reality-hack, and Wilson will find a way to mercilessly mock that, as well. The cycle can pretty much continue indefinitely; but most importantly, at each step, they look like fools and he has yet again made his point.

    4. Re:the solution: by butalearner · · Score: 4, Interesting

      More importantly, he does what he does to point out absurdity.

      He thinks he is pointing out absurdity of gun control laws, but that's because he is (or appears to be, I don't actually know him) emotionally invested into getting rid of all gun control laws. Objectively, though, he's pointing out pretty valuable information regarding future illegal weapons manufacturing. Gun control advocates should be very pleased, because now governments have a much more urgent reason to think about how the law might work with 3D-printed weapons. He's the gray hat hacker of gun control.

    5. Re:the solution: by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Informative

      laws intended to keep weapons designed to kill a large number of people out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable.

      If the laws you speak of were meant to do what you claim, then the AR-15 would be joined by the Mini-14 on the list of "evil assault weapons".

      Alas, the Mini-14 is on the Exempt List of each of the Assault Weapon Bans.

      Of course, the Mini-14 is exempt because it is a self-loading rifle firing 5.56mm (.223 for you non-metric types) rounds using magazines ranging from 5 to 35 rounds capacity, as opposed to the AR-15, which is a self-loading rifle firing 5.56mm (.223 for you non-metric types) rounds using magazines ranging from 5 to 35 rounds capacity....

      If it isn't obvious from the above descriptions, there are two essentially identical rifles - one an evil assault weapon, the other a perfectly fine sporting rifle out there in the wild. If the various bans on things like the AR-15 lower receiver (or the AR-15 itself) were actually about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, there would be no distinction made between the Mini-14 and AR-15.

      What the Bans actually are is a ban on Scary Looking Rifles. And that's all they've ever been - a feel-good measure that accomplishes nothing....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    6. Re:the solution: by gfxguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Frankly, it doesn't matter what you should think. "Arms" doesn't mean "hunting rifles." It means "arms." It's a very broad term covering things like swords.

      Is it silly to think people should be able to walk around with swords? Maybe... but then we need an ammendment to the constitution limiting what "arms" means, you can't just arbitrarily think it should mean something to everybody... and any laws that ban keeping and bearing swords violate the 2nd ammendment just as much as bans on firearms.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    7. Re:the solution: by x0 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Jeff Flanagan trolled But Cody Wilson really is a libertarian nutball. It's an accurate description, not random name-calling. He's disconnected from reality, and thinks that he can bypass laws intended to keep weapons designed to kill a large number of people out of the hands of criminals and the mentally unstable. Your post makes it pretty clear that you're one of the deeply-confused gun-nuts who thinks that banning guns designed for mass murder means banning defensive guns.

      Apparently, people who don't agree with you are gun-nuts, and it's OK for you to use random name-calling.

      Right...

      m

      --
      In the immortal words of Socrates, who said; 'I drank what?'
    8. Re:the solution: by Darth+Snowshoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      [...] "Arms" doesn't mean "hunting rifles." It means "arms." [...]

      We have to make the laws that are reasonable to our time. The Constitution allowed slavery, for instance, and no vote for women. There are lots of things that we can look at now and say need (or needed) to be changed from the original document, with the perspective of the passing of 200 years.

      Make arguments, please, that are really arguments, rather than hiding behind a document. Does it make sense now for individuals to buy and sell full-auto weapons? "Assault rifles"? Flamethrowers? Surface-to-air missles? What are the real distinctions?

    9. Re:the solution: by Malizar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And there were amendments made to the Constitution to eliminate slavery and give women the right to vote. Amendments are how the Constitution is a "Living" document. Just ignoring the parts you don't agree with is not how it is done. The right to bear arms was put in place to make sure the people never fell under the boot of the government, which means it was intended for us to have arms capable of standing up for our rights. You may be naive enough to trust the government, that does not mean others are.

    10. Re:the solution: by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whatever. Here's an idea, either respect the Constitution and its underlying values, or focus on repealing the Second Amendment using the process provided for doing so.

      Legislative end runs around the founders' clearly expressed intents are not acceptable. Why not? Because they'll come for your favorite amendment next.

    11. Re:the solution: by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Informative

      The Constitution allowed slavery, for instance, and no vote for women.

