From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Wed Dec 17 1997 - 16:34:55 MST
mark@unicorn.com wrote:
>
> phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu wrote:
> >Indeed. You can make a functional handgun with standard machine tools,
> >I've heard. It won't be professional quality, it might break after a
> >few hundred shots, but it'll suffice to mug someone. Or kill. How can
> >you eliminate such guns?
>
> I've seen some hand-made Malaysian handguns; pretty ugly copies of
> the Colt 1911 and Browning Hi-Power, but workable. I've also seen
> photographs of Thompson submachineguns built in the Vietnamese
> jungle. Modern weapons are probably even easier, as they're often
> designed for manufacture under license in the third world.
>
> Guns are simple technology; anyone who thinks they can be eliminated
> is a fool. If you want one, you can make one or buy one; in fact
> buying illegally may well be both cheaper and easier. A few years ago
> a British shopkeeper was locked up for shooting a robber with an illegal
> .32 handgun, which cost him $60. I checked the ads in a British gun
> magazine at the time and couldn't find a single legal handgun at
> that price.
>
During WWII, one of the OSS's more successful programs in the continent
was to commission the production of several million cheap single shot
pistols, which they dropped over Poland initially, and France later, for
resistance fighters to arm themselves with. While at a cost of $2.50,
the stamped metal gun was not good for many shots, the point was to use
it to ambush lone soldiers in order to acquire their weapons once they
had been dispatched with. Today these weapons are considered collectors
pieces.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 14:45:14 MST