Santa Monica shooter "made" his gun!

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JellyJar

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http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/l...ice-News-Conference-Watch-Live-211492801.html

The weapon used in the recent mass shooting in Santa Monica was built by the shooter his self after not being able to buy one.

The article is not clear on this but either the shooter completed an 80% receiver then assembled the weapon from other parts or made the receiver from scratch.

I can't help but wonder if now they will try to regulate gun parts like barrels, triggers and such. Of course they could be homemade as well.

So much for background checks. A really determined evil/crazy person will always find the way to obtain the tools they need to create mayhem.
 
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XX, There actually have been proposals in the past to treat every individual part of a firearm as a firearm,i.e., every spring, pin, plunger,washer,detent,screw,etc. would be regulated as a firearm. So, funny as it miight sound, proposals to do just that may again arise...
 
Reading the article the current laws did in fact work.. So hopefully nothing will come from it.
 
XX, There actually have been proposals in the past to treat every individual part of a firearm as a firearm,i.e., every spring, pin, plunger,washer,detent,screw,etc. would be regulated as a firearm. So, funny as it miight sound, proposals to do just that may again arise...
all i can do is chuckle at that.
 
Reading the article the current laws did in fact work.. So hopefully nothing will come from it.
I concur. The laws stopped a man from legally purchasing a gun through an FFL. The point that I get from this is simple. If someone intends to commit a violent crime. They will... Gun control wont stop someone wishing to do others harm. Keep in mind this is in a state with significantly more gun control than others. And mag restrictions too. Yet this person found a way around that... by breaking the law that exists, as though it never existed in the first place. Funny how someone with the fortitude to commit murder wont mind tacking on exceeding mag cap charges to the tally. Hm..
 
The lower receiver of an AR carries the serial number and requires a background check (my son built his AR legitimately and bought it from a licensed dealer with background check). However, an AR receiver can be fabricated with enough patience from a block of aluminum or if you intend to use once and discard can be fabricated from plastic.

The WWII Sten gun uses a receiver cut from common 1.5" pipe as used for fence posts and aircraft frames.

The Santa Monica killer also had zip guns which can be built from non-firearm plumbing supplies.

There are limits to gun control. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics inmate survey shows that legal retail gun sources were used by 14% of gun owning inmates; 20.8% used drug dealers; 18.3% used theft/burglary/fence/black market. As the wars on drugs and alcohol showed us there is a tipping point where legal market restrictions promote a black market and becomes counterproductive.

Perhaps a program to identify and intervene with persons like this killer (who apparently left warning signs visible with hindsight) would be more effective than more of the same, gun control, that has apparently not worked? The CDC 2003 and NAS 2004 could not find a gun policy that had a measurable benefit.

My bitter experience though is that a certain class of politician likes to exploit anti-gun hysteria and nothing worthwhile will come of this.
 
Oh boy, I just swung at the Good Idea Pinata, and look what fell out:

We need to regulate O% complete receivers, meaning metal stock and aluminum blocks. And tools too.

Sarcasm off.
 
I think he was referencing the recent 3-D printed lowers or fabricating from say a block of nylon, not the ar polymer units that have been on the market for years and who's materials are vastly different.
It would make sense given the home made slant to this shooters guns.
 
I read the article as he machined the lower himself, no serial numbers required from the Fed level if Im correct. No serial numbers needed, however it can never be transfered, and must be destroyed later. Correct?

That article makes it look like a gun without a SN is actually illegal just because it didnt have one.
 
"No serial numbers needed, however it can never be transfered, and must be destroyed later. Correct?"


No.

They can most certainly be transferred at a later time.

Search a little, this has been written up many previous times.


Willie


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I read the article as he machined the lower himself, no serial numbers required from the Fed level if Im correct. No serial numbers needed, however it can never be transfered, and must be destroyed later. Correct?

That article makes it look like a gun without a SN is actually illegal just because it didnt have one.
Of course, that was on purpose. Because that's the way they "feel" the law should be...with the best case being: illegal for it even to exist in the first place, S/N or no S/N...
 
Now just imagine the lines at Lowes on a Saturday morning when you're trying to buy tools and parts to fix your leaking sink..... every washer requires a NICS check.
 
The dingdong also had a Reminton 1858 replica black powder revolver with a conversion .45 Colt cylinder.
There is no as of yet actual proof the kid built the AR15 from component parts, just Cops saying as such.

Why aren't we all calling this incident what it really was, an act of terror perpetrated on American soil and demanding more places allow citizens the right to concealed carry so they may better protect themselves from these blazen acts of violence.

"Gun Free Zone" signs should also state "Helpless Victims Available Here"
 
Welcome to the wonderful world of dual-use technology if you're going to regulate fabrication from scratch (materials, sub-assemblies or tools).

Focusing more effort on the mental health "flagging" and general criminality issue would yield a more useful outcome than focusing on the technical means which is what has been tried (and failed) for almost a century.

Too bad the legis-droids won't take heed of this meme:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

- Albert Einstein
 
My question is if he had prior mental problems, why did his Mom and dad allow him to have firearms in his bedroom?

Do you really think its that difficult for an adult to hide weapons from his parents? Remember, this guy was 23, which means he had the ability to take out a PO box or a box at a UPS store and have his weapons parts/mags/ammo shipped there. And he was also able to rent a storage unit to keep any long guns. I'm not saying that's what he did, but it is entirely possible that his parents didn't know about his weapons.

And for having them in his bedroom, I don't know for a fact, but I'm willing to bet that his parents didn't make a habbit of searching him every time he walked in.
 
Sucks that it happened, but maybe he was just going through caffeine withdrawals at the time...

Just because someone is diagnosed with a mental illness, doesn't mean that was the cause of the shooting. It's almost like blaming the inanimate object for the shootings. Where do you draw the line? Start having every gun owner submitted for mental illness screening ? I'm sure they can find something on everyone out here, even if they have to make something up. Besides, isn't it considered a mental illness to 'want' to own more than one firearm?(sarcasm)
 
Focusing more effort on the mental health "flagging"

The shrinks are SO good at predicting behavior.

These are the same folks who have been arguing for many years about the nuances between 'psychopaths' and sociopaths' ad the propensity for violence of each.
 
So with all the laws in place he still killed people. Got it.

I'm starting to think we should just ban murder.. :/
 
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