Gun control is dead.
Some folks don't know it yet, but it is. It never really worked, of course, but people could delude themselves into thinking it did. The argument seemed to be that if we couldn't get guns, bad guys couldn't get them, either. That's nonsense, of course, but now it's even dumber.
Why?
Because the 3D printer is a thing and Scotland just got a stark reminder that you can't stop the signal.
A Perthshire man using a 3D printer Christmas present was just three steps from completing a deadly gun containing parts of an AR-15 rifle.
James Maris, 21, used the printer to manufacture parts of a firearm called the FGC-9, otherwise known as the F**k Gun Control 9.
Tipped-off detectives raided his home in Kinloch Rannoch, where he lived with his parents, on May 24 last year.
Prosecutor Liam Ewing KC told the High Court in Edinburgh they found the “component parts of a firearm, a 3D printer and computer files” which confirmed he was “engaged in the ongoing manufacture of a semi-automatic” gun.
They also discovered ammunition capable of being fired from the gun.
Mr Ewing said the FGC-9 is “well known to the authorities” but Police Scotland are not aware of a successful attempt in this country to manufacture one.
In September 2024, the New York Times reported how a group called Defense Distributed posted plans online in 2013 for the “Liberator,” one of the first 3D-printed guns, a crude, single-shot model that used a nail as a firing pin.
In 2020, an organisation called Deterrence Dispensed released plans for the FGC-9.
The gun was specifically designed to circumvent gun laws.
This is billed as the first one made in the country.
I'd argue it's only the first that they're aware of.
Yes, this is a crime in Scotland. However, let's also understand something here and now: Criminals don't care what the law is except when they can benefit from it. In this case, the FGC-9 was made in answer to those restrictions.
Whether he was going to sell it or keep it for use is irrelevant to the Scottish authorities.
It's not relevant to me, either, because what this represents is something far more important.
See, gun control is a necessary component of tyranny. Not every nation that passes it has plans to become an oppressive regime, but you cannot become an oppressive regime so long as the people have the means to resist.
What designs like the FGC-9 do is create a world where would-be tyrants have to think beyond traditionally manufactured firearms. 3D printers are affordable, common, and have tons of non-firearm-related purposes. Some people make miniatures for tabletop gaming. Some people prototype their inventions with them. Others print things for around the house. Entire businesses have been created just by people using their 3D printers.
So we're not likely to see restrictions on printers. Not viable, effective ones, anyway.
That means people are going to be able to make guns anywhere on the planet.
Gun control isn't going to stop them. Gun control can't stop them.
I love designs like this because the ability now exists for anyone to make their own guns, which means even if they came to our doors to confiscate our weapons, we can simply make more of them.
If the hope of gun control is to control who gets guns, that hope is dead. It was never really viable, but how can anyone look at where technology is and think they can restrict firearms effectively? If they couldn't do it when we generally relied on traditionally manufactured firearms, what hope do they have of it working when people can just make it all at home?
Gun control is dead and I'm feeling downright giddy at that fact.
