I'd like to take the chance now to talk about something a little less inflammatory: GUN LAWS! Yaaay! As you may recall, a few years ago a revolutionary new device called the 3-D printer was built by some geniuses in Silicone Valley. Once completed, the machine was able to take blueprints of any 3-D object off the internet, and place hundreds of layers of plastic on top of each other until it created the actual 3-dimensional object itself. Seeing how much I despise 3-D movies, I went into this with much skepticism. But when my 7th-grade math teacher demonstrated his to our class, I knew it was pretty legit.
But, as with all new technologies, someone has found a way to kill people with it. A conservative action group recently posted blueprints for a make-your-own 3-D gun on their website, so now anyone with a 3-D printer can download the specs, print off the pieces, and assemble their own DIY gun in the comfort of their own home. This Old House must be so proud.
Now, there is a law against all-plastic guns in the US, seeing as they are impossible to detect with metal detectors and can therefore be brought onto planes and into government buildings quite easily. But the creators of the gun, codenamed 'The Liberator', have skirted this law (but just barely) by including one piece that has to be purchased at a hardware store: A metal pin for the gun's hammer. Of course, you could just print off your own plastic pin to your own specifications, and no one would be the wiser. You would then be in possession of an all-plastic, undetectable, unregistered firearm with no way of being tracked or located. Bravo!
Yes, it looks stupid, but The Liberator fires actual bullets. So... should all the sane people in the land start panicking? I say no. Sure, The Liberator can be smuggled through any standard checkpoint, but it's virtually useless (unless you use it to beat someone to death) without the metal bullets that will set off any up-to-snuff metal detector. Also, it's still far easier in this gun-crazed nation to just buy your own gun-- even illegally and with no serial number.
You see, 3-D printers are still in the prototype stage, meaning the average one costs roughly $5,000. Besides that conspicuous price tag (which is noticeably far above the cost of a handgun), they also take a good amount of manual-reading and time to learn how to operate correctly. So don't worry-- if someone wants to get an untraceable gun, they don't have to print it off online; they can just buy one from Vinnie, that guy who sells unregistered revolvers.
Sleep well tonight. Bye!
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