Free Republic

Second Amendment activists have scored a victory in the battle to have reality influence the debate over gun culture in the United States.For years, those who want a disarmed population have attempted to demonize homemade firearms as “ghost guns.” They have claimed they are an existential threat to the people of the USA and the world. The claim is that the lack of a serial number somehow makes a gun more dangerous. Serial numbers are easy to remove. Homemade guns have existed since before the Republic was founded. Serial numbers were not required on firearms until 1968. The claim a...

On September 23, 2022, Judge Maryellen Noreika issued a preliminary injunction against Delaware in the case of Rigby v Jennings. The case is about whether the State of Delaware can outlaw homemade guns and the distribution of materials and software to make homemade guns. The decision is a win for supporters of Constitutional rights but has some troubling verbiage. Judge Maryellen Noreika was appointed by President Trump in 2018.Judge Noreika relies on the “Final Rule” from the ATF, which is under dispute in several cases, as to what is a “firearm.” Further arguments fall apart if the definition of a...

Abu says the man came in with a lottery ticket and became angry when he was told it wasn't a winner. "He told me you sold a fake ticket, and he had a balloon in his hand, with a pin from the front, and he had a piece of wood almost one foot long," said Abu." (He) hit the balloon with a piece of wood, and bullet goes out and it hit my shoulder."

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a homemade gun on July 8th, 2022, in the Japanese city of Nara. From video of the event, it appears the assassin fired his weapon at Abe from a distance of 20 to 30 feet. The two distinct shots were fired about a second apart and produced copious amounts of white smoke.Early reports were of wounds to the neck and chest. It is unknown what sort of projectiles were used in the homemade weapon.Such firearms are extremely easy to make for anyone with a rudimentary ability to use hand tools.This correspondent...

The Nevada legislature passed and Governor Sisolak signed into law AB 286 on June 7, 2021. On June 22, Polymer80 filed a lawsuit challenging AB 286 as unconstitutionally vague, under the due process clause of the Nevada Constitution. Both Polymer80 and the State of Nevada filed Motions for Summary Judgement, and opposition to the opponent’s Motion for Summary Judgement, in a timely manner.Summary judgment is granted when the law and the facts of the case are so clear cut no trial is needed for a court to rule on the matter.AB 286 attempted to ban the possession, sale, or transport...

In Washington, the District of Columbia, the murder rate is soaring. The DC leadership has a scapegoat for their political problem – blame guns! Especially blame homemade guns! They have a political solution: pay people more for snitching on people with guns, especially guns the DC politicians have banned in one way or another.A significantly increased reward has been offered for anonymous information leading to the confiscation of guns and the arrest of people illegally possessing those guns, for a period of just over a month. The increased reward – of up to $7,500 – was announced on November 22,...

On September 23, 2021, the Firearms Policy Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging a ban on the sale and possession of precursor materials used by individuals to make their own firearms. The ban flies in the face of long-standing precedents. Individuals have been legally and practically able to make their own firearms ever since the Republic was founded. From firearmspolicy.org: “The right of individuals to self-manufacture arms for self-defense and other lawful purposes is part and parcel of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and an important front in the battle to secure fundamental rights against abusive government...

I once believed primers were the weak point in making and reloading your own ammunition. Cartridge cases last a long time, when used with moderate loads. There are tens or hundreds of billions of them in existence. Bullets can be cast from lead or swagged for those willing to do the work. Gunpowder can be made. Hobbyists make black powder fairly commonly. There are even a few substitutes for smokeless power, or which can be used to stretch smokeless powder. But primers... many people consider them beyond the capability of the average person. They are wrong.Dedicated hobbyists have done...

In August of 2018, the British Authorities raided a small shop operation in Sussex, England. The small shop was producing clandestine pistols for the UK black market. About a year later, two men associated with the operation were sent to prison. A third man had died while in custody. From the news coverage, considerable more details about the shop and arms produced were released.  There is a video on Youtube that reveals much. The pistols produced were simplified copies of the Browning 1922 design. Semi-automatic pistols are not difficult to make but are harder to make work well than sub-machine...

ORDbot image from commons.wikimedia.org On 23 January 2020, state Attorneys General from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit against various officials in the State Department and the Commerce Department to prevent transfer of some items now under State Department regulation and the International Transfer in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to the Commerce Department.The case was filed in the United States District Court in the Western District of Washington at Seattle. Most of...

