The Second Amendment ~ Part 4: Blown Away

Wayne LaPierre’s speech to the NRA national convention last week was quite the piece of work.  Amongst other things, he said:

Lying in wait is a terrorist, a deranged school shooter, a kidnapper, a rapist, a murderer — waiting and planning and plotting — in every community across this country. Lying in wait right now. No amount of political schemes, congressional legislation, presidential commissions, or media roundtables will ever change that inevitable reality.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: No bill in Congress, no Rose Garden speech will ever change the inescapable fact that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

I happen to think Mr. La Pierre is a dangerous nutcase. I believe the only thing he cares about is how much money makes it into his personal pocket from the gun manufacturers.  I believe the man is amoral. That’s worse than immoral. He has NO morals, scruples, or sense of citizenship. His only desire is to rake in the cash as he puts more Americans lives at risk by throwing monkey wrenches into the work of Congress.

And I think he just won the battle. Not sure about the war yet, but he knew something last week that he didn’t talk about because he knew it would bring his world crashing down around his ears: Cody Wilson.

Credit: Michael Thad Carter for Forbes

Cody Wilson is a law student at the University of Texas (where else?) and the founder of a non-profit company called Defense Distributed. This week, he announced he has completed, built, and tested the first working 3-D printable CAD gun called The Liberator. Wilson will be releasing the plans to the public so that anyone with access to a 3-D printer can now print his/her own gun. No background checks, no serial number, no metal except the stainless steel common nail that serves as the firing pin. Oh, there is an optional steel plate you can insert that makes it x-ray detectable, and therefore “legal.”  Cody is also handing out the plans for magazines for AR-15s and AK-47s, and an AR lower receiver. In other words, you can photocopy your very own assault weapon.

All you need is a 3-D CAD printer…which costs under $10K and you’re in business. You can make and distribute the perfect bank robbin’ gun.  There is no trail.

Starting now, gun laws are obsolete. We just lost any possible control of guns. It’s over. Gun control will no more be manageable than Xeroxing an article at the library and expecting someone to send in their $2.00 for the copyright.

Folks, this is a game changer.

Is there a solution? Probably not at the moment. But what can be done in the interim?

First, stop fighting for gun laws. They are now a moot point. Repeal them all because they are toothless, worthless, and pointless. There is an upside to doing that. If you stop the gun law fight (for now, anyway) you kill the gun lobby. There’s no reason to buy Congesspeople when there’s nothing to lobby for or against. You immediately castrate their power base.  This is  good first step. Get the gun lobby outta the pockets of your local representative. Maybe Congress will actually have to do something because they can’t hide behind the 2^nd Amendment any more.

Second, by repealing the gun laws, We the People will find out if the NRA is right or wrong. If there is no increase in murder, mass murder, mayhem, or suicide, well, we’re gonna have to do some serious thinking about what  we actually want to regulate. That’s a real question that needs a very serious answer. If, on the other hand, the entire country becomes Dodge City, that’s another matter and the NRA gets to sit down and shut up while a whole new school of arms control is developed.

The MoJo...a table top model 

Whaddaya gonna do? Register CAD printers?

Steve, the Husbandly Person, used to say, “If you really wanna end the war on drugs, legalize ‘em… then tax the hell outta them. Do that, and you shoot the pushers in the knees. The rest of it becomes a non-starter because it’s not clandestine. And the it’s a clear win for everyone.” That statement got us into a huge pickle with friends in Poughkeepsie (remember Matt and Marcia, SP?) but he was right then and he would be right about this.

This is going to take a very different mindset to figure out what to do about guns you can print off in your garage on the 3D printer you bought off Craig’s List or eBay. Welcome to the new world order. 

UPDATE: 10MAY2013 - the feds ordered the blueprints removed from the website on the basis that is violated export law. Wilson removed them but said they are already been downloaded over 100,000 times.

Wifely Person's Tip O'the Week

Getting ready for bike riding season? 

Don't forget to check out your brake cables. This is important.