Correct. And it is already a fact that the barrels are not regulated.

In many instances, firearms are sold such that a spent shell casing is supposed to be provided to police (directly by the FFL). However, a simple change of barrel and minor modification of the firing mechanism and the “signature” is completely altered anyway.

The real fear behind the printed handgun is for single dramatic uses … “assassination hits” in a crowd (only need one shot) or the threat of a single shot (many if you have several) on an airplane. So to that point, the Senator is correct in that there is already a threat from those without a need for the technology to get better.

Not everyone will be an astronaut when the grow up, jokes despair.com. Its pretty funny until your Mayor Bloomberg lays it flat on the students in New York City. In his weekly radio show, the mayor says, “The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class …. Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College — being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal.”

You should take a closer look – the AR-15 lowers have successfully fired several thousand rounds now. The plastics were only necessary to hold the trigger assemblies and handle the bolt. The rest of the components are completely unregulated (barrel, bolt, trigger, etc.)

And the printed handgun has successfully fired shots safely. The point of the handgun is to be untraceable and undetectable to metal detectors (the printed version includes a metal bar only to be compliant with rules … something criminals won’t have to do). It already meets its purpose and doesn’t really need to be refined for continuous use.

The 3D printing craze continues to evolve, especially as prices have dropped making them more affordable and accessible. With printer accessibility and the incepted seed of 3D guns, more people continue to develop open source CAD designs for improved performance. While the first models were AR-15 lowers (the regulated component) and reliant on existing metal parts for the remainder of the weapon, complete handguns have been produced entirely from the 3D printer. This newer development has led California Senator Leland Yee to propose the mandatory registration of 3D printers since they can be used to produce untraceable firearms. “Terrorists can make these guns and do some horrible things to an individual and then walk away scott-free, and that is something that is really dangerous.” In a limited Reason-Rupe telephone poll of only 1003 subjects, Americans indicated they were in support of banning the production of firearms with 3D printers.

It’s unfortunate, the author of that article said he was building off the existing hack against hotel locks (I believe it’s this one). But he didn’t provide any information other than building a smaller device. No descriptions of the code he used were given, only a link to the raw source. Then he didn’t even talk about why using his device was easier or what devices it worked on. :-(

Yes – they absolutely can. The problem is credibility. Any idiot can talk about foreign policy in the Middle East. And most idiot Americans will say it should be leveled into a parking lot … sounds a lot like 19th century “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” kind of thinking. They’re all entitled to speak … but when they’re elevated to a level of creditability such that national policy may be influenced by poor ideas, then its a problem.

I think the problem is less about knowing how a gun works and knowing what they’re really doing. Even as I type that, I don’t think I’m writing it properly. Let me relay an example:

A Navy coworker of mine was visiting with in-laws that are vehemently against guns. He challenged their views in some open discussion which revealed:

• A complete misunderstanding of the ability for a gun to discharge …. He literally had the mother-in-law hold an AR-15 to see her treatment of it and her handling and discussion revealed an innate fear to touch it thinking it could “go off” at any time. After showing her its features, she got over that and understood it better.
• A complete misunderstanding of what the firearm could do …. Every family member called the AR-15 an AK-47 and talked about it from the context of being fully automatic and capable of doing 7.62mm equivalent damage (vice 5.56) and being wildly inaccurate. Again, my navy coworker showed them how the civilian version only fired a single shot, discussed range qualification and its effectiveness, etc. After this, the family was looking at it from the perspective of “what’s the big deal then?”

You’re right. Neither is playing a fucking trumpet or being able to compete in the Olympics.

And yet we still have a band AND a Military World Class Athlete Program AND a whole command devoted to recruiting.

So whether its a military skill (in the sense of being able to perform combat infantry tasks or perform in the support of said tasks), we have the mechanisms anyway. Why would you keep putting a bunch of non-recognizable people, whom everyone attributes to the liar that conned them into the military and hates, into recruiting at unnamed little stations in towns and high schools … when you can take advantage of existing programs and get an “ARMY STRONG” public message smack dab in the middle of America’s favorite sport?

If you haven’t at least heard of BitCoins, you’re living under the proverbial rock. They Internet’s digital currency of anonymity based on encryption algorithms has had interesting ride over the past year. Approximately a year ago, they were valued at just over $4 each after a particularly scathing cyber theft. This lull was followed by a spectacular rise starting in early 2013 to over $260 each. Despite the rises and falls, it would seem BitCoins are going to stick around for awhile and their continued acceptance (Amazon, PayPal, etc.) has led economists to start paying legitimate attention to them.

On that note – we should deactivate the military band and continue allowing knuckle dragging infantry to conduct cyber operations since … well, there’s no need to let specialists/experts be paired with their skill.

The military has a PR and recruiting function – this is a necessary thing. Why wouldn’t you leverage your assets when you can?

Yes … unless you’re really f***ing good at something (USNA and David Robinson?) and perhaps didn’t realize it until you were in. This is why the Military World Class Athlete Program exists. Granted, WCAP is for Olympic sports but the fact that it exists (and our support for shit like NASCAR and drag racing) means the military has already made provisions for these types of things.

What do you think the Army will do this time around? The last time an Army football player was drafted by the NFL, the Army opted to send him off to war instead. Recently, four year quarterback Trent Steelman was signed by the Baltimore Ravens. It would seem a broader target audience to have a professional football player advocating the US Army for public relations than hitting the American Southeasts for NASCAR (although that ends this year) and drag racing.

Only days ago, hackers compromised the Associated Press’s Twitter account and posted a breaking news story about explosions at the White House injuring the President. The Tweet (I hate that term) went viral and actually caused a 1% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average though the dip was later recovered in further trading. The hack is presently attributed to the Syrian Electronic Army claiming to be “a group of enthusiastic Syrian youths who could not stay passive towards the massive distortion of facts about the recent uprising in Syria.” While this is amongst the first hacks to truly pan out an effect on the free market, it was not sustained but reveals an ability for adversaries to take non-traditional avenues towards impacting real world operations beyond simple site defacements and denials of service.

It would certainly give us more ground to stand on when making sure Americans abroad are treated fairly in accordance with local laws instead of being made examples of … cough Iran cough.

Perhaps, all while making them think they’re doing something. Sort of a placebo medicine from the ruling class.