What harm is there in a fellow setting up to make a few clubs or pikes or other useful objects ?

Sure is that not what blacksmithing is all about ?

I think it,s a grand way for a man to spend his time,better than holding up the wall anyway !

The bottom line is that a hammer can be used for many different purposes [and has been ]. Is a lathe any different ?

These MP,s need to find something better to do,if indeed there is anything they can do !

There's some very clever folk on here & some that are equally as stupid.

Nobody wants to live in a world where somebody else finds it neccessary to set up an arms factory, yet we readily forget what our fathers told us "one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter".

I'm beginning to think that the current trend is to rise up against anyone who doesn't fit into the unknown agenda.

If they were ever taken with the notion to regulate machine ownership I feel it would be a pointless exercise, as usual the good guys get hassle and expense and the bad guys ignore the rules and licensing. The operation recently exposed appears to be a Bona fide motorsport outfit so how will you ever control a sideline armoury? We probably have some of the toughest gun control in the world but the bad guys still obtain and use them and machine tool access probably has a tiny input to that accessibility. I am sure it is easier to hide a gun on a cross channel truck than make one in your shed. Many thousands of people seem to hide on trucks without detection so if they were guns you could start a war.

Mike

I for one would not pull the trigger on a 3D printed gun, what proofing do they do?

No

No, but it's considerably harder for FAC holders to go spree shooting in the UK when they become mentally ill. Whilst mass murder of school-children, workmates, music fans, passers-by and church-goers by gun-nuts is acceptable in the USA, I prefer to live in a country where such things are discouraged.

Gun crime in the UK is largely linked to drugs and gangs. Criminals aren't filling a murder-vacuum left by exclusion of demented FAC holders, they are an additional problem. Deregulating guns will not reduce gun criminality, but it would make access to weapons and ammunition easier for the ill-disposed.

I wouldn't be against guns in private ownership if the gun community came up with a sensible way of preventing gun misuse. So far, they've failed to do this.

Spot the mini-lathe in this article. This week it's owner, Mr Ricky Garner(49), was sentenced to 20 years and 3 months for using it in his garden shed.

Probably best for Model Engineering if we don't link lathe ownership with guns on the forum.

Dave

Strange how the police seem to be using these powers to arrest people illegally making or modifying guns for criminal purposes, not model engineers?

Is the solution as simple as not breaking the law in your workshop? You can hardly make a handgun by accident.

Neil

Mark's other posts indicate he's in the USA. And the war on drugs is going well here (in the UK) either!

To make a lethal weapon in any household is impossibly easy with just the most basic of tools, equipment & ingredients. There are 2x chemicals under almost every kitchen sink that when mixed together can kill everyone that comes near.

It's so impossibly easy that you'd think everyone would know everything about it.

Yet nobody questions the reasons why they don't.

I can commit mass murder & gain the immortal fame & notoriety that comes with that just by placing a simple innocuous household item in my kettle !

Things, guns, chemicals, knives, machinery capable of making guns & knives don't kill people.

People kill people.

True? I don't recall any examples of model engineers being raided by MI5?

Neil

Many years ago, I used to make spares for the old BSA 12/15 0.22 rifles used by the local CCF. I made them because spares were unavailable. Nowadays I would suspect that I was breaking the law making firing pins etc.

Never gave it a thought in those days.

Andrew.

They have gone mad here in NSW. The law makes no distinction between a real gun and a replica, or indeed a plastic toy. Last week a young gaming nerd was prosecuted for 3D printing a replica gun from his favourite computer game. They went easy on him: one year, fully suspended.