# A new record! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 2, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804 "2017-10-02T13:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/401 "2017-10-04T06:33:56Z")
I understand what you’re trying to do **jtur88** but that’s a false equivalence. The police did not suddenly fire into 20,000 people at a party. You’re talking about hundreds of separate incidents, with hundreds of different stories and backgrounds. Apples to oranges. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/402 "2017-10-04T07:54:24Z")
Or in this case, oranges to tangerines. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/403 "2017-10-04T09:12:01Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > If that’s the case, then from your perspective, there’s no problem. You can confidently await the future, knowing your gun rights will soon be far more secure and expansive than they are already. And presumably your 3D printer can just as easily make grenades and howitzers and so forth, so you will have armaments to fight the Extremely Hypothetical Left-Wing Military Dictatorship In A Nation Where The Police And Military Rather Heavily Lean Right. So, let’s allow for advances in 3d printers to the point where you can actually manufacture something akin to a modern rifle. That’s actually one hell of a big hypothetical, because we’re not even close to 3d printing that could create a barrel capable of handling the temperature and pressure you’d see firing 30 rounds off quickly, especially something with rifling, etc, and you’ve also got the whole issue with the receiver, gas port, yadda, but let’s just say you could. How are you going to get the ammo? You can’t print propellant, or the explosive for your hypothetical grenade or artillery round. This 3 year old article from theregister is still very valid: > **[3D printed guns: This time it's for real! Oh, wait – no, still crap](https://www.theregister.com/Print/2014/11/06/3d_printed_guns_analysis/)** > > It turns out you can make a real gun ... from steel and gun parts ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/404 "2017-10-04T12:07:41Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Such as? Petitions? Protest marches? Condemnation by Hollywood celebrities? That’s fine as long as the system isn’t broken. Frankly, I think the USA is still a democracy only on inertia; in the cycle of history we’re approximately where the Roman Republic was just before the Gracchus brothers were assassinated. But you doubtless disagree- after all, It Can’t Happen Here. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > If that’s the case, then from your perspective, there’s no problem. You can confidently await the future, knowing your gun rights will soon be far more secure and expansive than they are already. And presumably your 3D printer can just as easily make grenades and howitzers and so forth, so you will have armaments to fight the Extremely Hypothetical Left-Wing Military Dictatorship In A Nation Where The Police And Military Rather Heavily Lean Right. > > Sure, that may be a problem for us libruls, but we’ll worry about our own side of things, thanks. 🙂 It does raise quite a valid point when one considers that the side of the political spectrum most likely to stockpile guns to combat the gub’mint are also the side of the political spectrum most likely to support a right-wing dictatorship. Just consider the vocal support for Joe “I run my own concentration camps” Arpaio - years of massive abuses of his power characterized as “he was just doing his job”. It certainly Can Happen Here but the folks claiming to be willing to come out and fight it are the ones most likely to stay at home posting “Suck it, libtards!” on Facebook threads. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/405 "2017-10-04T12:18:37Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Serious question: in the next decade or two, advances in 3D printing technology mean that anyone with ~$5000.00 dollars can buy a machine that will turn out fully functional automatic rifles. Making guns becomes as simple and easy for unskilled people as making bathtub gin. Laws banning guns then become as futile as the Vatican’s list of banned books became after Gutenberg. What then? What makes you think laws would become futile? If the punishment for homemade automatic weapons is so severe that the average person wouldn’t even consider taking the first step toward it, then the law will have done its job. You can’t stop crazy – agreed. But you can put up roadblocks and hurdles that make it for more difficult for crazy to cause mass casualties. I accept the fact that there will, from time to time, be mass casualty events such as these – nobody who is arguing with you seriously believes otherwise. But it’s past time to reject straw man and slippery slope fallacies to avoid having serious conversations about how we can reduce the likelihood and/or frequency of these events. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/406 "2017-10-04T15:44:09Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It does raise quite a valid point when one considers that the side of the political spectrum most likely to stockpile guns to combat the gub’mint are also the side of the political spectrum most likely to support a right-wing dictatorship. Just consider the vocal support for Joe “I run my own concentration camps” Arpaio - years of massive abuses of his power characterized as “he was just doing his job”. It certainly Can Happen Here but the folks claiming to be willing to come out and fight it are the ones most likely to stay at home posting “Suck it, libtards!” on Facebook threads. Aye; and you’re not the only person who noticed this aspect of things. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/407 "2017-10-04T16:22:06Z")
But you might also posit that they needed all those guns against a potentially tyrannical government, because they _knew_ they’d be electing one. Or perhaps even, have elected a potentially tyrannical government to demonstrate the importance of the right to own guns! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/408 "2017-10-04T16:27:16Z")
It makes as much sense as “We have to go buy AR-15’s to protect ourselves from Obama taking them away”, while not noticing the manufacturers laughing with glee. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/409 "2017-10-04T17:56:23Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > But you might also posit that they needed all those guns against a potentially tyrannical government, because they _knew_ they’d be electing one. > > Or perhaps even, have elected a potentially tyrannical government to demonstrate the importance of the right to own guns! _“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.”_ ~P. J. O’Rourke ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/410 "2017-10-04T18:51:29Z")
