Increasingly Popular Ghost Guns Fuel an 'Epidemic of Violence', says NYT (nytimes.com) 344
Untraceable "ghost guns" assembled from parts bought online "can be ordered by gang members, felons and even children," writes the New York Times.
They call the guns "increasingly the lethal weapon of easy access around the U.S., but especially California," based on interviews with law enforcement officials in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco: Over the past 18 months, the officials said, ghost guns accounted for 25 to 50 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes. The vast majority of suspects caught with them were legally prohibited from having guns. "I've been on the force for 30 years next month, and I've never seen anything like this," said Lt. Paul Phillips of the San Diego Police Department, who this year organized the force's first unit dedicated to homemade firearms. By the beginning of October, he said, the department had recovered almost 400 ghost guns, about double the total for all of 2020 with nearly three months to go in the year.
Law enforcement officials are not exactly sure why their use is taking off. But they believe it is basically a matter of a new, disruptive technology gradually gaining traction in a market, then rocketing up when buyers catch on. This isn't just happening on the West Coast. Since January 2016, about 25,000 privately made firearms have been confiscated by local and federal law enforcement agencies nationwide... There is a huge surfeit of supplies in circulation, enough to supply dealers who sell pre-assembled guns, via social media platforms or the dark web, for years. At the same time, the increasing availability of 3-D printers, which can create the plastic and metal components of guns, has opened a new backdoor source of illegal weapons for gangs and drug dealers who would otherwise have to steal them.
"This isn't going away," said Los Angeles city attorney, Mike Feuer...
Brian Muhammad, who works with at-risk young people in Stockton, said he recently asked a group of teenagers where they got their guns. "Did you drive to Vegas?" he asked, referring to Nevada's looser gun laws. They looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Who would do that?" one of them replied. "You order them in pieces using your phone."
They call the guns "increasingly the lethal weapon of easy access around the U.S., but especially California," based on interviews with law enforcement officials in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego and San Francisco: Over the past 18 months, the officials said, ghost guns accounted for 25 to 50 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes. The vast majority of suspects caught with them were legally prohibited from having guns. "I've been on the force for 30 years next month, and I've never seen anything like this," said Lt. Paul Phillips of the San Diego Police Department, who this year organized the force's first unit dedicated to homemade firearms. By the beginning of October, he said, the department had recovered almost 400 ghost guns, about double the total for all of 2020 with nearly three months to go in the year.
Law enforcement officials are not exactly sure why their use is taking off. But they believe it is basically a matter of a new, disruptive technology gradually gaining traction in a market, then rocketing up when buyers catch on. This isn't just happening on the West Coast. Since January 2016, about 25,000 privately made firearms have been confiscated by local and federal law enforcement agencies nationwide... There is a huge surfeit of supplies in circulation, enough to supply dealers who sell pre-assembled guns, via social media platforms or the dark web, for years. At the same time, the increasing availability of 3-D printers, which can create the plastic and metal components of guns, has opened a new backdoor source of illegal weapons for gangs and drug dealers who would otherwise have to steal them.
"This isn't going away," said Los Angeles city attorney, Mike Feuer...
Brian Muhammad, who works with at-risk young people in Stockton, said he recently asked a group of teenagers where they got their guns. "Did you drive to Vegas?" he asked, referring to Nevada's looser gun laws. They looked at him as if he were crazy.
"Who would do that?" one of them replied. "You order them in pieces using your phone."
login credentials for NYT (Score:2)
Anyone want to post login credentials for NYT?
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Or maybe an alternative source that isn't behind a paywall?
G-g-g-ghost guns? (Score:2, Insightful)
ZOINKS!
Re: G-g-g-ghost guns? (Score:3)
It would be ironic if Casper met his mortal fate by getting shot with a ghost gun.
Given Casper's super trusting nature and that he apparently died at such a young age, the details of his death is just best left to the imagination. X{
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I'm surprised there isn't some smarmy cunt already replied to you saying how they can access the story no problem. NYT is a paywalled site, it's ridiculous they are used as a primary link without any other option.
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Re: login credentials for NYT (Score:5, Informative)
theshowmecanuck claimed:
NYT is a paywalled site, it's ridiculous they are used as a primary link without any other option.
You're wrong.
