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Company Creates Gun That Looks Like a Cellphone (nbcnews.com)

Earthquake Retrofit writes: Sometimes you want to carry your gun in peace, but people keep drawing attention to your piece. This very issue plagued Kirk Kjellberg, the creator of Ideal Conceal, a [.380-caliber pistol] that folds up to look like a smartphone. "A boy spotted me in [a] restaurant and said loudly, 'Mommy, Mommy, that guy's got a gun!' And then pretty much the whole restaurant stared at me," Kjellberg told NBC News. He developed Ideal Conceal to avoid those awkward situations. According to NBC News, "In locked position, the two-shot plastic gun with a metal core can be discreetly slipped into pockets, like a real phone. But 'with one click of the safety it opens and is ready to fire,' Ideal Conceal claims. The Department of Homeland Security has contacted him about the pistol, and he plans on giving them x-rays of it so law enforcement can distinguish it from cellphones during airport screenings. An Ideal Conceal prototype is slated for June, with sales beginning in October. The gun is listed for $395."

16 of 678 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Trying to get shot? by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, he's trying to get everyone who carries a mobile phone shot.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  2. Re:Trying to get shot? by Greyfox · · Score: 5, Funny

    No problem! We can just create a cell phone that looks like a gun, so the cops can tell the difference!

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  3. I don't appreciate by mhkohne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    giving all those idiots who say 'I thought it was a gun' extra excuses.

    --
    A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
  4. Apple? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    iShoot

  5. Re:Trying to get shot? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Funny

    Are you trying to get shot? Because that is how you get shot...

    ...By grabbing the wrong "phone" and taking a selfie.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  6. Re:I don't want to live in this planet anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    14 people killed by "terrorists", 14,000 killed by americans.

    Statistically you are more likely to be killed by someone you know, family, neighbour, work colleague than by a stranger and a LOT more likely to b killed by an american than by a terrorist.

    If you are scared of ISIS, then you should be terrified of vending machines, because each year they kill more americans.

  7. Title II Any Other Weapon? by blindseer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'd think that this gun would fall under the BATFE classification as "any other weapon" under Title II, making it very difficult to purchase in most states. It is a gun designed to not look like a gun, which even if it was allowed by federal law would make it prohibited as a "zip gun" or some other designation by state law.

    I believe that the problem is the hopolophobes can't stand the idea of people being armed for their own defense. Disguising weapons to look like something else is only going to make their phobia worse.

    I also believe that this is an inevitable development. People have been looking for ways to conceal their ability to defend themselves for many reasons for many years. Swords and guns that look like canes are not a new idea. There have been pocket pistols that look like pocket watches since the Civil War, if not earlier. With technologies like 3D printing getting cheaper and more widely available ideas like this will be easier to implement and more difficult for law enforcement to control.

    Not I new idea, far from it. What is new, I suppose, is that this guy wants to market it at a time and place where they've been effectively banned for a century. The laws are changing though. Expect the BATFE to either throw a fit over this or make some ruling that will open the flood gates on guns like this again.

    AOW reference:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    Another thing, concealed carry is getting popular. Nine states in the USA now have provisions in law that do not prohibit concealed carry without first obtaining government permission.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
    1. Re:Title II Any Other Weapon? by Toshito · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I believe that the problem is the hopolophobes can't stand the idea of people being armed for their own defense.

      No, what I believe is that 90% of humans are complete and utter morons, who can't be trusted with a firearm. They are irrationnal, moody, have mental problems (depression, mood swings, anxiety, are religious nuts, etc.)

      Having a firearm at home is ok with me, but carrying it everywhere is a bad idea.

      I don't know where you live, but if I lived somewhere where I would need a weapon on me at all times to feel safe, I would move out of there as soon as I could.

      In fact I'm in my mid forties and so far I've never been in a situation where I needed a firearm on me. And nobody I know (friends, family, coworkers) ever talked to me about a time in their lives when they used, needed or would have needed to have a firearm on them to save their lives or get out of a bad situation.

      Still, a lot of them (including me) have firearms at home for hunting, or target shooting. So we're not anti-guns wackos.

      --
      Try it! Library of Babel
  8. Re:If you've got it why hide it? by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Informative

    Street crime in Florida dropped precipitously immediately following that state's concealed carry law allowing non-criminals to be armed. It wasn't because all the criminals suddenly went back to school and got really caught up in their French Literature studies.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  9. Re:Trying to get shot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a parody, right?

    The shooting occurred shortly after 2:30 p.m. after the man set off an alarm while going through a metal detector and "drew what appeared to be a weapon and pointed it at a police officer," Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa said.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us...

  10. Slice Statistics by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 5, Interesting

    14 people killed by "terrorists", 14,000 killed by americans.