**Public Announcement** If I am ever a victim of a mass shooting, I hereby request that all advocates of stronger gun control laws honor my memory by politicizing the fuck out of my death and using the occasion to shame the NRA and affiliated assholes to the greatest extent possible. No need to wait for the body to cool. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/411 "2017-10-04T19:23:11Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > So, let’s allow for advances in 3d printers to the point where you can actually manufacture something akin to a modern rifle. That’s actually one hell of a big hypothetical… Hey, I don’t know enough about 3D printing to have even an uninformed opinion, that’s how total my ignorance is. This was what Lumpy was saying **will happen**. I was just saying that, given _his_ assumptions, a pro-gun type like him has nothing to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/412 "2017-10-04T19:31:51Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > So, let’s allow for advances in 3d printers to the point where you can actually manufacture something akin to a modern rifle. That’s actually one hell of a big hypothetical, because we’re not even close to 3d printing that could create a barrel capable of handling the temperature and pressure you’d see firing 30 rounds off quickly, especially something with rifling, etc, and you’ve also got the whole issue with the receiver, gas port, yadda, but let’s just say you could. There are [3D printed metal guns](https://3dprint.com/21109/3d-print-metal-gun-reason/) that work just fine. Of course that gun costs $12,000 so… That said [recent advances](http://newatlas.com/desktop-metal-3d-printing/50654/) have brought the cost of metal 3D printers way down. It’s still not cheap equipment but within the realm of approachable now. Presumably further advances will lower the price more. Printing a gun is not easy though. You cannot print the gun as a single item. You need to print all the separate pieces and assemble it all. Clearly it can be done but it is slow compared to modern weapons manufacture which will make it more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![SaneBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SaneBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaneBill)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/413 "2017-10-04T19:59:45Z")
But is it really possible to print every single part of a gun ? I would assume it prints something like cast metal and my understanding is that while a gun is mostly cast steel, a firing pin and the springs must be wrought steel. ( And as someone said, you really can’t print ammunition. ) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/414 "2017-10-04T20:13:50Z")
The thing american gun control advocates (a.k.a. sane people) fail to understand every time: You don’t have to argue how guns should be regulated; doing so lets the gun nuts bog you down in endless details about designations and tweaked statistics. Let them figure it out: We know noting about guns, You’re the experts. Go do your thing It is not your problem to create sane gun regulations. Let the NRA figure it out. Give them a simple ultimatum: Propose any regulations you like and after 5 years there has to be significant reduction in gun deaths. If said reductions do not materialise it is someone else’s turn 🙂 Define “significant” as 25% reduction. Define “gun deaths” as “people who are dead because someone(or themselves) shot holes in them.” Your guns, your problem. As for pools/cars/alcohol/whatever; let them propose any regulations they think will save lives, implement those as well, no questions asked. (after 5 years those will be reevaluated as well) Do not get involved in ANY discussion about ANY detail. Stop feeding the goddamn trolls. Demand a solution. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/415 "2017-10-04T21:01:40Z")
Since apparently there is nothing to be done, maybe we can start a new national holiday where we celebrate the folks who have selflessly given their lives while just trying to live. Price of Freedom Day! ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/416 "2017-10-04T21:12:43Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Since apparently there is nothing to be done, maybe we can start a new national holiday where we celebrate the folks who have selflessly given their lives while just trying to live. Price of Freedom Day! Good point. From now on, I will think of those who are shot dead or injured not as victims of gun violence, but as heroes sacrificing themselves to protect the second amendment. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/417 "2017-10-04T22:36:05Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > Since apparently there is nothing to be done, maybe we can start a new national holiday where we celebrate the folks who have selflessly given their lives while just trying to live. Price of Freedom Day! > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Good point. From now on, I will think of those who are shot dead or injured not as victims of gun violence, but as heroes sacrificing themselves to protect the second amendment. Maybe we can get Wayne LaPierre to read the honor roll of those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for his freedoms, and give thanks for their selfless defense of the Second Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/418 "2017-10-04T22:55:32Z")
When will the President put accountants on the no-fly list? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/419 "2017-10-04T23:17:38Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Maybe we can get Wayne LaPierre to \*\*read the honor roll \*\*of those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for his freedoms, and give thanks for their selfless defense of the Second Amendment. I initially read this as “lead the honor roll” and let out a loud “Hell Yeah!,” scaring the cat. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804/420 "2017-10-04T23:52:36Z")
> [@Gun control wouldn't have stopped what happened in Vegas...should we do it anyway?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-control-wouldnt-have-stopped-what-happened-in-vegas-should-we-do-it-anyway/797873/245): > > You never shot an automatic weapon. It is fun. I never shot a bump-fire weapon, it is probably fun as well. Did you get a hard-on? I"m guessing you got a hard-on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-record-u-s-a-u-s-a-u-s-a/797804.md?page=22)