      It did no such thing, it simply reserved such matters to the States, per the 10th Amendment. The 14th and 19th Amendments changed that of course. The 14th was actually intended by its drafters to be interpreted more broadly than it has been, in theory it should have immediately applied the Bill of Rights against the States (including the 2nd Amendment) but SCOTUS neutered it and it has instead taken the better part of a century and a half to get most of the Bill of Rights applied against the States.

      Incidentally, the established process of amending the Constitution (Article V) is available for gun control proponents to take advantage of if they think they can actually win a debate on the merits of the issue. All you need to do is convince 2/3rd's of Congress and 3/4ths of the State Legislatures to sign off on a repeal or amendment of the 2nd Amendment. Best of luck with that. :)

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    12. Re:the solution: by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If only the British kept those blades away from Patrick Henry and his "nutball" cohorts!

      If the British would have had,
      the NSA,
      there never would have been,
      a USA

      Burma Shave

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    13. Re:the solution: by mrchaotica · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We have to make the laws that are reasonable to our time. The Constitution allowed slavery, for instance, and no vote for women.

      Yeah, and when times changed it got amended. But the right to bear arms hasn't been amended, and until it does, it still stands as the law of the land that all arms are included.

      Does it make sense now for individuals to buy and sell full-auto weapons? "Assault rifles"? Flamethrowers? Surface-to-air missles?

      Absolutely! How else is the public supposed to support a revolt against tyranny? (That is what the 2nd Amendment is for, you know... it's a rule written by violent revolutionaries for violent revolutionaries.)

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    14. Re:the solution: by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, and when times changed it got amended. But the right to bear arms hasn't been amended, and until it does, it still stands as the law of the land that all arms are included.

      Has the 4th amendment been updated?

      Or are you under the illusion that this one amendment is sacrosanct while they crap all over the rest of it?

      Because blanket surveillance, property seizure because police lie and say they suspected drugs, and parallel construction are pretty much in violation of your Constitution as well.

      Absolutely! How else is the public supposed to support a revolt against tyranny?

      Look, you're descending into tyranny now. So, either get on with it, or stop whining about how you'll do it when you get around to it or someone really outlaws jumbo sized soda.

      Otherwise, it's just lip service. Your government is already ignoring your Constitution on a large scale, but apparently nobody gives a damn.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    15. Re: the solution: by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you're black. White people can bring semi auto rifles into Walmart and the police don't give a fuck.

      It's not about race, it's about attitude. If you are friendly and polite people assume you are there to help them. If you are dour and moody, people assume you are there to hurt them.

      No. It is about race, in a significant number of cases. Just look at the statistics of people open carrying (or people getting shot at). Hell, just look at the statistics of how people are treated by "the law" per race where some groups *get harsher* penalties for the same goddamned crime.

      And since we are on John Crawford's case (RIP), let's look at the Walmart video just released:

      http://thefreethoughtproject.com/breaking-video-finally-released-cops-shooting-man-toy-gun-wal-mart/

      In the specific case of John Crawford (RIP), the poor guy that got shot down while carrying a toy gun to the cash register, he didn't do anything of the above in bold. Nothing in his fucking attitude indicated he was a treat.

      The, OTH, you have white militia pointing rifles at federal agents at the Cliven Bundy stand-off on April 2014, with photographs clearly identifying those threatening federal agents with deadly force, and have you seen any one of them arrested?

      Crawford might or might not have been shot at the way was due to his race, but there is a clear distinction in attitude and partial/subjective enforcement of the law that still crosses racial lines (Militia at the Bundy's ranch for example.)

    16. Re:the solution: by grep_rocks · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes I love how in the 1860s in the US an armed citizenry overthrew a corrupt goverment that allowed the enslavement of its citizens - oh wait, that didn't happen, the armed citizens were there to suppress slave revolts on the south, which was the original purpose of the second amendment - not to overthrow a tyrannical goverment, it was to preserve a tryranical government which allowed slavery - i.e. to allow (white) people to carry guns to suppress local slave revolts - duh, you can't really keep slaves without guns to keep them in line. The freedom loving patriots in the south never rose up to free the black slaves - that took a fucking government army.

    17. Re:the solution: by jythie · · Score: 4, Informative

      California was debating requiring a serial number on home made guns independent of how they were made.

      Since homemade guns are not transferable it was mostly a symbolic idea which at most would add another charge onto an existing arrest and that is about it.

    18. Re: the solution: by nbauman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It is about race.

      Do you know where the old gun control laws in this country came from? In 1966, the Black Panthers started carrying guns in public. In 1967, the California legislature passed a law against carrying guns in public, which was signed by Governor Ronald Reagan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      The fastest way to get gun control today would be for the black demonstrators to carry guns every time a black man gets shot by a cop.