The NYT site does require you to register in order to read its stories. But it does not require you to pay for that access. Nor does it nag you about using an ad blocker.
So, no, the NYT website is not paywalled. Period. And, if creating an account is an unacceptably high price for you to pay to read as much of its online content as you please, you're really being a crybaby - especially since you do not have to accept its advertising in order to read its articles. For free.
By contrast, Jeff Bezos's version of the Washington Post - the motto of which still is "democracy dies in darkness," btw - allows you to read something like 8 stories a month, before it shuts off your access. Unless, that is, you're "technical" enough to delete all the cookies it sets. If you are that minimally "technical," you get another 8 stories before you have to rinse and delete.
You're welcome ...
Upside (Score:5, Funny)
It's good to hear about kids building stuff instead of just staring at their phones.
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And they even learn to start a business that way.
Re: Upside (Score:2)
Sadly, a lot of people have commited murder because of something that started on social media.
Do you know what your kids are doing online? :-\
Re: Upside (Score:5, Funny)
I don't even know what I'm doing online.
Full of fail (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's also continue to ignore the obvious; guns are tools, mere machinery. That, and you can't legislate behavior changes. Gun grabbers will always fail to achieve their stated "mission."
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course you can legislate behaviour changes. That’s what legislation does.
Remove the tool and less of what the tool does will happen.
Re:Full of fail (Score:5, Insightful)
Remove the tool and less of what the tool does will happen.
The "tool" they are blaming is the 3D printer.
Other than the grips, consumer 3D printers are not used to make guns.
You make a gun with a CNC mill and a lathe, not a 3D printer.
Disclaimer: I own a 3D printer, a CNC mill, and a lathe. I have never made a gun.
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Technically You can make a very serviceable gun with a 3D printer, just not one you can afford (most likely). The powder metal sintering ones are more than capable.
Re: Full of fail (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not going to try to chamber a bullet into anything that wasn't made using a repeatable, tested process. Call me a coward but I like having 2 eyes and 10 fingers on 2 hands.
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They are not commonly used, They can be used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: Full of fail (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, we ban guns, and somebody will just start slicing up a crowd with a katana. Or blow themselves up in a crowded mall.
How about focusing on what causes people to commit mass murder in the first place rather than focusing on a specific type of weapon?
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You can do two things, or more, at once.
Re: Full of fail (Score:5, Insightful)
Swords/knives require getting up close, thus greatly increasing the chance of being stopped or the target getting away. That's why we invented guns, they were better than the swords we used to use.
Bombs are not trivial to make, and there is a good chance of blowing yourself up in the process. That's why attacks with bombs are relatively rare compared to attacks with guns, and tend to be by organized groups with the resources to make them.
The other thing about bombs is that they take time to build. That was the idea with cooling off periods when buying guns, to stop people making hasty decisions to resolve their problems with threats or murder.
As for sorting out the issues that make people do violence to others, that's obviously a great idea but one which isn't very popular. The policies that fix those issues are seen as socialism (e.g. free mental healthcare, defunding the police and redirecting the money to community projects), or as weak (e.g. ending the war on drugs and decriminalizing them) and thus a very hard sell.
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so if we remove legislators....
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Re: Full of fail (Score:3, Insightful)
I believe the words you're looking for are "straw man". Of course those two concepts of "rights" and "bad things happen" aren't mutually exclusive. However, a central tenet of US law is to establish fundamental rights, then enact legislation that restricts those rights to prevent "bad things". We can't falsely yell fire in a theater (restricting our freedom of expression) because bad things could happen, yet we have to put up with mass shootings every week because we simply can't restrict access to guns.
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I believe the words you're looking for are "straw man"
Please explain my fallacy. I did not provide the comparison, you did--you are the one who contrasted the notion that something could be a "right" against "atrocities and statistics." If there is a strawman here, it is your false dichotomy. If you believe otherwise, please explain my failure rather than simply saying, "strawman."
We can't falsely yell fire in a theater (restricting our freedom of expression) because bad things could happen, yet we have to put up with mass shootings every week because we simply can't restrict access to guns.
