Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

webpronews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 158 posts

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#131

Post by jevinskie »

mgarfias wrote: post #75
mgarfias wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect. The lower is the only part of the assembled weapon upon which a serial # is applied and a tax is paid. It is also the # that is recorded on the Form 4473 at the dealer when you purchase the weapon. There is no federal level firearms registration (excepting NFA items), and only a few states that do so as well.

Oh, and if you build it yourself (as this person has done), no tax need be paid, no serial # need be applied, and all perfectly legal provided you have not been restricted from purchasing a weapon through normal channels. That is, a felon making a weapon is now a felon-in-possession, where a citizen with full rights making one has not committed a crime.

It is recommended that you do apply a serial number because LEO may incorrectly conclude that the firearm is illegal if they don't see one.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#132

Post by InclinedPlane »

drhayes9 wrote: post #125
InclinedPlane wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, guns destroy human beings, that is their purpose. And it is difficult for a lot of people to grapple with the idea that such seemingly fundamentally, some would say, evil devices can be used for good. The comparison with cars is a good one though. Cars are an example of how lethal power exists in the hands of many in society. And that's true to an enormous degree, not just with cars though they are a prime examp…

Thank you for your thoughtful comment on a touchy issue. That is a good point about the comparison with cars. I have been stepping neatly past the trust idea (which applies to computers as well, and I'm a coder). It's a very powerful idea that I haven't thought about enough. But I think firearms do represent a unique capability: how many bricks per minute can you throw? From how far away could you snipe someone with…

Why?

I suspect that you believe that the potential for violence is something that can be separated from a peaceful society, but that isn't the case. More so, I think living within such a worldview is intellectually stunting. In practice we see that private gun ownership is not uniquely dangerous. We see that automobiles are far more dangerous, for example. We see that the overwhelming majority of gun owners are peaceful people, we see that the overwhelming majority of guns are never used for violence. Consider some other statistics as well, if you were a parent would you be afraid of sending your child to a house that contains guns? What about sending your child to a house with a pool? In actuallity the 2nd is about 100 times more dangerous.

More so, taking guns out of the hands of peaceful citizens has consequences. People use guns to defend themselves against others. Indeed, such uses are far more common than gun homicides. Banning guns means allowing rapes, murders, muggings, assaults. How can you be so comfortable with that?

As far as the lethality of mundane objects and activities. Consider how many people can be killed by cars by driving them into a crowd. Consider how many people can, and are, killed by arson. Consider how many people are raped by a perpetrator who has no weapon other than their physical strength. Violence and the potential for violence is part of society. Personally I think society is better served by peaceful individuals growing in maturity and responsibility and learning how to wield firearms in a way that supports a peaceful society by defending it against would be murderers, rapists, and thieves.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#133

Post by owenjones »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #100
reitzensteinm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who quite rightly see our drug laws as pointless and ineffective somehow often miss that a gun ban would be no more effective in the United States. As an outsider, this is one of the most irrational things about American politics to me. Talk about guns, then talk about drugs, and each of the two major parties literally adopts the arguments of the other. Then again, it's a perfectly rational system from the p…

What's even more hilarious, about gun laws, is that the same folks who tell you that the entire system is corrupt (that you can't trust the military or the police because they're just a bunch of power hungry savages) are the ones who think that only the police and the military should be able to use guns. Not a very logically consistent worldview.

The infantile level of discourse surrounding gun laws saddens and disgusts me. And no, I don't believe either the military or the police are corrupt. I think that is a pretty anecdotal remark.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#134

Post by learc83 »

mc32 wrote: post #60
nitrogen wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a murder rate twice any other developed country[1], the United States clearly has a serious violence problem, and taking guns out of the hands of the average Joe would surely help reduce it. The second clause does not follow from the first. Murder in the US is heavily demographically biased, and most gun owners are not murderers. Furthermore, will you be the one going door to door to collect everyone's firearms?…

>Furthermore, will you be the one going door to door to collect everyone's firearms? Japan made it very difficult to own new firearms after they passed new Swords and Firearms laws. They allowed current gun owners to keep them, but they were not transferrable or inheritable. In other words, there are precendents for "taking away" arms, it's not unheard of. Peopple have figured out how to do this.

Japan had nowhere near the gun culture or level of gun ownership the US has. There are enough unregistered guns in the US to supply the criminal population for decades.

Most criminals steal or buy there guns on the black market. What do you think is going to happen to the hundreds of millions of guns sitting in people's basements when guns are banned?

Also if they passed the exact same law in the US, the result would be violence and insurgency. There are thousands of heavily armed people sitting around waiting for the day the government bans firearms.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#135

Post by learc83 »

mc32 wrote: post #127
JabavuAdams wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan has a completely different culture from the US (obviously). You can't ignore the effects of such different attitudes towards individualism, income disparity, acceptable levels of violence, and trust in government. Never mind that the US is a multicultural society, whereas Japan isn't really.