    Statistically you are more likely to be killed by someone you know, family, neighbour, work colleague than by a stranger and a LOT more likely to b killed by an american than by a terrorist.

    If you are scared of ISIS, then you should be terrified of vending machines, because each year they kill more americans.

    Since we're talking statistics, and since I do statistics for my day job, I'd like to point out the OUTRIGHT FALLACY of citing what I call "slice" statistics.

    "Slice" statistics are statistics that only look at a "slice" of the problem, and are used to make an emotional argument in the mind of the reader. For example, if you own a gun it's much more likely that someone in your family will get shot.

    While that may be true, it's not the right statistic to look at.

    For example: countries that ban guns have a lower incidence of gun deaths.

    That may also be true, and again it's not the right statistic to look at.

    The right statistic is this: if you own guns, will your (and your family's) average lifespan be longer or shorter?

    This is the one statistic to look at. If most family shootings are suicides *and* the person would have committed suicide anyway, then this statistic will sort it out. If you catch pneumonia because you got robbed and had to put off buying a winter coat, but your neighbour scared away an intruder and wasn't robbed... then lifespan will detect this as well.

    Lifespan is affected by many things, and comparing, for example America with the UK (or another modern nation) won't work because the UK has excellent health care.

    Instead, compare roughly similar areas in the US that have easy access to guns and harsh restrictions. Compare NH to Illinois or Houston to Washington, DC.

    Let's see some real statistics here, not the "it's more likely that someone you know will kill you" crap.

  11. Re:Next level social awkwardness by Sarten-X · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Yes, kid, I have a gun, and that's okay. Before I could get this gun, I had to go to the police and show them that I'm one of the good guys. They made me promise that no matter what, I would use this gun only if there are bad guys who want to hurt me or the people around me, and there is no other way to escape. See, you've probably seen some movies or TV shows where the good guys arrive right in time. In the real world, that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, a good guy has to be there already. Right now, if a bad guy comes in this restaurant, I might be able to stop him, and that's why I have a gun."

    ...and that's how you change "awkward" into "awesome", and you don't even need to make even more identification problems!

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  12. Re:Trying to get shot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Recently the TSA stopped a woman from wearing gun themed shoes throug Baltimore airport.

    That wasn't for security reasons, that was for reasons of Good Taste.

  13. Re:Trying to get shot? by Flytrap · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Guardian has been running a live counter of people killed by police in the US. The site is pretty haunting... showing a picture of the deceased as a normal smiling person before they died. While statistics can be projected so as to further any agenda, even a racist one as you rightly state, the raw data - without any biased analysis or interpretation - speaks for itself: 1145 people were killed by police in the US last year, and if you were black, you were 2.5 times as likely to be killed by the police as a white person.

    But this is only part of the story... the Guardian counter allows you to click a link in the image of each person killed by the police to read about the circumstances under which they were killed, and it is clear that the vast majority of these people (regardless of race, ethnicity or sex) were out looking for trouble when they met their demise - criminal intent knows no racial or genetic boundaries - and maybe many of these people got what they deserved.

    I think that the issue that many people take umbrage of is the clear disparity in which police handled the 226 unarmed people they killed in 2015. Once again, many of these so-called unarmed people were not innocent in their endeavours at the time they had their untimely encounter with the police. However, what the facts tell us is that if you were an unarmed black person and had a violent encounter with the police in 2015, you were 3.8 times as likely to be killed by the police as a white person. This includes people such as Keith Childress who failed to drop an object in his hand when instructed to do so by the police - the object turned out to be his cell phone, and one might understand why he might have hesitated flinging that onto the floor - as well as Leroy Browning who allegedly reached for a deputy's firearm during a physical struggle, prompting officers to open fire; Keith did not deserve to die while Leroy probably got what he deserved.

  14. Re: Trying to get shot? by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, I kind of learned to be from adventures overseas. I had one attempted mugging in Amsterdam, one successful one in Marsellies, was shot in the leg in Bogota, and was robbed in Rio. Never had a problem in the US, but experiences overseas were enough to convince me to be armed when possible.

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  15. Re:I don't want to live in this planet anymore by cyn1c77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "A boy spotted me in [a] restaurant and said loudly, 'Mommy, Mommy, that guy's got a gun!'

    So instead of thinking "maybe I shouldn't carry a weapon when I go to a family restaurant", his first reaction was "How can I hide it better?".

    Faith in humanity: Lost.

    What is particularly depressing is that most people:
    1. Think it is OK for a police officer to carry a gun into a family restaurant.
    2. Are probably willing to accept that criminals may also illegally carrying concealed weapons in that restaurant.
    3. Cannot deal with a private citizen legally carrying a firearm in public.