It is unlawful for certain persons to purchase or possess firearms, it is unlawful to carry them in ways not prescribed by the state. it is unlawful to use a firearm in a manner
Re:Full of fail (Score:5, Insightful)
Let's also continue to ignore the obvious; guns are tools, mere machinery. That, and you can't legislate behavior changes.
Who claimed the point was to change their behavior? The point is to make dangerous people less dangerous.
If you get shot with round from an AR15 platform rifle then it obliterates the flesh it hits and is typically lethal. Knives on the other hand mangle and rip flesh but are far less lethal.
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And yet more homicides are perpetrated with knives and hands/feet than with "assault rifles". The lefties are latching onto guns because they would prefer a disarmed populace, not because they give a shit about violence and murder.
Only assault rifles, or ALL firearms? (Score:4, Informative)
I have to wonder...are you being consciously disingenuous, or are you really that stupid?
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/fact-or-fake/os-op-fact-or-fake-more-stabbings-than-shootings-20190820-h2xudey37jhblogwkobqmzzqgi-story.html [orlandosentinel.com]
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I think the polymer "Glock clones" are the lion's share of ghost guns these days and they are far more concealable than an AR-15. I've built both and the pistol is in my opinion easier for your typical chimp (no racial intent there, we're all just shaved apes in my eyes) to assemble than the rifle. I don't believe the issue is the tool. It's the people using the tool. Sure, you can ban the tool and statistics will drop but in a society like ours an alternative will be found before too long and non-complian
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And yet more homicides are perpetrated with knives and hands/feet than with "assault rifles".
In shear numbers, yes. However, when I talk about it being more lethal what I'm talking about is the ratio of injuries to fatal wounds. Getting shot by a supersonic high caliber bullet is significantly more lethal than being stabbed, even being stabbed multiple times.
Re:Full of fail (Score:4, Informative)
Well, glad to see you're not one of those "assault weapon are teh debhil!" clowns.
What, you didn't know that an "assault weapon" is generally NOT "high caliber"??? Yeppers, your AR-15 shoots a 5.56mm bullet. As opposed to the 7.62mm bullet my single-shot Ruger No. 1 shoots. Or the 12 gauge (18.5mm) slug my shotgun shoots.
Oh, and no, a "supersonic high caliber bullet" is NOT "significantly more lethal" than a knife. Other than it being able to allow a very small person to deal with a very large assailant. Longer range, yes. More lethal? Not terribly.
Note, by the way, that the kind of people who go on murder sprees seldom put in the time at the range required to get really good at hitting even a human-sized target....
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Knives are way more lethal at close range than an AR15. Within arm's length, I'd rather be the guy with the KBAR than the guy trying to swing around a 20 inch barrel.
Let's start off with these two basic premises:
1) bad guys should never have access to lethal weapons (including guns and knives), but always will;
2) good guys should always have the right to have the means to defend themselves against bad guys with lethal weapons.
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Hey guys we've solved the budget problem.
hsthompson69 has shown us hoe we don't need F-35's and aircraft carriers, nuclear missiles etc. We just need to get in close.
Save all that money and just get our soldiers KBAR's, Then it's Game Over for the Ruskies.
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"I'd rather be the guy with the KBAR than the guy trying to swing around a 20 inch barrel" ...) you can't stop them from buying a chef's knife, a small hatchet, a weed-cutting or wood-cutting machete or some other sharp or blunt tool):
A chef's knife in almost-original, pre-opened packaging is inferior to a Ka-Bar in a sheath only in the initial "preparation time".
And while you could restrict gun-buying rights to some people based on any kind of rule (mental health, previous felonies, day of week,
"I'm buildi
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By your definition, dangerous people are DANGEROUS. Controlling tools doesn't make them less dangerous. Only a change in their philosophy or a reduction of their body temperature down to ambient will reduce the threat they present.
For some reason we seem to think that dangerous people will follow our proscriptive laws. They will not. Nor will they stop seeking technological solutions that further their aim. AND...you can't muzzle science and technology without dire effects to society at large.
Better that we
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This is literally the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Any reason why we shouldn't legalize the use of grenades and improvised bombs, following your logic? After all, banning explosive won't stop the dangerous criminals from getting them, right? So why not let legitimate citizens get their hands on explosives so that "only a good guy with an explosive can stop a bad guy with an explosive?"