    19. Re:the solution: by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or are you under the illusion that this one amendment is sacrosanct while they crap all over the rest of it?
      Because blanket surveillance, property seizure because police lie and say they suspected drugs, and parallel construction are pretty much in violation of your Constitution as well.

      I have yet to see a single comment from anyone (democrat or republican) arguing that the US government is properly following the 4th amendment.

      I'm not sure how this makes not following the 2nd amendment in addition to not following the 4th ok.

    20. Re:the solution: by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think your post, while well thought out, misses the point of an armed citizenry. No one is realistically thinking a lightly-armed, poorly-trained citizenry can effectively wage war against a well-equipped, well-trained professional military force. Nor do I think anyone is suggesting a straight up guerrilla-style campaign for asymmetric warfare.

      No, the point of an armed citizenry is to give the government pause. An unarmed populace can be brought to heel without much in the way of bloodshed. But an armed populace? Even a lightly-armed one means the government can't just march in and round up potential dissidents. There is the strong possibility of a firefight. Sure, the little guys will probably lose. But it means the government must escalate to lethal force just to get started on whatever nefarious course it may be planning for its citizens.

      In a way, it's little like conventional vs. nuclear combat between nation-states. When both sides were purely conventional, wars were fairly common (call this analogous to both sides being armed with swords). When one side has nukes and the other does not, the side with nukes gets its way pretty much whenever it wants without ever having to drop a nuke (analogous to a police state with a disarmed citizenry). But when both sides are equally armed with dangerous weapons that require either side to really think about whether they want to invite a deeply damaging and dangerous conflict...you get very few actual wars (analogous to an armed state and armed citizenry).

      If I'm unarmed and the government (for whatever reason) decides I need to be removed, not only can I not stop them, but I probably can't even inflict significant harm on them. They will most likely even take me alive, without a protracted fight. The risk to them in this case, both in blood and bad PR, is minimal.

      If I'm armed and the government (for whatever reason) decides I need to be removed, they will most likely succeed. I will, however, most likely succeed in causing casualties and/or making a big PR spectacle of being taken down. I might even achieve martyr status if I'm killed, causing a PR debacle for the government. The government will want to avoid these things, thus they will try to find means other than brute force of arms to remove me. Or they might not remove me at all, deeming the political risk too high. This is why we need to be armed. Not as a credible army-in-waiting, but as a deterrent.

      --
      In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    21. Re:the solution: by smooth+wombat · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Considering people don't read the 2nd Amendment correctly, there shouldn't be a problem with misreading the 1st.

      Both in words and actions the Colonial government required people to register with their local authorities whether or not they had a gun so they could be called up to suppress insurrection or protect the state (PA has that written explicitly in its Constitution. Article 1, section 20. Also, go read The Federalist Papers where calling up the militia, using their own guns, was mentioned several times by Madison, the guy who wrote the Constitution).

      Yet apparently what was good enough for the originating government isn't good enough for us so people read only the part of the Amendment they want to read and ignore the rest.

      Pretty convenient, huh?

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    22. Re:the solution: by ganjadude · · Score: 3, Informative
      really??? you need a history lesson jack

      "To disarm the people is the most effectual way to enslave them."

      - George Mason

      "I ask sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few politicians."

      - George Mason (father of the Bill of Rights and The Virginia Declaration of Rights)

      "The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops."

      - Noah Webster

      "The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."

      - Joseph Story

      What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty .... Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."

      - Rep. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts

      you were saying????

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  2. This device is not new or interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have a small CNC and with a few tool changes and some time i've been making 1911s and ar15s for years...

    this isn't new or exciting this is the way ar-15's and 1911s are made

    cast rough shape machine to precise specs...

    I'm not sure why this is a big deal, its still REALLY hard to build a barrel and chamber so you still need to buy them, honestly making the receiver the registered part is silly most people could build a receiver with time and effort few people could make a decent barrel or precise chamber.

    is the only thing he did to make this special is provide the right tooling in the box? and a pre-installed set of gcode big fucking deal it takes 2 seconds to get the gcode for an ar of the net

    1. Re:This device is not new or interesting by jandrese · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think the barrel and chamber aren't tracked because they are wear items that might be replaced on a gun. The receiver is like the frame on the car. You could build one a lot easier than you could build your own engine from scratch, but it's also the part that you're least likely to replace on the vehicle.

