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0 pointsint_19h9y ago0 comments

It really doesn't require a lot of time nor resources. A 12 gauge zip gun is literally two steel tubes of the right diameter (can be found in most hardware store), and a tube cap with a hole that can have a bolt screwed in to serve as a firing pin. For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wV3lmbSv4

Now, it is single-shot - but because they are so easy and cheap to make, someone who wanted to cause mayhem could just make and preload several dozen, and discard them as they shoot them. Still plenty deadly.

That's the thing, really... guns aren't particularly complicated mechanically to begin with, and they are even less complicated if you strip them down to bare essentials - which, if you only intend to use it at a close range, still leaves them quite functional.

On the other hand, the reason why guns are so simple is because most of the complexity is in the ammo. While that can be reloaded, it requires primers - and those can't easily be made at home.

So, if you want gun control that actually works (in a sense of preventing dangerous people from owning an overly destructive device), it has to be primarily about ammo, not guns.

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knodi1239y ago

I said time, motivation, and uncommon resources.

As to the "uncommon resources" part- what percent of the people that you know have two steel tubes of the right diameter? I didn't say it was like securing refined plutonium for an A-bomb, but I stand by my statement that those resources are not common possessions.

As to the time part - yes, absolutely, it does. Just because you've got craft skills does not mean they are common. Do most people who own a home defense gun build them themselves using common parts from a hardware store? In fact, I bet that's extremely rare.

I didn't say they were super hard, and I didn't say the resources were super rare. They're not out of reach of any dedicated person who is intent on achieving a goal. But then, a speed bump doesn't force you to drive slower, either. You can sail over them at 90 miles an hour, once. But speed bumps still do their job.

int_19hOP9y ago

My point is that it's not even hard, much less superhard. Sure, you won't have a couple of pipes of the right size just lying around - but all you need is a measuring tape to get the diameter of a shotgun shell, and then walking into the nearest Ace or Home Depot to get those. So I would argue that they are, effectively, "common possessions", in a sense that it is something that can be obtained with very little time and effort - comparable to grocery shopping.

And it doesn't require any specialized knowledge or skills at all - I couldn't fix my own sink, but I could make a working zip gun.

The reason why you don't see this happening a lot in practice is because it's easier to get a proper gun in US, and it's much more functional. But if you make that harder, you'll have to deal with this workaround suddenly becoming a lot more popular.

Speed bumps are a poor analogy, I think. They work, because their intended effect is localized - you put them where you want to avoid speeding because it's too dangerous. There's no similar locality in gun control.

hga9y ago

And with US civilian ammo production above 12 billion rounds per year and increasing, 3 million rimfire (and not increasing due to the higher capital costs for than machinery), plus substantial imports, plus the seconds we are sold from military production, especially at Lake City (ATK has a win-win-win contract where the DoD can outright cancel orders and ATK can then run the materials they've bought through the government's machinery), well, that barn door has been wide open for 7 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%9313_United_States_...

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