Re:Full of fail (Score:5, Insightful)
It's only stupid (to you) because you're reacting emotionally to a rational argument.
And note how you immediately leap to "bombs".
A gun is not a bomb.
And you've completely whooshed over the point.
PEOPLE are the dangerous component.
Guns don't pick themselves up, load themselves, and then begin pulling their own trigger.
Give a dangerous person a gun, they shoot people.
Give a dangerous person a knife, they stab people.
Bats.
Cars.
Fists
Feet
Hell, improvise something as a weapoin,, and they'll find a way to hurt/kill people.
This is why concentrating on the tools themselves is pointless.
You also fail to understand, you can proscribe all this shit.
And people are STILL going to get their hands on it and hurt/kill people.
You're just dancing around it because fixing the REAL problem is HARD.
Re: Full of fail (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course you can legislate behavior, it all depends on whether you trigger natural selection though it or not.
Case in point: extreme filial piety in ancient countries and cultures didn't develop out of the blue. In hunter-gatherer societies, for instance, the usual is for the many angsty teenagers, the kind who think their parents and elders are full of BS, to gather their friends, pack their things, and move away, building their own wandering group. So how did ancient Hebrew society, ancient Chinese society, and several others, change things such that children became utterly devoted and obedient to their parents?
The answer, evidently, was extensive use of the death penalty. Kill the angsty rebel teens who offend their parents, preferably before they can reproduce, and after a few generations you're left with naturally obedient teens. Still a little angsty, sure, but otherwise fully respectful of their elders and other authority figures.
That's how it used to be done, and it would definitely work nowadays, in any direction a sufficiently ruthless, multigenerationally coherent, authoritarian government wanted society to move to.
This only doesn't work if the pressure is too soft.
(And before someone thinks I'm supporting doing this, no, I'm just describing how it can be done. I most definitely oppose any government who tries doing something like this.)
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In hunter-gatherer societies, for instance, the usual is for the many angsty teenagers, the kind who think their parents and elders are full of BS, to gather their friends, pack their things, and move away, building their own wandering group. So how did ancient Hebrew society, ancient Chinese society, and several others, change things such that children became utterly devoted and obedient to their parents?
By not being hunter-gatherer societies? After all, ancient Hebrew society was in the Fertile Crescent, and the Chinese were cultivating rice 7,700 years ago. Moving away is a bigger deal when your food supply is tied to a patch of land.
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By not being hunter-gatherer societies?
That's part of it, but it isn't enough. In the case of Hebrew society, Deuteronomy 21:18-21 (circa 6th century BCE) set as punishment for disobedient children to be stoned to death, while in the case of China the Han dynasty (circa 3rd century BCE) did so by punishing it via beheading. And other places had and have similar procedures, sometimes in the form of State-enforced laws, many times in the form of an honor killing culture that expects and encourages parents to kill their disobedient children, and so
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That's fine with me... The New York Times puts all of their content behind a paywall anyway, so I wasn't going to be able to read it.
Epidemic of violence (Score:3, Informative)
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When the NYPD went on strike crime went down
United States has more people in jail than China (Score:2, Insightful)
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>And illegal immigrants have significantly lower rates of crime than the general population.
No, that's not true. They have about the same, maybe a little lower crime rate than the average, not "significantly lower". Then there are other crimes committed by illegal immigrants in larger numbers, like identity theft, insurance fraud, etc.
Re:Epidemic of violence (Score:4, Interesting)
>In fact New York has a very low firearm fatality rate, less than five per hundred thousand. This is likely due to law enforcement and limited number of guns.
>Vermont, next door, on the other hand has a firearm mortality rate comparable to Texas.
10/23/2019 - Vermont reported the 3rd lowest murder rate (1.8) compared to other states. This was 3.1 points below the national average of 4.9 homicides per 100,000 individuals, according to a new report from safewise.com. In fact, the three states from Northern New England had the lowest murder rates.
By comparison the murder rate fro NYC is around 4.7/100,000 which is more than 2.5x than Vermont.
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You're quoting overall murder rate to refute a comment about firearm-related murder rates. Do you think every murder is committed with a firearm?
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No, it was(This has changed since DeBlasio) the safest large city in the US because it had both the highest number of active street police officers both per capita and per sq mi. Chicago technically has the largest number of police per capita, however unlike New York their administrative police officers are lumped in with their street duty police officers.
