Posted on 05/15/2010 4:19:19 PM PDT by HogsBreath
Felons, illegal immigrants and all others banned from buying a gun in the United States have a new alternative if they’re looking to get their hands on a firearm: Just buy a toy.
A FoxNews.com investigation reveals that a popular recreational pellet gun can be converted easily to a real semi-automatic weapon. And while the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is already aware of the issue, these “toys” -- new, top-of-the-line airsoft rifles -- continue to be sold throughout the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
First, airsoft weapons are NOT toys!
The level of stupid in this article is hard to process. Let me see if I have this straight:
THis gun is bad because the unregulated parts of it are the same as other unregulated parts. But people who can’t buy a gun can convert it to being a real gun by buying a part they can’t buy because they can’t buy guns. Is that about it?
The lower receiver IS the gun. That’s the part that felons can’t buy. So, is this article really saying that all a felon has to do to make a real gun is buy a lower receiver? If they could do that, why wouldn’t they just buy a gun?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
There was a similar article a while back, with similar concerns.
I’m not an expert of firearms by any standard, but I have to wonder how reliable and durable such a weapon would be. I’m assuming the barrel/chamber/etc. of an airsoft weapon is made from a much lower grade of metal than an actual AR-15. As such, I’d think you’d basically have a weapon that would suffer a catastrophic failure with very little use.
I could well be wrong, though. Those in the know, feel free to correct me.
So,,,, you pull the trigger once, it fires, then you go on disability because you no longer have functioning hands?
Second, why can't illegal immigrants buy and own guns? What racist b@st@rd passed that law?
The article points out that you would be lucky to fire 15 to 20 shots before the thing falls apart.
Whether it would be a legally serial numbered weapon or not, wouldn’t a convicted felon still be breaking the law if they did something like this?
I think the article is trying to say that a felon could use the lower receiver from the airsoft gun, along with the trigger, hammer, etc and the entire upper half of a *real* AR, and create a functioning rifle. Big deal, people have been making their own AR lower receivers "off the books" since the Clinton years. It's tougher to find the partially-machined castings these days, though, so this airsoft part might be viewed as a shortcut.
One other thing... not everybody who is interested in an unpapered AR-15 is a felon. There are other very valid reasons to "roll your own".
The person who could convert an airsoft rifle in a fully functioning ar-15 could also go into a hardware store and but all the stuff to build a gun.
Guns aren’t really that hard to make.
Holmes, Bill, Home Workshop Guns: The .22 Machine Pistol, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1995.
Holmes, Bill, Home Workshop Guns: The Handgun, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1979.
Holmes, Bill, Home Workshop Guns: The Submachine Gun, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1977.
Holmes, Bill, Home Workshop Prototype Firearms, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1994.
Holmes, Bill, The .50-caliber Rifle Construction Manual, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 2002 (complete machining instructions for a single-shot rifle).
Luty, P. A., Expedient Homemade Firearms: The 9mm Submachine Gun, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1998.
Luty, P. A., Expedient Homemade Firearms, Vol. II, available as download from http://www.thehomegunsmith.com/. Price £10 as of this writing)
Metral, Gerard, A Do-it-yourself Submachine Gun, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1995.
Truby, J. David, Zips, Pipes and Pens, Boulder, CO, Paladin Press, 1993. (Describes weapons made inside prisons. If they can do it there, you can do it in a workshop.)
More info in my new book. See my tag line.
See also: www.cncguns.com
Didn.t we use to make zip guns out of a piece of wood, tubing and a rubber band. If I needed a gun I would send charlie out on the street and buy a real one not just an a[rsoft, Do you think that if we could only ban airsofts the illegals would obey this law, sincr they are law abiding.
Gun making is not really that difficult, so it might be nice to learn, when they are out of stock at the gun store.
barbra ann
yes they are. they shoot plastic beads.
no, not exactly. they are saying the lower receiver of this airsoft gun will work on a real M16 if you drill a hole in it...for awhile. it’s not up to the task and will fall apart after about one magazine full of ammo. But it will work temporarily.
***Holmes, Bill, Home Workshop Guns:***
Is Bill Holmes still around? I met him years ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas and saw some of the single shot trap and skeet shotguns he had handmade.
Last I heard of him the BATF had arrested him for making a machine pistol, some said he was set up but I have not heard a word since.
I personally have seen two rifles that had blown up. One in New Mexico, and one in the Ozark Forest of Arkansas. Both had split the barrel into three legs. I told the owners they should make a lamp out of it, using the barrel as the base.
Yeah, they’re toys. Tell that to the cops...if your face can move after they’ve smashed it into the fender of your car.
At prices around $500, these are not toys. They are simulators with the weight/feel of the real thing that can be used in simulated combat scenarios.
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