3D Plastic Guns

The possibility of creating 3 dimensional objects with a glorified printer is astonishing enough. Really. Deeply astonishing. The news that the invention has been used to create – and fire – a plastic gun stretches credulity beyond amazement to despair. Why oh why do we have to devote so much time, resources and ingenuity to thinking up fresh ways to kill each other? 

Discussing this with the local postmaster, who has political ambitions on the right of the spectrum, it became clear that on this issue there are people in the UK who make the Tea Party look tame. He was firmly of the belief that every citizen in this country should be able to bear arms; further that an armed citizenry would act as a check on ‘Big Government.’ It is odd that many on the right are not keen on ‘Big Government,’ until it comes to bailing out banks and financial institutions.

Thanks to the internet it is possible for anyone so inclined to spout nonsensical arguments,   however such arguments serve to provoke further research. “Armed teachers would have prevented a Columbine style massacre” and “that guns keep people safe.” Collateral damage does not enter the equation.

It is not too difficult to refute the pro-gun propaganda – in the UK, Europe, and the rational world – but seemingly impossible in the good ole U S of Eh! 

Try these stats:

• In 2010, 19,392 people killed themselves in the United States in ‘firearms related suicides.’ 
• In the same year there were 14,078 firearm homicides - the great majority of them by handguns. 
• There are over 310 million weapons in the United States for a population of 305 million. 
• This excludes any weapons held by the military.
• In the US in 2005 the average rate for gun related deaths per 100,000 citizens was 6.1.
• In the UK the figure is 0.07 per 100,000.
• In US cities the rate is 12.1 per 100,000 with Washington DC having the highest rate at 35.2.
• Canada has a range of gun control laws which they strengthened. They reduced their gun-related homicide rate from 1.15 per 100,000 to 0.5 between 1977 and 2012. 
• This refutes the argument from the pro gun lobby that most gun crime occurs in States or Countries with strict gun control. 

The thought of the BNP and the Anti-Nazi League meeting up in Bradford or Leeds with both parties armed to the teeth does not bear thinking about. Yet that is what our aspiring tyro politician seems to think would keep both parties safe.....

As for plastic guns created by warped geniuses.....Why? And having the instructions for making the guns available online? There are a few thousand more positive items which could benefit mankind ahead in the queue –– aren’t there?