3D Printed Gun Hysteria Individuals have been making their own firearms for the entire history of the United States and before. Homemade guns are not as popular as factory-made guns, because factory-made guns are easily and cheaply available in the United States. The Second Amendment has guaranteed that right.It is a part of the right to keep and bear arms to be able to procure arms. A basic and fundamental way to procure arms is to make your own. Most home manufacture of firearms is for hobby or experimental purposes, although considerable homemade guns are produced in localities with extreme...

Shortly after the murders at the Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, just north of Los Angeles, the news coverage faltered and died away. I and others speculated something in the facts about the case did not fit the current media narrative in the push to further infringe on Second Amendment rights. California has some of the most restrictive laws on gun ownership, sale, possession, and carry in the United States. A clue to the lack of coverage: the police did not announce the model or make of gun. It was not an AR15, as that would have been...

crime, Firearms legislation, gun control, Halle, Libertarian, Mike Lindsay, Politics, Shooting Halle Germany Shooting With Homemade Firearms. Thanks to the unique way social media censors the truth I will put the post that was originally on my page here. As a Journalist I find it extremely disturbing that a platform is censoring news and my views were deemed worthy of deletion.Halle Germany.A psychopath killed two people outside a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle on Wednesday, filming his attack on a head-mounted camera and live streaming it in a method that was reminiscent of the attack on...

The Attorney General of New York, recently elected and rabidly anti-Second Amendment, Letitia James, is attempting to intimidate online sellers of the materials and tools used to make firearms into not selling them to New York residents.  She claims the companies are promoting law breaking. From the ag.ny.gov: NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that she has directed the operators of 16 websites that manufacture and/or sell firearms or firearms components to “cease and desist” selling nearly complete assault weapons into New York State. The possession, manufacture, and sale of assault weapons is illegal...

Several media outlets in California have teamed up with the anti-Second Amendment organization, The Trace, to investigate and write about homemade guns in California. They claim that BATFE sources say 30 percent of guns confiscated in California are homemade. Given there are over 400 million guns in private hands in the United States, and the border between California and other states is porous, and only lightly regulated; it seems an extraordinary number. From nbcbayarea.com: An Investigation by NBC Bay Area in partnership with NBC San Diego, NBC Los Angeles, and the non-profit journalists at The Trace found that law...

A young man from Zimbabwe has been convicted in London of making and possessing two guns with a 3D printer. The gun parts were discovered during a raid searching for marijuana. From independent.co.uk: A second raid of his home in February 2018 led to the discovery of further components of another 3D printed gun.Acting Detective Sergeant Jonathan Roberts, who led the investigation, said: “We know that Muswere was planning to line the printed firearms with steel tubes in order to make a barrel capable of firing.“This conviction, which I believe is the first of its kind relating to the...

One of three Wisconsin men charged with making a homemade “cannon” that exploded, killing a man, pleaded not guilty, authorities said....charged with homicide by negligent handling of explosives, a felony. The men were using a 4-foot-long, half-inch-thick steel pipe with a plug welded onto the bottom, according to the criminal complaint. The device exploded at a home in Marion, sending a piece of shrapnel that killed Paul Casperson, 44, of Belvidere, Illinois, on the evening of May 26. “Niemer indicated he had brought a pipe, that he had manipulated with a plug welded onto the bottom, over to the party....

A Chinese man inherited some ammunition from his father, who had been in the military.  Rather than turn them in, he kept them as a remembrance of his father. Through a set of unfortunate circumstances, the cartridges were thrown in the trash by a former landlord. They were found and traced back to the man, who was sentenced to a year in jail. From shine.cn A man was sentenced to one year in jail for unlawful ammunition possession after he kept a box of more than 400 bullets left by his late father, who used to be a soldier,...

Image from WKOW On Wednesday, 19 September, in Middleton Wisconsin, at WTS Paradigm, , a worker shot four co-workers. Three have been hospitalized and are recovering.  One was grazed, treated, and released. Tong was killed in a shootout with police. Anthony Y. Tong was prohibited from possessing firearms in 2004, after an incident in which he exhibited paranoia. When his home in Madison, Wisconsin, was searched, firearms parts, ammunition, and a silencer were found, according to police. From wcfcourier.com: The search of Tong’s house at 9738 Gilded Cider Blvd. following a court-authorized, no-knock entry revealed a cache that included six...

A small shop was being used to make illegal pistols in Sussex, England. The police are said to have discovered the shop because of testing the illegal guns inside the shop. It is possible. It is far more common for such shops to be found by use of informants or sting operations. From telegraph.co.uk: A large-scale illegal gun factory has been discovered on a Sussex industrial estate, the National Crime Agency has announced.Investigators responded to what was believed to be gunshots coming from inside what the NCA called a warehouse unit describing itself as a gearbox repair business on an...