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

NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 73 posts

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#21

Post by eigenvector »

jlgreco wrote: post #6

> announced he would be introducing legislation to renew a ban on firearms and magazines that can't be picked up by standard metal detectors. The current ban on plastic firearms expires this year. In other words, the only thing this has to do with printed magazines is that printed magazines are being used as a talking point to promote the bill. Printed magazines, when printed with plastic, would still be picked up by…

Well, the slide of a Glock (and of all other polymer-framed firearms) is a big hunk of metal.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#22

Post by jlgreco »

eigenvector wrote: post #21
jlgreco wrote: post #6

> announced he would be introducing legislation to renew a ban on firearms and magazines that can't be picked up by standard metal detectors. The current ban on plastic firearms expires this year. In other words, the only thing this has to do with printed magazines is that printed magazines are being used as a talking point to promote the bill. Printed magazines, when printed with plastic, would still be picked up by…

Well, the slide of a Glock (and of all other polymer-framed firearms) is a big hunk of metal.

Not to mention the barrel.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#23

Post by runarb »

travisby wrote: post #14
cdjk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until someone figures out a way to make plastic bullets (pedantic edit: and cartridges) I'm not going to worry too much about it.

http://wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8699 Plastic 308 rounds. Those are real projectiles, not dummy rounds. I do not know if the entire cartridge is plastic, though. That primer definitely looks like metal. And I'm going to assume steel for the cartridge body (wow, it was hard to think of another word than 'brass'). Now, a fully plastic gun is another story...

Thus are military training rounds. The bullet are plastic, but the cartridge is brass. They are generally not deadly, and are sometimes used to fire at people with (as a form of paintball, but that is ill advised).

They are meant for training with outdoors. They are cheaper then normal bullets, less pollution then lead and don't goes so fare (a normal 7.62mm bullets can be deadly for upwards to 3.5 kilometers, making random shouting in a simulated setting outside unsafe).

More info about this bullets are available at http://gunlore.awardspace.info/rifledarms/ammunition/dag762b...

However caseless ammunition also exist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caseless_ammunition . Thus could probably be made without any metal.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#24

Post by badgar »

gojomo wrote: post #11

This will have about as much protective effect against the criminally-motivated as putting up "gun-free school zone" signs.

I always thought school zone laws existed not for deterrence but to provide for stronger punishments, and that the signs are there to help law-abiding citizens carrying weapons from unintentionally breaking the law.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#25

Post by cdjk »

travisby wrote: post #14
cdjk wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until someone figures out a way to make plastic bullets (pedantic edit: and cartridges) I'm not going to worry too much about it.

http://wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8699 Plastic 308 rounds. Those are real projectiles, not dummy rounds. I do not know if the entire cartridge is plastic, though. That primer definitely looks like metal. And I'm going to assume steel for the cartridge body (wow, it was hard to think of another word than 'brass'). Now, a fully plastic gun is another story...

I think the cartridge is mostly plastic too, since it says "plastic case cartridge... steel base...." And if it were steel why would they bother painting the cartridge blue? The primer is definitely steel, however.

In any event, the barrel at least has to be metal, so this seems similar to the risk of someone bringing gunpowder into a secure area.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#26

Post by rflrob »

pejoculant wrote: post #3

This headline is pretty misleading. He just introduced a bill to renew an already existing ban on non-metallic guns and magazines.

My read is that while non-metallic guns are currently illegal, the existing ban doesn't cover the magazines themselves.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#27

Post by smokeyj »

badgar wrote: post #24
gojomo wrote: post #11

This will have about as much protective effect against the criminally-motivated as putting up "gun-free school zone" signs.

I always thought school zone laws existed not for deterrence but to provide for stronger punishments, and that the signs are there to help law-abiding citizens carrying weapons from unintentionally breaking the law.

> school zone laws existed not for deterrence but to provide for stronger punishments

I imagine stronger punishment is supposed to be deterrence. When your only tool is a hammer..

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#28

Post by runarb »

cdjk wrote: post #25
travisby wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://wideners.com/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=8699 Plastic 308 rounds. Those are real projectiles, not dummy rounds. I do not know if the entire cartridge is plastic, though. That primer definitely looks like metal. And I'm going to assume steel for the cartridge body (wow, it was hard to think of another word than 'brass'). Now, a fully plastic gun is another story...

I think the cartridge is mostly plastic too, since it says "plastic case cartridge... steel base...." And if it were steel why would they bother painting the cartridge blue? The primer is definitely steel, however. In any event, the barrel at least has to be metal, so this seems similar to the risk of someone bringing gunpowder into a secure area.

"And if it were steel why would they bother painting the cartridge blue"

Do distinguished them from other rounds. When I was in the Norwegian military we had at list bullets painted:

Red: Blanks.

Blu: Plastic bullets for training. Cheap and less pollution then lead.

Yellow: Tracer rounds.

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#29

Post by cranklin »

jlgreco wrote: post #10
pjungwir wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of a plastic Glock appeared in one of the Die Hards. For all I know that's where it originated.

Die Hard 2 I believe. That's where I first heard it too.

they called it the "glock 7"

Re: NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

#30

Post by noahc »

gojomo wrote: post #11

This will have about as much protective effect against the criminally-motivated as putting up "gun-free school zone" signs.

I agree with you, but this should not be the #1 comment on HN.

There's a lot of interesting things going on here. But, specifically, I want to comment on the disconnect between legislators and reality caused by isolation from various aspects of everyday life due to the nature of specialization.

A lot of folks complain about lobbyist, but this a critically important role they play. They don't buy their votes as many suspect, they instead educate the congressmen they work with into believing what they believe. Or, a slightly more realistic phrasing is that they provide congressmen with the ideological ammunition they use on the floor and in the press to push their agenda.

In this case it's rather trivial, because currently 3d printed all plastic guns and magazines are mostly non-viable which explains why there are no lobbyist to help correct congress when they go astray. But the next time you call lobbying bad, just remember that lobbying is an important part of having informed legislatures.

Post reply on HN