Author Topic: Ghost Guns  (Read 383 times)

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Offline kimmy

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Re: Ghost Guns
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2018, 08:19:16 pm »
It doesn't even matter.  The use case for a 3d-printed gun is vanishingly small, at least until such time as 3d printers can also print bullets. (hint: that's not any time soon.)

If you're a gang member or drug dealer or whatever, you already have access to firearms even without a PAL or RPAL.  You don't want a 3d printed piece of crap, you want a professionally manufactured gun you can trust.

If you're an angry incel and you want to shoot people but you don't have a gun, a 3d printer can get you a gun but you still need a PAL to obtain bullets.  Rent a van instead.

If you're an aspiring terrorist, a 3d printed gun only makes sense if you're trying to smuggle it onto an airplane. If you're not going to get on an airplane, get a real gun or rent a van. A 3d printed gun will fail miserably and make you look like a complete joke. Other terrorists will laugh at you.  If you are trying to smuggle a weapon onto a plane, a 3d printed gun isn't any good without bullets, and bullets set off metal detectors.  Make a chemical weapon of some kind instead.  Or use a hand weapon made of Zytel or fibreglass.

But given the glaring inaccuracies and failure rate of screeners and their equipment, removing more metal makes it that much more likely the guns can get through. Besides, these screeners seem to present more of a deterrent in theory than reality.

Bob Smith the undercover TSA tester might be able to sneak stuff through TSA screeners pretty regularly, but he has the benefit of knowing that if he gets caught, he's just doing his job.  Suq Maddiq and Munchma Quchi don't have that luxury, and they're probably going to get an awful lot more scrutiny than Bob Smith anyway.

And bingo, right on time the TSA proposes stopping screening at 150 small or medium sized airports. ISIS buys a 3d printer....boom.

You're usually among those pointing out that the fear of terrorism is actually quite overblown, aren't you?  I assure you, the fear of terrorists with 3d printers is even more overblown.

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City