Saturday, March 22, 2014

Gun Control: Why it is Unofficially Dead

Often when I'm at work and bored I'll begin pounding a fairly one-sided subject into a pulp in an attempt to figure out why some people still maintain a fort on the other side.
There are few debates that I find more one sided yet still controversial than gun control. I feel no fear in saying that gun control is the most misguided, ineffective waste of effort still supported today with the possible exception of finding intelligent life on Mars.

For those of you who aren't at the front lines of the subject, gun control is the idea in which the Federal Government of a country has very tight restrictions on firearms and the people who use them. The varieties in which these things come is quite colorful, some being the somewhat tame but dumb ideas of having built in gun locks on all firearms to all out bans. Invariably there are some in favor of bans that say we should ban firearms altogether in order to prevent crime and mass shootings. If they are all taken away, then nobody but police and military can use them, right? Well, that's incorrect.

Today the gun control debate is still very heated, but with my array of knowledge of firearm mechanics, gunsmithing, chemistry, firearm engineering, human nature and the like I've come to a single conclusion that many of you who dislike guns may find quite startling: Gun control today is physically impossible to enforce.

That is not a typo. It is my firm belief that it is now beyond all reasonable and practical abilities of governments to prevent firearms from being produced and sold in an illegal manner. Prior to the 1800's it was well within the power of various powers to control the manufacture of muzzle loading firearms, as back then it was a complex process that could only be done by skilled craftsmen. The very creation of them was difficult, requiring a good sized building, the proper tools, a good knowledge of mechanics and metallurgy, and other skill sets.

But as time has gone on, things have changed dramatically. There was the Industrial Revolution, where items could be produced en masse. There was the standardization of parts such as screws, nuts, bolts, tools, and other items. Schematics have been developed for uniform construction of machines. We have advanced computer programs to help people come up with new designs and libraries filled with information on engineering. Making things has never been easier!
Each event like this has been another nail in the coffin of gun control.

You see, today a person in almost any country has the capability of building a fully functional firearm in the privacy of his or her house without needing any special electric tools or even internet access. Not that this has stopped people in gun-shy countries around the world from acquiring them the old fashioned way. A casual search as shown that even the most hard core fascist governments have trouble quelling the insane numbers of firearms illegally being imported or made.
Check this out!
http://www.ibtimes.com/china-intensifies-effort-eliminate-illegal-firearms-702570

One hundred and eighty crime groups. Thousands of individuals. Trafficking firearms, drugs, and other illicit items. And the police have thus far secured 50,000 guns. So far. In China.

Ho. Ly. Crap. These are the numbers in one of the most brutal communist countries on Earth, and they have their hands full trying to control the crime and illegal firearm trafficking. Now, some of you might say "Well, they seem to be doing a good job! Look at all the guns and people they just rounded up. And some of those guns aren't even that good!"
Well, for every criminal and gun theygrab, chances are there are three they haven't gotten. Now, explain this to me: If a country where the government has almost unlimited power over its citizens, that can and does regularly trample over rights and beliefs has trouble curbing so much crime and influx of firearms, how can you expect any other country to? For crying out loud, the Nazis couldn't stop the conquered country of France from getting guns!

Oh, and before any of you argue that at least in a gun free society you don't have to worry about mass killings by deranged individuals or terrorists, allow me to thoroughly crush that idea under the heel of my boot.
http://www.voanews.com/content/33-dead-in-china-stabbing-spree/1862312.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0327/Toulouse-gunman-puts-spotlight-on-France-s-growing-illegal-gun-trade
http://www.news.com.au/national/is-australia-staring-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun-crisis/story-fncynjr2-1226690018325

Anyway, back to smothering gun control under the weight of logic. So, what does this have to do with gun control being dead? Well, a few years back I began to think about how criminals would get illicit firearms if authorities were somehow able to seize any and all privately owned firearms and shut down all manufacturers.
Well, I reasoned that crime groups or individuals would simply begin to make firearms and ammunition themselves with whatever they had on hand. Guess who was right on the money?
http://www.irinnews.org/report/86261/philippines-illegal-firearms-compound-mindanao-insecurity
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-21840183
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/22/1090464799535.html
These are only incidents we know about that I found during a few casual searches. So let me ask this: If rural people can make fully functional firearms out in the jungle using mostly hand tools, what do you think an organized crime syndicate with industrial grade power tools can do in a big city? Food for thought!
Not that such activities are unheard of. Remember the Prohibition? Or the current war on drugs? Say, how is that last one going anyway? Is it still nigh impossible to get cocaine in the US?

I also concluded that crime groups would acquire firearms through corrupt government, military and police officials. No sooner had I come to such a conclusion that this came up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATF_gunwalking_scandal
Yeah. Freaking oops. Why is the ATF still around again? I can't for the life of me found any good reason for that group to still be in existence. Not that oppressive government groups giving away firearms is new.
http://www.nssfblog.com/corrupt-mexican-army-officer-in-calderons-inner-circle-supplied-drug-cartels-with-weapons/

Hmm, yeah, it's kind of hard to stamp out crime groups when guys in government give them guns. Laws are only as effective as they can be practically enforced and how much officials are willing to actually follow such laws themselves.
That, and the whole 3D plastic printer thing is kind of a problem too. And CNC milling machines. Did I forget to mention that Sten SMGs of World War II were specifically designed to be made out of plumbing parts that could be assembled by anyone smart enough to not swallow their own tongue? Or that inmates inside prisons have made guns?

Yeah, I think I've kind have made my point. Gun control had a good run for awhile, but now it is physically impossible to enforce by any entity short of divine intervention. There is no organization that can possibly hope to stem the tide as technology and manufacturing gets easier and more efficient. It is simply hopelessly impractical. Now I just need to wait until everyone else figures that out.

That's all for now! I'll be back later to launch raids at other idiotic ideas regarding firearm hindrance, such as those insufferable ID recognition guns, ugh...

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