Re: Epidemic of violence (Score:2)
Re: Epidemic of violence (Score:2)
sit at Riker's for a year before you even see a judge.
That's a blatant violation of the 6th amendment.
And yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And yet (Score:4, Informative)
Not 3D printed plastic. Full metal machined parts just like the ones you buy over the counter. No serial number, no registration, and uh, no quality control or warranty.
Still would not want to fire it.
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Where are the crime reports?
Read the summary. "Over the past 18 months, the officials said, ghost guns accounted for 25 to 50 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes."
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Read the summary. "Over the past 18 months, the officials said, ghost guns accounted for 25 to 50 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes."
did they do a 4 case sample, and arent sure about one of them?
Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain (Score:5, Insightful)
We've seen police officials whine about "ghost gun murder epidemics" that were a mere drop in the total regular murder numbers for whichever city it was they were so concerned about. Regular murder numbers they didn't look too concerned about.
Now it's the New York Times, before they went full woke the newspaper of record for the American Narrative and not everybody has caught on to that loss of status, that reminds us of a "ghost gun epidemic".
Chances are we'll see more of this, on similarly shaky number and reason grounds. Because someone is pushing these stories. Likely a publicity agency, hired to do so. By whom, I cannot say. Someone with money burning in their pockets, possibly. To what end? You tell me. Why just the "ghost guns" and not, say, regularly-produced stolen firearms?
I wouldn't be surprised if there'll be another push in a bit to register and regulate the means of private manufacture, specifically 3d printers. Well, good luck with that.
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Two seconds of googling would reveal sources such as:
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/inv... [nbcbayarea.com]
https://6abc.com/philadelphia-... [6abc.com]
Oh look even Fox is talking about it.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/san... [foxnews.com]
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Your first citation links ghost guns to "potential crimes".
The 2nd jumps from the number of "gun homicides" to the number of ghost guns "taken off the street" without describing any logical connection between the two numbers.
The 3rd link quotes politicians talking about ghost guns but has no actual data.
So you have provided three excellent examples of crappy journalism.
Capitalism finds a way (Score:2)
No matter how bad the idea of selling something, somebody always will be willing to do it.
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Ban guns and gun deaths will go down.
Even though some people will still get them.
Re:Capitalism finds a way (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep. If we ban (and confiscate) guns then it is pretty much a sure thing that death by gun will go down. Pretty hard to shoot someone if you can't find a gun anywhere!
However, it does NOT follow that crime will go down and it does not even follow that murder will go down. I mean, murder might go down. I am not sure. But there is no guarantee that banning guns will produce a better society at all. Weak people will be more at the mercy of the strong. One of the effects of the gun is that physically weak people are able to defend themselves against physically stronger people.
Also, trying to ban and confiscate guns will probably cause a civil war.
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No matter how bad the idea of selling something, somebody always will be willing to do it.
"The capitalists will sell us the rope we use to hang them." -- Lenin
Slam fire shotgun (Score:2, Interesting)
It's time New York outlawed pipes and made plumbers register with the state:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
@1:45 the dog is like "WTF is going on", hahaha
Re: Slam fire shotgun (Score:2)
Don't forget to outlaw drills too.
A lathe and some drill bits and you can make the basics of a revolver.
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It's time New York outlawed pipes and made plumbers register with the state:
Plumbers in New York are already required to register with the state.
Get a plumbing license in New York [wikihow.com].
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Thanks ShanghaiShill, you've really demonstrated you get the idea.
This is nothing new (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't mistake me for a gun nut. I support second amendment rights. But somehow, as a society, we've decided that the second amendment requires us to put an assault rifle in the hands of every hallucinating, schizophrenic pissed off 19-year old guy with daddy issues, who's hearing voices telling him to kill the demons. Nah, make that TWO assault rifles, plenty of ammo, and a few hand grenades just for good measure. And then we wonder why our murder rate is so high. Must be the libs. Clearly Biden's fault.
While neither side believes it, there is actually a middle ground where we can respect the second amendment AND control guns. If the Republicans could return to being a party of reasonable, moderate conservatism, I'd probably vote for them. As it stands? No firkin way.
