Re: look out! long-haired gun loon!

mark@unicorn.com
Wed, 17 Dec 1997 07:13:45 -0800 (PST)


phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu wrote:
>Indeed. You can make a functional handgun with standard machine tools,
>I've heard. It won't be professional quality, it might break after a
>few hundred shots, but it'll suffice to mug someone. Or kill. How can
>you eliminate such guns?

I've seen some hand-made Malaysian handguns; pretty ugly copies of
the Colt 1911 and Browning Hi-Power, but workable. I've also seen
photographs of Thompson submachineguns built in the Vietnamese
jungle. Modern weapons are probably even easier, as they're often
designed for manufacture under license in the third world.

Guns are simple technology; anyone who thinks they can be eliminated
is a fool. If you want one, you can make one or buy one; in fact
buying illegally may well be both cheaper and easier. A few years ago
a British shopkeeper was locked up for shooting a robber with an illegal
.32 handgun, which cost him $60. I checked the ads in a British gun
magazine at the time and couldn't find a single legal handgun at
that price.

Mark