Gun Expert John Lott: ‘The Goal of Eliminating Guns is Ultimately A Fool’s Errand’

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It is said that the DOJ’s recent settlement with start-up company Defense Distributed (DD) essentially deals a death blow to gun control advocates. DD, based in Austin, TX, was founded by 25-year-old Cody Wilson in 2013. The company’s main product is a “gun fabricator” called the Ghost Gunner. “With nothing but the Ghost Gunner, an internet connection, and some raw materials, anyone, anywhere can make an unmarked, untraceable gun in their home or garage.”

The settlement states that 3D printing tutorials are approved “for public release (i.e. unlimited distribution) in any form.”

Wilson created a ruckus in May 2013 when he announced his successful design of a plastic gun. In just two days, 100,000 copies of the handgun blueprint were downloaded from Wilson’s website.

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The most downloads came from Spain, followed by the U.S., Brazil and Germany. The heavy downloading in Spain, Brazil and Germany likely reflected attempts to evade extremely restrictive handgun regulations in those countries.

Within days of the gun file being uploaded, the Obama State Department served Wilson with a letter threatening criminal prosecution for violating federal export controls. Wilson immediately complied with the order, but there was no way to stop further downloading.

Within a week of the initial uploading, the file could be downloaded on the Internet from over 4,000 different computers around the world.

In 2015, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and DD sued the State Department arguing that “sharing instructions on how to make guns with 3D printers counts as constitutionally protected speech. This is an important victory for First Amendment rights.”

The Justice Department’s recent settlement with Wilson is very favorable to him, allowing Wilson to provide the printing instructions “for public release (meaning unlimited distribution) in any form.” The government also compensated $40,000 of Wilson’s legal costs.

While this settlement is a victory for First Amendment rights, it will be difficult, if not impossible, for the government to regulate either the printers or the guns that are made with them.

How the government will stop people from obtaining these printers isn’t exactly obvious. Proposals to require background checks, mandatory serial numbers and even a registration process for printers are easily defeated. Even if printers are registered with the government, what is going to stop gangs from stealing them? And the designs for making your own printer have been available on the Internet for years.

3D printers make the already extremely difficult job of controlling access to guns practically impossible. The government is not going to be able to ban guns, and limits on the size of bullet magazines will be even more laughable than before. Many parts of a gun can be made on very inexpensive, plastic 3D printers or even from simple machine tools.

It will be even more difficult to impose background checks, which have proven quite useless anyway. The government has been no more effective at stopping criminals from getting guns than at stopping them from obtaining drugs. That isn’t too surprising, as drug gangs are the source of both illegal drugs and guns.

This was a tough battle for the plaintiff’s, SAF and DD. They lost many lower court rulings. Gun-control advocates believe that the government “capitulated” too soon. J. Adam Skaggs, the chief counsel for the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the administration “capitulated in a case it had won at every step of the way. This isn’t a case where the underlying facts of the law changed. The only thing that changed was the administration.”

The concept of making guns with 3D printers in an age where just one year can render much technology obsolete shouldn’t surprise anyone. Nor should the fact that instructions for gun assembly are easily available for download over the internet. At the click of a mouse, we can summon almost any information we could possibly need including instructions for making a bomb.

The ability to build an untraceable, unregistered gun is definitely a game changer. It’s difficult to see how “ghost guns” could ever be regulated by the government.

 

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lostlegends
lostlegends
5 years ago

Don’t worry about gun confiscation. Easy to make or get on the black market. Afterall, the Mexicano cartels will supply Americans with automatic weapons and ammo. New market for them. Billions in revenue.

lostlegends
lostlegends
5 years ago

The awesome Hawken Rifle was made in a little shop in frontier St. Louis. It changed the game. Guns are not that difficult to make in your garage or a small machinest’s shop. I make cartridges at home.

santashandler
santashandler
5 years ago

All the gun control nut jobs can blame themselves for the explosion of the ‘ghost gun’ phenomenon. If they would have left gun regulation alone, they wouldn’t have pushed people like Wilson into this new gun arena. Now, the cat is really out of the bag. Those idiots think theres a lot of guns out there now…….

Suresh
Suresh
5 years ago
Reply to  santashandler

Agree. Its sole defense against criminals and state tyranny Like we see in EU/UK Democrat run American states .

