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One thing none of the "Experts" even mention is the explosion of DIY videos for building guns online and on you-tube. A determined person can find all they need

One thing none of the "Experts" even mention is the explosion of DIY videos for building guns online and on you-tube. A determined person can find all they need on youtube to buy and build a gun and sell it to another individual. I can only speak for Baltimore but there are people here making and selling guns made from 80% lower receivers and tiny pieces of 3d printed plastic that will make your gun fully automatic. Just last month there was a Baltimore city police officer who lived in the county caught trading guns and internal information for drugs. If police officers are doing it you can believe that regular citizens are doing it. There are people who are traveling right over the state borders to DE, PA, and VA to buy 30+ round magazines and come back and sell them to people in and around the hood. There has even been 3 shooting this year involving AR15's. One of them involved a fully automatic less than a 1/4 mile up the road from the state police barracks and county courthouse. Easier access to a gun that you believe is untraceable leads people to be more willing to use them to commit murder. The fact that they only cost around $500-$700, a couple hours of youtube instruction, and you have a cheap tool to commit murder and robberies with. The only saving grace from all of the DIY pistols is the high failure rate for them to jam because of poor construction. And the fact that some of the people illegally carrying haven't practice shooting very much so they have crappy aim. I was one time shot at for no reason other than in the wrong place at the wrong time and the guy who was just robbed thought I was part of the group that just robbed him. Another time I was trying to stop a violent robbery behind my house by yelling at them from my yard.

wahern 4y ago
Gun murders are already exceptionally difficult to solve. (See https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/07/police-murder-clearance-rate/661500/ https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/07/poli...) I'd be surprised if modded guns make resolution of cases significantly more difficult. At least in the short-term I would expect the opposite, as the guy with the fully automatic is likely going to be well known just for the sheer novelty.
sieabah 4y ago
> Easier access to a gun that you believe is untraceable leads people to be more willing to use them to commit murder. I don't think you could reasonably say the two are cause-effect. The ease of buying a firearm is not directly related to that person using it to commit murder. Unless of course you're being purposely opaque and including defensive uses as "murder". Do you own firearms within the state of Maryland? Every single purchase is tracked within the MD State Police (MDSP) registry, all rifles, shotguns, & pistols. Pistols are under a higher restriction and require a HQL for purchase. The HQL requires you to take classes and be approved by the MDSP. You then have a 7 day waiting period after purchase for pickup, if you're approved. After your pickup 30 days after that is the next time you can purchase a pistol. None of those restrictions exist for weapons 16'' or longer, aka rifles & shotguns. There is a banned rifle registry for replica guns. Like you can't purchase a 50 cal in MD. These are still tracked and marked on every purchase. It's not legal purchases which are the problem so cracking down or increasing the difficulty of these doesn't directly influence illegal firearms. However for all firearms your name is kept along with the details of the firearm at the dealer. There is a paper trail of all purchases with the MDSP. So unless everyone is filing off the serials on all components these are unlikely to be the majority of trafficked firearms. At least for purchases within MD. Another thing to consider is that dealers around MD won't sell pistols to MD residents because the ATF would get involved with "firearm smuggling". Rifles and shotguns though are easily purchasable over state lines, for those there is no paperwork. Assuming you're a MD resident you can drive to WV, VA, or PA and purchase a rifle and drive it back over state lines. Completely legally. > I can only speak for Baltimore but there are people here making and selling guns made from 80% lower receivers and tiny pieces of 3d printed plastic that will make your gun fully automatic. That's not how automatic weapons work. They're constructed different to handle the heat of automatic fire. A semi automatic weapon is going to warp and malfunction way more quickly with automatic use. Even so to make it seem like this is the critical issue ignores that binary triggers exist. There is always something that exists to circumvent the "safety" laws. > Just last month there was a Baltimore city police officer who lived in the county caught trading guns and internal information for drugs. If police officers are doing it you can believe that regular citizens are doing it. I'm not surprised Baltimore is a crime ridden city, hasn't the last few mayors all been convicted of bribery and other things? It's not going to change either because the government in Baltimore is a joke. They don't want to enforce the laws they already have.

wahern 4y ago

Gun murders are already exceptionally difficult to solve. (See https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/07/police-murder-clearance-rate/661500/ https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/07/poli...) I'd be surprised if modded guns make resolution of cases significantly more difficult. At least in the short-term I would expect the opposite, as the guy with the fully automatic is likely going to be well known just for the sheer novelty.

sieabah 4y ago

> Easier access to a gun that you believe is untraceable leads people to be more willing to use them to commit murder. I don't think you could reasonably say the two are cause-effect. The ease of buying a firearm is not directly related to that person using it to commit murder. Unless of course you're being purposely opaque and including defensive uses as "murder". Do you own firearms within the state of Maryland? Every single purchase is tracked within the MD State Police (MDSP) registry, all rifles, shotguns, & pistols. Pistols are under a higher restriction and require a HQL for purchase. The HQL requires you to take classes and be approved by the MDSP. You then have a 7 day waiting period after purchase for pickup, if you're approved. After your pickup 30 days after that is the next time you can purchase a pistol. None of those restrictions exist for weapons 16'' or longer, aka rifles & shotguns. There is a banned rifle registry for replica guns. Like you can't purchase a 50 cal in MD. These are still tracked and marked on every purchase. It's not legal purchases which are the problem so cracking down or increasing the difficulty of these doesn't directly influence illegal firearms. However for all firearms your name is kept along with the details of the firearm at the dealer. There is a paper trail of all purchases with the MDSP. So unless everyone is filing off the serials on all components these are unlikely to be the majority of trafficked firearms. At least for purchases within MD. Another thing to consider is that dealers around MD won't sell pistols to MD residents because the ATF would get involved with "firearm smuggling". Rifles and shotguns though are easily purchasable over state lines, for those there is no paperwork. Assuming you're a MD resident you can drive to WV, VA, or PA and purchase a rifle and drive it back over state lines. Completely legally. > I can only speak for Baltimore but there are people here making and selling guns made from 80% lower receivers and tiny pieces of 3d printed plastic that will make your gun fully automatic. That's not how automatic weapons work. They're constructed different to handle the heat of automatic fire. A semi automatic weapon is going to warp and malfunction way more quickly with automatic use. Even so to make it seem like this is the critical issue ignores that binary triggers exist. There is always something that exists to circumvent the "safety" laws. > Just last month there was a Baltimore city police officer who lived in the county caught trading guns and internal information for drugs. If police officers are doing it you can believe that regular citizens are doing it. I'm not surprised Baltimore is a crime ridden city, hasn't the last few mayors all been convicted of bribery and other things? It's not going to change either because the government in Baltimore is a joke. They don't want to enforce the laws they already have.