      If this takes off (which I kind of doubt outside of the fringe), you could expect the government to start regulating replacement chambers and barrels as well. I would expect it to have the opposite effect that Cody Wilson is intending.

      However, this just delays the inevitable. As home manufacturing improves over time, it will eventually be cheap and easy to make your own gun at home, at which point the Genie is out of the bottle. About the only thing left would be strict regulation of primers and maybe gunpowder itself.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    2. Re:This device is not new or interesting by Maznafein · · Score: 5, Informative

      Or just get a shovel.

      http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DIY-Shovel-AK-photo-tsunami-warning!

      --
      <happiness>beer</happiness>
    3. Re:This device is not new or interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Everyone already has an FBI file.

    4. Re:This device is not new or interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The Genie is already out of the bottle. In fact it has been for centuries. Manufacturing firearms has been been possible for your average person for about as long as blacksmithing has been a vocation. There are parts of modern weapons which require tooling and equipment that is generally beyond the average garage hobbyist, but none of this technology is all that hard or expensive to obtain or duplicate. All the steps are decidedly low tech.

      What keeps most from doing all this is that you have to have an uncommon level of understanding of the processes required as well as how to run the equipment needed to produce the necessary parts and it takes a LONG time to run though them all. There are a lot of steps needed to produce properly tempered parts of the correct shapes and sizes. None of the steps are beyond the guy in the garage, there are just a lot of steps. So many that it's a whole lot easier to just buy a ready made weapon, especially when you consider how much your time is worth.

    5. Re:This device is not new or interesting by mariox19 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      People with a need for untraceable guns [...]

      People, like, the police, for instance?

      My uncle, long retired from the NYPD and now dead several years, told me a long time ago that smart cops carry a "throwaway." A throwaway is a small handgun that cannot be traced back to you. Should you happen to shoot dead a denizen of the 'hood you work in, and the shooting might be deemed questionable, you take your throwaway and plant it on the dead guy. Then, there's no question about why you had to shoot him.

      Now, I realize we're only 3-D printing AR-15's at this point, and no one can keep one of those in his sock; but one day all sorts of guns will be able to be printed. The cops will be just as happy about this as the mafiosi and cartel kingpins.

      --

      quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.

    6. Re:This device is not new or interesting by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This would be great for organized crime and drug cartels. People with a need for untraceable guns, that use them regularly, and that have money to make it happen

      Such people generally use stolen firearms or (more rarely) legally purchased firearms via straw buyers (i.e., Here's $1,500, buy this $1,000 firearm for me and pocket the change)

      Criminals don't need to build their own firearms when there are sufficient numbers of stolen ones in circulation.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  3. Hope He Continues by JimSadler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really government over reach is a huge problem and I like the idea of people being able to make their own guns. I know a lot of people want to blame guns for many problems but that is a rather cheap excuse and avoidance of the fact that the public needs improved living conditions so that there are less violent people who act out irrationally. Without much hope of a decent future we do have far too many people who act out. We also have prisons that make only token gestures at rehabilitation of inmates and a mental health system that is a national disgrace.

  4. Alarmist BS by shbazjinkens · · Score: 4, Informative
    FTA:

    But precisely finishing the last 20 percent of a lower receiver has still required access to a milling machine that typically costs tens of thousands of dollars.

    Whatever. I made mine with a $350 micro milling machine from Harbor Freight. The template kit to mill & drill the other 20% of the incomplete lower receiver was about the same cost as the 80% complete lower receiver. So all of the parts & tooling in sum total less than $550. Plus I use the mill for other things and the template has resale value. Also FTA:

    Defense Distributedâ(TM)s machine canâ(TM)t carve pieces as large as its competitors, but its small size makes it more rigid and precise, allowing it to cut an aluminum lower receiver from an 80 percent lower in around an hour. Thatâ(TM)s a task Wilson says would still be impossible with todayâ(TM)s cheapest hobbyist mills but doesnâ(TM)t require five-figure professional tools. âoeWeâ(TM)re making this easier by an order of magnitude,â he says.

    I think that they meant to quote him as saying it is POSSIBLE. An order of magnitude is a gross overstatement, given that this was the 3d milling version of trace paper.

    Subversive ambitions aside, Wilson doesnâ(TM)t hide the fact that the Ghost Gunner is also a money-making project.

    Indeed.