In UK sharia Police go after those who protest muslim gang rapists and other crimes http://bit.ly/2r6F3cp

Free speech only for Left/liberal jihadis

AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
AR154U☑ᵀʳᵘᵐᵖ DEPLORABLE 2020
5 years ago


WOW !! Cheap guns made with a $2,000+ 3D printer !!
What about machinist/gunsmithing books available online or via Amazon ?!!
……….. oh btw, anything can be made into a gun …… below is guns confiscated in US prisons !!

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felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago

Gus will NEVER be banned in the U.S.. It’s in our DNA to have one or to defend ourselves.

Jay Dillon
Jay Dillon
5 years ago

Guns won’t solve the overpopulation problem no matter how stupid people get.

OverIt
OverIt
5 years ago
Reply to  Jay Dillon

I don’t know, US citizens seem to be giving it their best shot.

Ken Windeler
Ken Windeler
5 years ago
Reply to  OverIt

At over population or being stupid?

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago
Reply to  Ken Windeler

Eliminate oppressive government that enslaves people to poverty and let people thrive.
There is no “over population” problem when people are FREE!

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago
Reply to  Jay Dillon

It’s people not guns that kill.
Eliminate oppressive governments and there is no population problem.
Eliminate liberal ideology and there are less stupid people.

Drew the Infidel
Drew the Infidel
5 years ago

The rapid evolution of computer technology far outstrips the tortoise-like speed of the courts. Ever notice that school IT textbooks are always only a year or two old while history texts are almost threadbare from constant use. That is because technology changes rapidly while the story of history never changes, theoretically.

If they come for my guns, they had better bring theirs.

Be safe, be trained, be alert.

Alleged-Comment
Alleged-Comment
5 years ago

AMERICANS are to be FULLY armed. It says so in the 2nd Amendment – citizens as a MILITIA. Anybody seeking to disarm an American (who is not committing a crime) should be SHOT!!

There is NO reason to disarm an American NOT committing a crime. That is a crime itself, so don’t blame me if you get SHOT.

Criminals will always try to disarm you.

Dobraya Utka
Dobraya Utka
5 years ago

“Criminals will always try to disarm you.”

Except, perhaps “the Mexicano cartels [who] will supply Americans with automatic weapons and ammo. New market for them. Billions in revenue” as mentioned by lostlegends (above).

They are unstoppable at supplying drugs to the druggies in this country, so why not firearms to patriots?

James Stamulis
James Stamulis
5 years ago

If Hillary had won we would be in a real American revolution because she was going after our guns. Thank God for Trump! #WWG1WGA #MAGA #They thought she would never lose

Ken Windeler
Ken Windeler
5 years ago
Reply to  James Stamulis

I’m inclined to think that the Vegas shooting happened for that purpose, but Hillary wasn’t POTUS. While political correctness led directly up to the Parkland FL High School shooting, could have been prevented, but happened anyway.

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago
Reply to  Ken Windeler

Notice how we don’t hear a resolution on that. NOTHING but SILENCE.
Tell me why did Paddock make 21 trips to the middle east in the span of two years?
They seem to purposely keep it murky. The FBI and Sheriff are totally corrupt in Vegas.
NOW the hotel is suing the VICTIMS. Yes you read that right.

Mandalay Bay Hotel reportedly sues Las Vegas shooting victims
IN an astonishing move, the owners of the Mandalay Bay Casino — scene of Stephen Paddock’s deadly gun massacre last year — have filed a lawsuit against the victims.

THE corporate owners of the Mandalay Bay casino have filed a suit against the victims of last year’s Las Vegas mass shooting, claiming it has no liability for the massacre.

The New York Post reports that MGM Resorts International went to federal courts in Nevada and California and took on more than 1000 shooting victims, saying claims against the hotel giant “must be dismissed.”

“Plaintiffs have no liability of any kind to defendants,” the complaints argue, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
On October 1 last year, Mandalay Bay guest Stephen Paddock shot out the windows of his 32nd-floor room and opened fire on fans below attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival.

He killed 58 people and wounded more than 800 in the worst mass shooting in US history….
https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/mandalay-bay-hotel-reportedly-sues-las-vegas-shooting-victims/news-story/b8bbcf28db9f2d9319162023d6c58264

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago
Reply to  James Stamulis

Stock up!

felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago

GUNS put teeth in liberty!
BAN liberals from having guns.

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