Privately made firearms, often called "ghost guns" by the hysterical media, have been part of the fabric of America since before this nation was, well, this nation. We've always been able to build our own guns.
But now, after a lot of media hype, criminals found out that they could do the same. While the numbers are overhyped, many still want to ban the practice. They want restrictions. Well, Australia has them, particularly regarding 3D-printed guns. Guess how that went.
If you guessed, "Not well at all" or some variation of that, give yourself a cookie.
In fact, now the problem is that lawmakers apparently just can't keep up:
However, a new and pressing danger in the form of 3D guns, or "ghost guns," threatens to undermine Australia's strict gun control laws.
The reason is simple: 3D guns can be manufactured in a suburban garage. In a process like making a dress from a pattern, a digital blueprint for the manufacture of a firearm can be downloaded from the internet. Then, instead of a sewing machine, you need a 3D printer or an electronic milling machine.
The emergence of these types of firearms reveal big loopholes in many of our gun laws. These need urgent attention.
...So, with all these alarm bells ringing in the ears of law enforcement agencies, what steps have authorities taken to meet the threat 3D guns pose to community safety?
Indeed, what effective steps are being taken to prevent further advances in the technology and thwart any efforts to produce these guns en masse?
The answer would appear to be that little attention has been directed towards the dangers 3D guns represent. Legislation across Australian jurisdictions is inconsistent.
At present, only New South Wales and Tasmania have legislated to make it an offense to possess a digital blueprint for the manufacture of a firearm on a 3D printer or electronic milling machine. The maximum penalties are imprisonment for 14 years and 21 years, respectively.
The problem is that it's already illegal to build a 3D-printed firearm in the first place. You wouldn't know it from this report, of course, but it's true.
The law didn't work, though. Criminals in the Land Down Under kept building guns, which is why they now want to criminalize owning the files that could be used to print a firearm.
At every point, the lesson is clear. No matter what you do, criminals will find a way to obtain firearms regardless of whatever law you concoct.
Law-abiding Australians are not nor have they ever been the problem. Yet they're the only ones impacted by laws such as this.
Meanwhile, anti-gun Democrats routinely want similar laws here. In fact, New Jersey has already banned the ownership of these kinds of files.
Yet it doesn't mean anyone is any safer. That's because it, as always, is about kabuki theater rather than trying to address crime in any meaningful way. They're soft on the bad guys and always have been, so it makes sense they wouldn't want to really interrupt the criminals' gun acquisition efforts. They just want to make life harder for us poor, law-abiding folks who might be faced with an armed criminal.
Right now, it's privately made firearms, but it'll be something else tomorrow. It'll always be something else, and we all know it.
