cecil responded to a qurrie about a non-metalic gun (like the one in In the Line of Fire, and he gave some verry good answres, however he overlooked the nature of the question, the guy was asking if a projectile weapon that was undetectable by meatal detectors existed, and yes you can get a compound mini-crossbow that is more than enough to do the job, heck the full sized ones w/ a good scope can drop dear in rifle type ranges, and allso there is some speculation of an air rifle that could be strong enough
And the column being referenced is Is it possible to make an undetectable nonmetal gun?
The question asked in the column was:
He was specifically asking about “guns” that fire “bullets”. If he was just asking about “projectile weapons that are undetectable by metal detectors”, Cecil could have referred him to the bow and arrow, or to the sling and stone.
Also, can you smuggle a mini-crossbow through metal detectors? This one says it’s made out of fiberglass but aren’t there some metal components? Also, aren’t the bolts metal?
And how would you smuggle an air rifle through metal detectors? Ditto for them having metal components, too.
While it is not (to my knowledge) possible to buy a non-metallic gun, much of what Cecil has mentioned is certainly possible with today’s materials technology. Of cource, to continue my dissertation, we have to assume the issue is that the gun must be non-metallic. X-ray technology would have a problem detecting non-metallic materials, but there are other scanning technologies which would do a better job of discriminating between the DENSITY of materials. This is wht a CAT scan can look at soft tissues, but X-rays cannot. On to the non-metallic gun: To my mind, the biggest problem is heat. I could envision a gun using fiber reinforced plastics and high-strength ceramics (especially for the barrel and breach) that could probably get off three or four rounds, but the heat would inevitably weaken the parts which contain the forces generated by firing. Nothing would cool those parts like metal. Of course, for a terrorist weapon, why does the gun need to fire more than one bullet? Use multiple guns (or a “pepperbox”), each pre-loaded with a cartridge-less combination of an initiating charge, powder, and a ceramic bullet. Firing pin? There are “toughened” ceramics using boron fiber reinforcement that would work at least once, or you could use electric ignition using a couple of very fine wires and appropriate batteries (concealed and functional in a real hearing aid during boarding). There are no secrets here (or I would be VERY concerned for my safety). What prevents such weapons from coming into general availability is the investment cost and market size, not the technology. This is why I PERSONALLY feel that the only hijacking preventative is to not open that damn door, even if they have your mother in a headlock!