3D printed firearms
Posted by KosherGuy 10 years, 5 months ago to Technology
I find it interesting that the ATF&E is concerned about the ability to get past X-Ray or Magnetometers with firearms printed out of non metallic materials. My question is how do you get metallic bullets and cartridge cases past the same X-ray and magnetometer equipment. A gun without ammunition is simply a paper weight. In addition to airports, you will find metal detection devices at courthouses, city halls, and various other venues. Until someone comes up with non-metallic ammunition, this is a threat that simply does not exist.
Not to give anyone ideas but a dart (poisoned or not) launched by a blow gun could perhaps be considered in the same category.
They went from a 22 through 38, 9mm, 45 and 44 magnum. Only the 44 magnum transferred more force to the target, although all the pistol ammunition had more penetration than the slingshot ball.
Point being, someone can sneak the components for a non-ferrous slingshot aboard a flight a lot more easily than a 3D printed firearm, and when your audience is unarmed... it's good enough.
The First 3d printed bullets (working).
When they show the two working together, that's the final step.
What a world.
So the threat is not to aircraft, paassenger or freight. It's to the "jackbooted thugs" on the ground when the John Galt-style collapse comes. And by some accounts, that collapse will come WITHOUT John Galt's help.
What would John Galt, or Ragnar Danneskjöld, have thought of this development? Just imagine the sort of militia Ragnar Danneskjöld, or any of his black-market customers, could have raised.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJndXebTG...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0h2Uf6XG...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj-x4oT3c...
"Semi-finished" AR-15 receivers have been around for some time, as have jigs to assist in finishing them. These essentially require a machine shop to complete them. The polymer receivers can be "finished" using basic hand tools and the jig is supposedly not required.
In other words, with a bit of time, basic skills, and an assortment of "gun parts", you can build your own AR-15 without having to let anyone know you bought it, or that you possess it.
I once got a "positive" and ended up being thoroughly gone over before being allowed to go about my business. The only thing I can think of that might have caused this was that I had walked across a recently-fertilized lawn earlier in the day.
The last time I went anywhere by air, my gate was at the far end of the concourse, as far as possible from any security checkpoint. There's a buffet-style steak place out there where you collect your silverware from bins after you check out. Including steak knives. Rounded tips, but they do have a pretty good edge. Meanwhile, the TSA confiscated my toothpaste because it was one ounce larger than permitted.
There are also nitrates present in a number of household products. One oddball that comes to mind is "instant cold packs".
Just an idea which would of course get shot down by the idiots in government...
I think the bigger gripe is why everyone is subject to TSA inspections for this nonsense when it is a very clear minority - easily visually identified - that perpetrate the vast majority of the problems with air transport in the first place. If your ire has a legitimate target, that would be it.
I mean good grief. Mothers can't take infants onto a plane with baby formula or milk to feed them, so the other customers get to listen to a screaming child for their flight. People have to wait to get to their hotels for basic toiletries such as toothpaste, etc. because the TSA won't let you carry them on.
I am in full agreement with the annoyances of "security" in air travel, I'm just pointing out that the detectors are just inanimate objects - it is the policies that dictate their use that are the obstacles here.
Every time I go to the VA hospital I have to clean my wheelchair since spent brass can collect in the little nooks on it's base. Not only are firearms a big no-no in those facilities, but spent brass is too. Large calibers are pretty easy to find, but 22's are a pain in the butt. Picking up a person in the airport if you have spent brass in a pocket will also gain you a trip to the back room. How do I know? I was inline at the concession stand and reach into a pocket of my chair that I keep change in and pulled out a handful of change and two spent 22 brass with a TSA bum standing in line behind me. You would have though I was Ali Achbir or something. THAT FOOL made a entire day exciting. Some people need to be kept from breeding.
The thing is: if we can think up stuff like this with such ease, just imagine what people who make a full time job out of making horrid plots must come up with.
How do terrorists really take over planes at all? Fear. There is no substitute. They MUST cow the passengers into submission using fear in order to succeed. Remember Flight 93 on 9/11? Those passengers fought back and overwhelmed their attackers.
A stereotypical Cuban revolutionary stands up in a plane, pulls out a gun and says, "Thees plane is goink to Coobah!"
At which point a little old lady pulls out a 44 magnum bigger than herself, points it at him and says, "This plane is going to Miami Beach!"
In the other movie, a would-be skyjacker stands up, pulls out a weapon, proclaims his intent of redirecting the flight... and everyone around him is now pointing a variety of guns right at his head.
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/News/1459...
FYI - Defense Distributed is the company founded by the entrepreneur who 3D printed the first firearm.
I am starting work on 3D printing of metals now, but once again not for firearms.
If you want to take down an airliner, there are lots of ways to do it. One of the easiest is probably to bribe someone for ramp access and slap a bomb on the OUTSIDE of the aircraft.
Most non-nitrate explosives would probably pass through "security theater". Ceramic knives are largely undetectable.
But keep in mind that TSA misses weapons/explosives in 50% of all tests and from what I've read, the bombs look like something Wile E. Coyote would order from Acme to kill the Road Runner.
Someone published the "how to beat the strip-o-scanner" manual. Basically, you strap stuff on your sides where it shows up black - as it would if nothing were there.
The weak point in airport security begins with a 5-mile perimeter fence and many thousands of people going through the airport. Contrast that with a prison where the perimeter may be less than a mile, everyone coming or going is tightly controlled and rigorously searched, and people still are able to smuggle contraband.
TSA is a joke. Not a funny joke, but a joke just the same. The hullabaloo about plastic guns is just part of the entertainment and more proof that if Schumer ever had a brain, he doesn't now.
Read more at http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/2d...
A bit of background; Prior to retiring on Maui I served with law enforcement for 16 years in South Florida and was invited by the Dept of Homeland Security to take two training classes in New Mexico on Terrorist bombing in 2007. Incredibly interesting and a bit scary as well - blowing up stuff in the desert for ten days.
To me, I think the idea is cool, but that the materials will have to seriously improve before this is a big deal. Second, I still get hung up on the idea of "shall not be infringed" as the Gold Standard. To me, I should be able to carry anywhere and everywhere and so should everyone else.
Would also be interested in the cost of the materials in your link, as the common resin plastic in current use means that a printed gun can be manufactured for about $400.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DconsfGsX...
Thanks again for the link!
Do you have any information on the costs and which materials are being used?
Interesting aside on the "plastic gun" issue. Ohio's ex-Senator Metzenbaum was the driving force because he was afraid that when Glock made its polymer pistol it would be able to pass the screeners. The only non-metal on any polymer pistol is the receiver (the bottom part) the rest is metal. I know I carry Glocks.