  5. Re:Why? by jehan60188 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would you want an untraceable computer? I cannot think of any ethical reason

  6. Honestly, rifles are not the problem by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I am liberal and in favor of gun control. But long guns are not the problem. They

    1) Are too big to easily hide, attracting the attention of cops. So crooks don't like to carry them.

    2) Are too big to easily commit suicide with.

    3) Are too big for young children to easily play with.

    As a direct result of this, long guns kill less than 500 people a year.

    Pistols, however, are used by criminals, by people committing suicide, and by kids playing around with them. As a direct result, over 30,000 people die every year after being shot with a pistol.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Honestly, rifles are not the problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Pistols are also the best self-defence weapon, and are used countless times around the world to protect the life and dignity of innocents.

      People who want to commit suicide will still commit suicide.
      Criminals will still get an illegal pistol, or use another equally deadly weapon (knife, machete, baseball bat)
      Kids, well, are more likely to drown in a pool or get run over in traffic. Parents are responsible for their well-being and education anyway.

      Yet innocent citizens will only have bare hands and harsh language to defend themselves against a criminal. Not a world we want to live in.

    2. Re:Honestly, rifles are not the problem by chrysrobyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pistols are also the best self-defence weapon

      Dogs are the best self-defence weapon. Their barking scares away countless intruders. They're armed even when you're not home. THEY GO AROUND CORNERS. They can be recalled, do not kill instantly, and can quickly recognize friends by smell.

      20 years ago, my dad and I came home from a camping trip a day early, but late at night. If my mom had been armed, she would have shot at both of us. Instead, the dog woofed to wake her up and then went to go greet us.

    3. Re:Honestly, rifles are not the problem by Flammon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, yes and yes! Once I realized that "anti-gun" meant no guns for the good guys and guns for the bad guys, I became pro-gun. The debate isn't about less guns for bad guys, they already have guns and always will. It's about letting the good guys can have guns.

  7. Re:ugh by jehan60188 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good. As a libertarian, driver, voter, and not insane person, I understand that there needs to be SOME government regulation of cars. There is no reason not to try something to prevent insane people from getting cars. They're going to murder anyway, but a car makes it simple.

    Ban high capacity assault cars- you don't NEED to go faster than 15 mph. You don't NEED to be able to haul a boat.

  8. Banning CNC would be utterly pointless by McGregorMortis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    An AK-47 receiver made out of a rusty shovel:

    http://thechive.com/2012/12/06...

    Perhaps the problem is that the receiver is the legally-controlled part of the gun. Everything else is spare parts. Making receivers is easy now.

    I'm no expert, but it seems to me that making a barrel is the hardest part. Why isn't the barrel the controlled part?

  9. Re:ugh by bigfinger76 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, the "gun show loophole" has been shown not to be the problem as only a small percentage of guns obtained this way end up being used in crimes. And all FFLs at all gun shows in the US must "background check". The "loophole" you're trying to sniff out here are private sales.

  10. critical point from the article by nimbius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wilsons goal of enabling anyone to privately fabricate an untraceable gun is part of a larger anarchist mission: To show how technology can render the entire notion of government obsolete. Hes spent the last two years developing firearms designed to be printed as easily as ink on a page, neutering attempts at gun control. 'This is a way to jab at the bleeding hearts of these total statists' Wilson says. 'Its about humiliating the power that wants to humiliate you,' he says.

    I'm all on board the maker train (I own a makerbot at home) but Jesus tap-dancing Christ...Anarchy? You dont need to make "ghost" guns to skirt gun control. After 4 major shootings in the US in 2 years, lawmakers themselves refuse to enact any sort of gun control. Hell, getting a gun in america is as easy as filling out a form. the biggest hurtle is the waiting period and even that is only a sometimes kind of thing. We cant even use serialized guns to independently track homicide rates in our country unless we get a FoIA from the ATF, which incidentally hasnt had a full time director in years. News reports routinely redact the make and model of firearms used in shootings out of fearfulness they'll incur a defamation lawsuit from the NRA. if you really want to "humiliate the power" and "jab at hearts" you leak confidential information. Hell, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange are national treasures and they did it without a gun.

    my prediction is the homemade printable gun will be outlawed not from some evil 'obama gunna take muh gunz" scheme but by lobbying pressure from the NRA, who represent weapons manufacturers profit margins (not you.)

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  11. Re:This guy needs help, not attention by PPH · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It seems like this guy is TRYING to get 3-d printers, CNC machines, and other manufacturing techniques heavily regulated/banned to the public.

