Eighty years ago, in 1938, with a very bad economy and war looming on the horizon, America was introduced to a new hero—Superman. His tag line was Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
Sadly in the present time, the mantra has seemed to become Lying to Americans. In August, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) went on a tirade against 3-D printed “firearms” on national television, saying, among other things, that “a 3-D printer cartridge has become as deadly as a gun cartridge.”
His remarks were accurate and truthful only if you also believe that the earth is flat and unicorns dance on rainbows over a river that flows with chocolate.
Markey said these firearms without serial numbers are “untraceable firearms.” This is partially true for the person making it, but if it is sold or given away, a serial number must be made and the next owner must fill out a 4473 form and pass a background check through a dealer with a Federal Firearms license in the same fashion as a completed 80% lower receiver.
Markey then said these “purely plastic” firearms “will pass through metal detectors without a blip, a buzz, or a bell that is going on” and the “online availability of downloadable firearms is a public safety crisis.”
We have heard this song and seen this dance before, when Democrats said the same thing about Glocks, even though they have a metal slide, metal barrel, and internal metal parts and can be seen on X-ray machines. If you try to take one through a metal detector, it will indeed set off “a blip, a buzz, or a bell.”
Despite the facts, the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 was passed, making any gun that is capable of passing through a metal detector without detection illegal. In short, the type of gun Sen. Markey describes is already verboten. This begs the question, are Markey and others who repeat such nonsense just plain stupid or deliberately misleading the public? [For more on 3-D printed “firearms,” see ENEMY AT THE GATE: Battle Over 3-D Printed Guns Heats Up, November 2018 S.W.A.T.]
Truth, Justice, and the American Way: a concept we should endeavor to return to—before it’s too late.
Until next time, stay low and watch your back.