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Dunno how old you or your grandfather is, but prior to 1968 you could order direct via the mail from the back of a magazine, delivered via the USPS to your mailbox/front porch.
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Where do you think a "hallucinating, schizophrenic pissed off 19-year old guy with daddy issues, who's hearing voices telling him to kill the demons" is going to find the 20-30k to drop on an assault rifle, grenades and NFA paperwork?
This is an absurd situation you conjured up in your head with no basis in reality.
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Assuming you're talking about Rittenhouse even though the description doesn't match any of the facts. Anyway, he had an AR-15 - not an "assault rifle". "AR" means "Armalite Rifle". Idiots think it means "Assault Rifle".
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Some AR-15's have been classified as assault weapons at various times and by various laws. Along with the AK-47, it was a specific target of several bans on assault weapons.
Re:This is nothing new (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This is nothing new (Score:5, Insightful)
When we decided that (Score:5, Informative)
Don't mistake me for saying that's what is necessarily best now, but historically, that's what happened, and what our laws come from. The writers of the Declaration of Independence knew they were writing a suicide pact, and they didn't care: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." John Hancock is famous for writing his signature so large because he was making a statement about putting his life on the line: he wanted to be sure the British knew who to come and hang if they failed, and he wanted his colleagues to know he wasn't afraid of it.
By the time the Constitution came around, there wasn't a differentiation for "weapons of war," either. It's not just the second amendment, the Constitution was written with an expectation that even most of the country's warships would be owned by private citizens, which is why there's a provision for letters of marque.
Now, there are ways to make changes, but in truth it needs a Constitutional amendment to have any real validity. If enough people agree, it can be done, but if not, then well, that's democracy in action.
I actually read the article (Score:5, Informative)
Well, okay, I skimmed it at least.
I'm not generally on the pro-gun side of arguments, but - the article doesn't seem to provide *any* evidence that the titular "epidemic of violence" exists. It leads in with a story of a kid who was killed by one of these guns, and it talks about how a lot of criminals seem to be using them. However unless I missed it, the article doesn't seem to mention an increase in the gun crime rate - which would seem to be a necessary condition of what the title claims.
I'm not saying these ghost guns are a problem, or that they're not a problem. But the article doesn't inform us on the topic at all. Yes, these new technologies make it easier for anyone to get their hands on a gun... but, from what I've seen, that has always been a very low bar.
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https://www.foxnews.com/us/san... [foxnews.com]
https://6abc.com/philadelphia-... [6abc.com]
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/inv... [nbcbayarea.com]
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.co... [nbcphiladelphia.com]
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Re:I actually read the article (Score:5, Informative)
[...] the article doesn't seem mention an increase in the gun crime rate - which would seem to be a necessary condition of what the title claims.
Nevertheless, there has been an increase in gun violence. US gun deaths, not counting suicides, was running higher 2016-2019 than 2013-2014 by about 15%. But 2020 was 25% higher again [gunviolencearchive.org], hitting a 2-decade high.
And police seizures of ghost guns are rising [theconversation.com], approximately exponentially over 2016-2020.
That period saw an increase from 1750 in 2016 to 8712, which is pretty much a 5-fold increase.
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There has been an increase in violence full stop. Almost as if defunding the police as a policy matter was a spectacularly moronic thing to do.
Absolutely no one defunded any police (Score:2)
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I think one of the problems is that the guns are largely untraceable, which makes it harder to solve the crimes.
Since tracing guns found at crime scenes essentially NEVER helps solve the crime, so what?
(About the only thing they do is sometimes identify who a gun was stolen from - or that the gun had already been in a police evidence locker or government armory, so WTF was it doing at a new crime scene, eh?)
Here is the leaked memo (Score:2)
Here is the (non-pay-walled) leaked memo that the story seemingly was built on.
https://www.documentcloud.org/... [documentcloud.org]
Greta approves because (Score:4, Funny)
making your own guns at home reduces transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
What's A Ghost Gun? (Score:4, Insightful)
What is a ghost gun?
Who knows?
Who knows what these numbers mean?
This is the problem that find in these LEO definitions. Different jurisdictions use different definitions to define crime. When I like in Memphis, the local news media found that the Memphis Police Department was under-reporting crime in there reporting to the FBI. MPD wanted Memphis to appear safer than it actually was. For instance, three separate crimes committed by the same individual within a short time frame were reported as 1 crime in spite of FBI standards of reporting them as 3 crimes.
