Every time someone fearmongers over so-called ghost guns, I roll my eyes. I mean, yes, criminals can and will get their hands on these guns. That’s not really a topic I’m going to argue against. My point has always been that criminals get regular guns just fine, too, despite all the laws against it. As such, trying to restrict something people can build themselves is a waste of time.
I mean, if you can’t restrict regular guns enough to keep them out of criminal hands, how are you going to stop something that they can make all by their lonesome?
But people think they can do it.
If any state could, it’s Hawaii. As an island, it doesn’t share borders with anyone. There’s no driving across state lines with contraband. All items have to either be shipped in or carried on a plane, which should give the state a lot more control over what comes in.
Well, that worked out brilliantly.
Maui police reportedly recovered several “ghost guns,” or unregistered firearms with no serial numbers, a printed pistol and 3D printed silencer during the search of a Wailuku residence on Monday morning.
Officers with the Maui Police Department crime reduction unit and Special Response tactical Team joined a Wailuku patrol officer in executing search warrants on a 41-year-old male resident at around 7 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2021.
“This person [is] currently under felony indictment in the state of California,” said Acting Police Chief Dean Rickard during a Maui Police Commission meeting on Wednesday.
According to Rickard, the search warrant resulted in the recovery of:
- Two completely assembled ghost gun pistols with no serial numbers
- A 3D printer
- Printed pistol with no serial numbers
- Three short barreled completely assembled ghost gun rifles with no serial numbers
- High capacity pistol/rifle magazines
- 3D printed silencer
- Numerous double-bladed knives and switchblade knives
- Different types of calibers of ammunition
In addition to the unregistered firearms, police also recovered 36 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 2,144 grams of dried and processed marijuana–both of which were packaged for distribution, according to Rickard.
Hawaii has had a ban on “ghost guns” since September 2020, but the ban has been expanded recently. Clearly, that worked amazingly well, didn’t it?
The truth of the matter is that the 3D printer has rendered the very concept of gun control null and void. There’s absolutely no way to limit who can and cannot have guns in an era when this technology exists and is widely available. Plus, since this same technology is doing amazing things in so many other ways, it’s not like it will be restricted to any significant degree.
So for all the fearmongering over so-called ghost guns, there’s literally nothing you can do to prevent them.
But laws like what Hawaii has does impact law-abiding people from doing something they might actually enjoy, and that’s really all any kind of gun control does. It may trip up the occasional bad guy, but it usually doesn’t do all that much to them. What it really does is inhibit non-criminals, treating us like we’re the problem when nothing could be further from the truth.
At some point, folks need to recognize that gun control isn’t going to work. There are too many ways for a criminal to obtain a gun, even if you were to ban guns across the board–something you can’t do due to the Second Amendment.
Instead, it’s time to try and find other ways to curb crime, like maybe treating criminals like criminals instead of the law-abiding citizens who just want to exercise their Second Amendment rights. You know, just to shake things up a bit.
