I just read today’s Trump tweets calling on Jeff Sessions to end the Mueller investigation. Because, hey, when a guy under criminal investigation says he’s innocent, that should be good enough for everybody, right?
The real point of this post is: I continue to be surprised by how dumb Trump is. How is that possible??
Sessions doesn’t even have that authority. Trump’s pretty spectacularly fuckin dumb.
Sure he does. He just has to rescind his recusal.
There are plenty of other industries that will be hit harder by 3D printing than gun manufacturing. I suspect it will be a long time before ordinary users are confident enough in the safety and reliability of homemade guns to stop buying Glocks.
I can picture someone who doesn’t currently have any guns getting a printed one even if they know it’s at best good for only a few shots and keeping it as a last ditch home defense, while the manufacturers continue to make their profits on compulsive collectors willing to spend thousands on accessories and variants.
Heck, modify the CAD files to make a gun without a detachable mag that can be loaded with three to five rounds (though doing so breaks a small internal tab so the gun can’t be reloaded) and had a built-in “trigger plug” that has to be torn free before the gun can be used, highlighting its function as an emergency-only device.
Yeah, I stated that improperly. What I was getting at was that this was Rosenstein’s call. I suppose I was giving the Trump fellas the benefit of the doubt integrity-wise. Which is foolish. And Trump is dumb as fuck.
The current set of 3D pistols are (by definition) single shot; the plastic used to create the gun is unable to withstand more than one round.
Also I expect they are horrifyingly inaccurate, because, well, instead of a rifled metal barrel, they are made of plastic.
It is my understanding that this is no longer true. The life of the weapon isn’t long but it may be long enough to empty a clip.
I find myself saying this with distressing regularity.
I thought being made of plastic isn’t a bug, but a feature. Won’t it allow someone to bring a gun onto an airplane or into a courtroom because it can go through the metal detector?
This to me is the scariest part of the printable gun. We’ve done a piss-poor job if keeping guns out of the hands of loonies, but a fairly good job keeping them out of certain places.
This is pretty much the same thing critics were saying of Glock 30 years ago. The answer to printable guns is the same thing it was for Glock: more x-ray machines and train people how to recognize a plastic gun when it shows up in an x-ray.
I’ll say. Just wait until some joker publishes plans to 3D print a 3D printer…
Who knew there were televisions outside of the US? Who knew most adults have longer attention spans than a newborn mayfly? Who knew people talk to each other? Damn, this “people” thing is hard!
I know almost nothing about guns, so I was surprised that some Glock guns weren’t setting off metal detectors. My very cursory googling indicated that this may be somewhat of an urban legend. Do you have some data that this did indeed happen?
I also know almost nothing about those x-ray machines they run your carryons through. Does plastic show up on them? How can they tell the difference between a real pistol and the plastic toy one you’re bringing for your niece?
Pretty sure that’s when you get your bag searched surrounded by large men.
Though, I think the x-ray machines will show some of the inner workings, I very much doubt a toy would not be taken seriously.
Any solid shows up. Liquids too; the reason they have to be set aside is so the labeling can be checked.
Popular Mechanics covered the Glock in January 2012.
As pointed out by scudsucker a few posts up, printed guns would need metal parts (like in Glocks) to be even remotely reliable.
Remember back when people were not allowed to say “Merry Christmas”? You are now free to do so because Donald Trump has made it possible.
Are you saying that In the Line of Fire lied to me? (Okay, it wasn’t printed, but it was plastic.)
Considering the forged steel barrel and the stamped metal slide as well as the various metals in the firing mechanism, it seems it would be a mere matter of calibration of the metal detector gate. I mean, if it beeps when I have a large key ring in my pocket.
Dunno about In the Line of Fire but Die Hard 2 certainly did. 