I have seen "Ghost Guns" defined as blocks of plastic or aluminum finished to 80% (or less) and again, as manufactured firearms with their serial number removed, or as "untraceable" guns. Event parts of guns (or gun parts) listed as "Ghost Guns". These represent several different categories of devices that are lumped together and called "Ghost Guns". The term, "Ghost Gun" becomes meaningless until it is defined.
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Stats have been massaged since they started being reported to the public. The show The Wire is probably the most realistic police drama out there for all that the exact plot was fiction. The only stat that can't be easily massaged in the US is homicide.
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R.I.P. Michael K. Williams
So gun control isn't working? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, if gun control isn't working because criminals get guns illegally or through other methods, what's the point of gun control? People have argued that it only infringes the rights of the law-abiding, and apparently this article confirms it.
So I think gun control is a losing issue (Score:4, Insightful)
That said both sides are disingenuous. The anti gun control crowd refuses to address actual problems with gun violence like the very large number of suicides or the very large number of men who shoot former partners. All the pro gun control crowd tells people that have measures like assault weapons bans will make a difference when in fact you need a near total ban to see the benefits that Australia and Europe have seen. The other side is having an honest discussion and meanwhile it's a powerful wedge issue that causes working class people to vote against their economic interests.
Guns are just a symptom (Score:2)
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The seller's name is obvious if you think about it (Score:2)
Who sold you that, asked Brian?
Reese, one of them replied. He sells pieces.
could be good or bad (Score:2)
Um, yeah, sure (Score:2)
Yeah, sure, ok. That's why there's an increase in violence. I guess we needed some explanation, they thought.
Nothing to do with the usual leftist routine of hammering civilized people while letting uncivilized people run wild (while importing more of them as fast as possible, just to be sure). Oh no, no. Nothing to do with "defunding police", blaming all bad behavior on "racism", going soft on real crime while criminalizing political dissent, etc. ad infinitum.
A gun is just a freakin' tube with explosive
No obligatory shovel ak47? (Score:2)
Seriously? (Score:3)
Won't some one think of the Children?!
... accounted for 25 to 50 percent of firearms recovered at crime scenes."
You would think they could get that margin a little smaller wouldn't you?
The vast majority of suspects caught with them were legally prohibited from having guns.
yeah, well, criminals do have a well known tendency to ignore laws.
Interesting fact, ~90% of gun owners in the USA are Caucasian, and yet ~90% of the gun related violence is committed by non-Caucasians against other non-Caucasians..
How about instead of trying to get rid of the tools used in violent crimes we focus our efforts on getting rid of the poverty, poor education and lack of social programs that are the root cause of the violence in the first place.
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I was not able to read the paywalled article. I am a pro 2A person. HOWEVER, there actually are people working on 3D printing as much of the gun as they can. Like groups of people who are fully into that and have meetings and go to the range and shoot the guns and everything. So there is some relationship between 3D printing and guns.
Of course, every part of a gun can be purchased easily in person or online with no background check except the receiver. So probably the easiest thing to do is figure out how
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They could also try to ban 80% complete lower receivers for AR's.
Well then, we'll make 70% complete lower receivers. Eventually they will have to stop people from buying metal billets. But then there's the guy who made an AK-47 out of a shovel [militaryhumor.net].
Some years ago, 60 Minutes (bleeding heart liberal press) did a piece on ghost guns. Including some footage of Filipino children sitting on the dirt floors of huts, hand filing working .45 ACP pistols. If you really want to shut down ghost gun manufacturing capability, you will have to close every bicycle repair shop in the countr
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It's more an American thing than anything. For those outside the US American gun culture is a bit unusual. In fact Jules Verne wrote a whole book around that theme, "From Earth to the Moon." It's kind of hilarious commentary on American gun culture. After the war was over they didn't have an excuse to build bigger guns, so they thought, why no shoot the moon? Of course there's a lot of math in involved in that book, so I guess it's also a confluence of gun sand technologically literate.
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Does that mean you'll volunteer to kick in my door to take my guns? Let me know how that works out for you.