Free Republic

On September 29th, of 2020, The Giffords Law Center and the State of California, sued the BATFE, demanding they change their regulations and outlaw “80% receivers”. Essentially they were demanding the ATF change the law to outlaw homemade guns. This is much-delayed, but worth re-hashing especially in light of the 80% lower debate we are seeing with FOAC in Pennsylvania , part 2 is an analysis of the false assumptions in the lawsuit.Part one of this analysis deals with the predicates of the lawsuit, filed against the BATFE by the State of California and others, in the first paragraph.The Philosophical...

I have long suggested practical homemade guns of the future will only use 3D printing as part of the process. They will be hybrid designs using the strengths of 3D printing and simple metal components to produce practical firearms in the home or in small, unregulated shops.A prominent experimenter of homemade and small shop technology for crafting usable guns, Ivan the Troll (Internet screen name) claims to have made a breakthrough in home manufacture of rifled barrels. Ivan is part of, and often the spokesperson for, the Deterrence Dispensed project. Rifling a barrel has been done for hundreds of...

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- A large number of people who wish to disarm the population start with the premise “If there weren't any guns”, as if, with extreme restrictions on owning and using guns, guns will eventually go away. Under extreme legal restrictions, the number of guns has increased. I recall a prominent talk show host in southern California, wailing about confiscated guns being sold: “But if that happens, we will never be rid of guns!” he cried as if his wish were plausible.Guns are a 700 to 100-year-old technology. Guns can, and are, being made in homes and small shops around...

Australia has one of the strictest firearms regulatory schemes in Western Civilization. It has not appreciably changed their overall murder or suicide or accidental death rates, which were already low and falling when the scheme was implemented.As Australia is a continent considerably separated from the rest of the industrialized world, it is a near ideal test case for the efficacy of gun control schemes. A figure from an Australian government report on sources of illegal guns shows that when guns are tightly regulated, criminals find ways around the regulation.Guns are basically 14th-century technology. A first world country, with access...

With the extreme restrictions put in Australian firearms law in 1996, those seeking firearms illegally have many avenues of obtaining them.First, the number of guns that was *not registered* provides a vast pool of factory made arms that can enter the black market. Second, the number of legal firearms offer a pool of firearms to be stolen. But of most interest is the third option: Firearms that are made in small shops, converted from existing guns, or are homemade by individuals.The above pistol was converted from a simple single shot bolt action .22 rifle. It is simple and straightforward...

Venezuela is a country rich in oil made poor by the government takeover of a kleptocracy with socialistic underpining.The solution to problems in that philosophy come with governmental edicts, followed by destructive policies.  In Venezuela’s case, the drop in oil price made it much harder to buy votes.  Votes are hard to buy when you do not have any money. The Venezuela government followed its predilections for solving society’s problems by outlawing the private ownership of guns, with the purported purpose of reducing crime.What happened was predictable for anyone who knows basic economics.  Guns became so valuable that police...

A homebuilt, portable railgun is claimed to have achieved projectile energies comparable to commonly available air rifles.In the picture above, the capacitors, which store the railgun electrical energy, have been painted white.  They are the large cylindrical objects at the front and bottom of the gun.. Here is a video of a test of the railgun.  The rail gun can be carried, contains its own power supply for a single shot, and expels a projectile fast enough to make a half inch dent in plywood.  It probably would have penetrated the plywood, if the plywood had not had a...

The "ghost gun" used in the murder/suicide in California was built with off the shelf parts, an 80% receiver, and a fair amount of machining. The police officer in the video says that crimes committed with guns made this way are rare.  This is the first murder that he has heard of where one was used.  From kron4.com: WALNUT CREEK (KRON/BCN) — A 21-year-old Lafayette native built the firearms he used to kill a 19-year-old college woman before he turned the gun on himself at a home in Walnut Creek last month, police said Tuesday. Investigators say Scott Bertics...

In an unnamed gun 'buy back' that is reported to have occurred in June of 2014, These four homemade slam fire shotguns were turned in for cash.  The piece of pipe that acts as a barrel slides in the front.   It is much like the slam fire shotguns that were developed and used in guerrilla fighting in the Philippines in WWII.  From countercurrentnews.com: The self-described “gun rights activist,” who we are not naming, brought in a duffel bag full of home made, “slam-fire” shotguns (all of legal length). He was paid $50 for each of these improvised guns. This low...