    Perhaps he is trying to get stupid attempts at firearms regulations banned.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  12. Re:BZZT. by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it is against the law to transport it across state lines though

    Does it or its owner become suddenly more dangerous after crossing a state line?

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  13. Big Deal.... by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Both of my AR's were obtained without a background check. I bought both from a private seller. 100% legal.
    Honestly this is all mental masterbation. You can easily build an AK47 lower without a milling machine and just some hand tools and a old shovel.

    In fact.... here you go....

    http://www.northeastshooters.c...

    The AR15 is not the best platform in the world, it's just popular. if you really want a gun that can take insane abuse and easily built with hand tools.... AK47 is the gun to build to be subversive..

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  14. Re:Racism of law-enforcement by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Your attempt to include links to such statistics failed.

    I did not include the link in an attempt to provide statistics.

    Please, try again.

    No, I won't. This shit is clear as daylight. I have lived in the flesh. People "see it" or they "don't see it."

    If it were "clear", you would've had no problems substantiating it with links to evidence..

    We could extend that statement to say if the statement "Jim Crow laws are bad" weren't clear in the past, we wouldn't have needed a whole goddamned Civil Right Movement to make the case for it.

    For something like this, with so much evidence that had been published in so many years, "clear" is firmly in the eye of the beholder.

    You see it or you don't. I am not going to debate you, and if that gives *you* the impression of winning the point, go ahead and do your victory dance.

  15. Re:Ok, several aspects to this. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First, guns don't protect, never have, never will.

    The first eight of your 457 word wall of text shows you're so out of touch with reality that there's no point in reading the rest.

    The primary function of guns in private hands is to protect those who carry them. They do that exceptionally well. In criminal attacks, resistance with gun is the most effective way to avoid injury or death. It's substantially more effective than the second best - knuckling under completely - and beats the pants off everything else, from running away, to trying to talk your way out, to resisting with bare hands or other tools. (Resisting with knife is about the worst.)

    Research on self-defense is hard, because faiures leave tracks in crime stats while successes usually don't (and often leave the self-defended victim with an incentive to keep quiet about it). Nevertheless, even the first well-run projects were able to put a lower bound of guns preventing or aborting more than six times as many crimes as they aid in committing.

    In private hands they're safer than police, too. A defense-with-gun is usually effected by no more than brandishing or occasionally getting off a round in the general direction of the perp. But of those instances where a victim or a policeman shoots someone believed to be a perpetrator, the cop is over 5 1/2 times as likely to erroneously shoot an innocent than an armed private citizen.

    My family has substantial personal experience with armed self defense. For just a few examples on my wife's side: In college she was accosted by the rapist in the window, who was dressed in just running shoes and a dirty knife. Fortunately there was a hunting rifle behind the bed: She actually had to go as far as cocking it before he stopped trying to get her to drop it and jumped back out the window - apparently to take it out on another girl a few blocks away, with over 130 cuts while raping her. Her mother defended self and family against a Klan attack with a pistol. (Her granddad was caught away from his gun, though, and had to do his anti-Klan defense with a hammer.) Then there was the aunt, the uncle, ...

    At the larger scale it's hard to argue with the fact that the US, founded in a revolution (by religious nut with guns) against their self-admitted "legitimate government" and with over half the adult civilian population armed, has now gone over two centuries without a substantial attack from abroad and only one major internal war, while Europe continues to suffer from genocidal wars, often with multi-million body counts. (With the exception of Switzerland, of course: Every adult citizen there is armed and has had military training. Even World Wars go around them.)

    It's also hard to argue with the fact that the US is multi-ethnic, and the common denominator of each of its ethnic groups is that their members' murder victimization rate is substantially less than that of contemporary members of the same ethnic group still residing in their land of origin.

    As for resisting an oppressive regime if push comes to shove: We have experiences like "The Battle of Athens" just after WWII, and the documented question from Nixon to a thnk-tank about what would happen if he suspended the presidential election. (Answer: That would precipitate an armed rebellion, and the population was well enough armed that it would succeed.) Uprisings aren't always successful and small or UNarmed uprisings are often put down, sometimes with lots of deaths. (Witness the Bonus Marchers' Massacre.) But recent decades of world politics have shown how effective a popular uprising can be, against even a coalition of world powers and superpowers.

    If it came to that in the US, you can expect a substantial amount of the military (especially retirees) to be on the side of the people, along with lots of military equipment raided from armories. (You can see that now in the Middle East. The big difference between Al Queda and ISIS/ISIL is that the latter has bunch of col

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way