True.. but as it regarded homebrew, there is "pent up demand" demostrated by the trickled smuggling by the gokudo syndicates. Yet, there isn't a homebrew industry. Instead, the few illegal arms are smuggled in. My point was that homebrew does not seem to spring up once firearms are made illegal, to any significant extent. Americans own approx 300 firearms. I don't think homebrew would manufacture in that quantity.

Firearms last decades, most of those 300 million firearms are unregistered (indeed the number could be far higher), so there isn't really a feasible way to get rid of even half of them.

Guns last decades to centuries, the underground manufacturers only have to make enough to keep up with criminal population growth to keep the criminals just as supplied with guns as they are today.

It might actually be worse because many of the law abiding citizens who previously left their guns sitting in the basement will be willing to sell on the black market with gun prices rising.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#136

Post by learc83 »

mgarfias wrote: post #88
kunle wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banning guns will require a change in the constitution, and will likely never happen as a result. In addition, even if it did happen, it would likely be unpopular because of the demand side as you mention. That being said, the argument(s) for mandatory background checks, tracking whose buying what, and assault weapons restrictions are pretty compelling, and while they are supply side solutions, they can hardly be cal…

What is an "assault weapon"? Oh, did you mean an AR15? The most popular firearm sold in the US for the past few years. Which Heller specifically protects ("in common use"). Dude, go ahead and out everyone in my neighor hood with an AR15 or other detachable box magazine fed automatic rifle. You know what will happen? Not a damn thing - we all have these things here. I personally have had well over 6000 rds of ammo at…

Not to mention what good is 6k rounds for a massacre? How are you planning on carrying that much ammo around while firing at people?

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#137

Post by learc83 »

ktizo wrote: post #123
lgbr wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A gun doesn't have to be visible to deter crime. Just the possibility of a victim having a gun is plenty of deterrence. I'd much rather burgle an Australian or English home than one in the US, given how many homes in the US have guns.

If you know a home has guns, aren't you just as likely to burgle it while the occupants are out, probably in order to steal the guns?

Yes, but less likely to burgle it while the occupants are at home. Insurance covers stolen possessions, but you can't replace lives lost in a botched burglary or home invasion.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#138

Post by learc83 »

jarek wrote: post #103
lgbr wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To be fair, this tool has only one use: it kills things. I disagree. A gun's primary use for law abiding citizens is that it intimidates things. The most effective way to use a gun is simply to deter crime. You wouldn't say that the reason the United States and the Soviet Union stockpiled nuclear weapons was because they wanted to level each others' cities. It was simply deterrence.

> A gun's primary use for law abiding citizens is that it intimidates things. The most effective way to use a gun is simply to deter crime. A purpose they are quite clearly failing at. So the question is what, if anything, citizens of the U.S.A. wish to do about the fact that, empirically, legality and availability of guns has not resulted in crime rates comparable to comparable states.

That doesn't follow. There are no comparable states with a comparable history, demography, economy, and culture.

It's possible that gun ownership deters crime, but that something else unique to the U.S. is causing more crime than gun ownership is countering.

The only thing you could possibly do is to compare parts of the US to each other, and in that case you'll find that locations with stricter gun laws have more gun violence.

You could conclude that gun laws cause gun violence, but that would be stupid because many times gun laws exist because of gun violence. What's the difference between my conclusion and yours?

Concluding that guns cause violence without real hard evidence and subsequently banning them is like using the unproven gateway drug theory to justify locking up people for smoking pot.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#139

Post by pyre »

angrow wrote: post #27
pyre wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but what could be poisonous to one species, could be nutritious to another. The idea that 'poisons' are easily identifiable is pure fantasy.

Everyone on the Enterprise can breath the same air and eaet the same food. And if something is poison to even just a few of your crew, you forbid it and tell everyone else to eat almonds instead of peanuts. :nerdingout:

Note that they often invited aliens of unknown origin onto their ship (dignitaries, ambassadors, first contact, etc). This is hardly enforceable.

Re: Gunsmith Uses 3D Printer To Make A Rifle

#140

Post by jarek »

learc83 wrote: post #138
jarek wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A gun's primary use for law abiding citizens is that it intimidates things. The most effective way to use a gun is simply to deter crime. A purpose they are quite clearly failing at. So the question is what, if anything, citizens of the U.S.A. wish to do about the fact that, empirically, legality and availability of guns has not resulted in crime rates comparable to comparable states.

That doesn't follow. There are no comparable states with a comparable history, demography, economy, and culture. It's possible that gun ownership deters crime, but that something else unique to the U.S. is causing more crime than gun ownership is countering. The only thing you could possibly do is to compare parts of the US to each other, and in that case you'll find that locations with stricter gun laws have more gu…

Ah, yes, the U.S. exceptionalism. No other country like it! No one else could have an invasive dominant culture, a disadvantaged minority group, large prosperity divides, and a God-given fear of groups of other people (you call it "government").

Oh well. It's no water off my back if you guys are fine with answering my original question with "nothing" and continuing shooting each other up as price of freedom.

Post reply on HN