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by koshergweilo 142 days ago
Don't you still need metal bullets for the 3d printed gun?
2 comments
throwaway290 142 days ago
No idea. I only replied to the guy saying that "metal detectors stop weapons". Which is false.

The evidence is in US law. Because they would be undetectable, 3d printed guns are required to have some metal inserted into it to be legal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D-printed_firearm#United_Stat...). I think a guy who can 3d print a gun and wants to bring it onto a plane could probably skip that step;)

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inglor_cz 142 days ago
"I only replied to the guy saying that "metal detectors stop weapons". Which is false."

Taken in a strict boolean sense, yes, but real-world policy is rarely boolean, and mostly about tradeoffs and how many nines of reliability you want to spend on.

Metal detectors will catch the vast, vast majority of guns ever produced, which is their whole point of existence.

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fc417fc802 142 days ago
Those don't generally have any ferrous components.
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edm0nd 142 days ago
yes but the spring in the magazine does.

also the rails on the lower, the barrel, etc.

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fc417fc802 142 days ago
Not in the context of someone smuggling a weapon through a security checkpoint. At least not unless they're certain that it's small enough not to trigger the detector.

That said I will note that it is generally illegal to possess such nonferrous weapons regardless of circumstance.

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mrguyorama 141 days ago
And it is, again, completely irrelevant.

How does a plastic pistol open the cockpit door? It is proof to small calibers. You might shoot someone in the plane and then you will be subdued and ghaddafied with a SkyMall magazine. Not the most effective form of terrorism.

Countries that didn't create the TSA also had a reduction in terrorism.

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fc417fc802 141 days ago
I agree. Such a pistol won't even get you many shots before catastrophically failing.

But upthread it was suggested that metal detectors are sufficient to stop weapons and a discussion of 3D printed guns followed. Nonmetallic weapons (and other tools) of all sorts are possible, 3D printed or otherwise.

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bluGill 142 days ago
If you want a gun you can use more than a couple times need metals. However if the goal is one shot plastic is good enough. Even plastic bullets will work - not well, but one well placed/timed shot is all we are talking about.
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