The Truth About “3d Printed Ghost Guns”
Holding up a large poster comparing an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle built with a 3D-printed component atop a standard-built AR-15-style rifle, Blumenthal cranked the self-righteous sanctimony all the way to the maximum level.
“You will see them around our streets, in our airports, our train stations, they are undetectable, untraceable … forget about the TSA guarding the plane that you board,” he warned, apparently oblivious to his own contradiction of how people would “see” these supposedly “undetectable” guns in all of these places.
“These ‘ghost guns’ are a menace … the failure to ban them will mean blood on the hands of officials who have that responsibility,” he added.
Oh, where to start with this, aside from the obvious gaffe about a freaking full-sized AR-15-style rifle being “undetectable.” What Blumenthal was most likely inferring by calling the weapon “undetectable” is that certain components of the firearm were built with 3D-printed plastic parts, which of course wouldn’t be picked up by a metal detector.
What Blumenthal failed to mention — perhaps deliberately, more likely out of sheer ignorance — is that only certain components of the firearm can be built with plastic parts, with other parts necessarily still requiring metal pieces, like the internal firing mechanisms, and of course the ammunition … all of which would be picked up by a metal detector.
