Making your own

[Bushmaster]

A lot of the guns on our streets, legal or otherwise, are converted replica's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't converting a replica kind of count as making your own gun?


I'm asking simply to prove the point that there will always be guns in America, regardless of what the politicians may do.

 

[Texas1911]

It's illegal and rather dangerous. It's illegal because it's not serial numbered, and you are not a licensed manufacturer. That is if you want to make them for sale.

Personally, it's not illegal if you use it for yourself.

 

[Texas42]

I doubt there is a big problem of homemade guns being weilded by criminals.

 

[cconn]

I believe you are allowed to make your own firearms for personal use. And they just "recommend" that you put a serial number on them. Not saying you can convert a replica though. I know people buy 80% AR15 lowers and finish them themselves.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/general.html

 

[Bithabus]

Would be a zip gun in Texas. Sounds extremely dangerous anyway.

 

[TheDan]

Anyone with an amateur machine shop could make guns from scratch. Someone posted a video awhile back that showed people in caves making AKs, semi auto pistols and even their own ammo with simple hand tools. So yes, no matter what, there will always be guns.

 

[M. Sage]

What do you mean "replica?" That's in the UK, where a lot of "replicas" are the real thing that's barely demilled. Here, the rules for replicas are a lot more stringent.

Would be a zip gun in Texas. Sounds extremely dangerous anyway.

Got a source for that zip gun thing? I have a home-built AK receiver that I haven't added mechanicals to yet...

The danger level epends on how it's done. Like with the AK, building your own will turn out fine 99% of the time, though it takes tools, skills and some pretty serious time.

My (assembled and running) AK was a garage "build" from an NDS-3 receiver and parts kit. There's not really anything dangerous about making your own gun, but it's definitely not something that criminals are going to be doing.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

A lot of the guns on our streets, legal or otherwise, are converted replica's.

This is pretty much a non-existent problem. Almost no one does this, it's pretty much a non-issue. I assume by replica you are talking about converting an airsoft gun or something? If so, it would most likely blow up on the very first shot. Liberals have tried to raise that as an issue, just so they can also ban airsoft guns and any toy that even resembles a firearm.

 

[Bithabus]

Got a source for that zip gun thing? I have a home-built AK receiver that I haven't added mechanicals to yet...

I meant modifying a replica to shoot real ammo would be dangerous. The replicas I've seen are not built to handle that type of stress. Making a gun from scratch would not qualify under the zip gun definition I believe.

Sec. 46.05. PROHIBITED WEAPONS. (a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly possesses, manufactures, transports, repairs, or sells:
(1) an explosive weapon;
(2) a machine gun;
(3) a short-barrel firearm;
(4) a firearm silencer;
(5) a switchblade knife;
(6) knuckles;
(7) armor-piercing ammunition;
(8) a chemical dispensing device; or
(9) a zip gun.

(e) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree unless it is committed under Subsection (a)(5) or (a)(6), in which event, it is a Class A misdemeanor.

(16) "Zip gun" means a device or combination of devices that was not originally a firearm and is adapted to expel a projectile through a smooth-bore or rifled-bore barrel by using the energy generated by an explosion or burning substance.

 

[M. Sage]

Hmm, that's kind of worrying. Most of the home-built AK would be "originally a firearm", but you make the receiver out of little more than a sheet of steel... That's definitely not originally a firearm, and you have to bend, cut, weld, drill, ream and temper before you can turn it into one. "Adapted"?

 

[Bithabus]

A sheet of steel is not a device.

 

[M. Sage]

Just checked legal definitions and you're correct. In this use it should refer to a mechanical object.

I still think that law is just a bit too vague. And I really hate vague laws.

 

[London]

Homemade Improvised Firearms and Zips, Pipes, and Pens have both covered this subject thoroughly. The conclusion is that if prison inmates can get guns in the most heavily locked down areas of America, gun control is doomed.

 

[Bithabus]

I still think that law is just a bit too vague. And I really hate vague laws.

Agreed. Laws should be written so they can be understood by the average citizen.