By Jorge Amselle
Full scale panic. That is the only way to describe how the media and liberal anti-gun politicians reacted to the then new GLOCK pistol back in the mid-1980s. “People will be armed! And we won’t know about it!” they cried. “This gun is undetectable,” they claimed. This gun would mean an end to government controls, and end to unarmed victim zones (sorry, I mean gun-free zones).
Of course the GLOCK is more metal than plastic and the chaos (liberty) predicted never occurred. But that didn’t stop the politicians with their crystal balls which in 1988 passed the Undetectable Firearms Act making firearms that cannot be detected by the technology then available illegal. No such gun existed but that did not matter, it could one day. And now finally, a quarter century later, it has come to pass. Someone invented a practically worthless, almost all plastic gun.
The firing pin and the ammunition are still metal although case-less cartridges have been made before and you could use some sort of polymer or ceramic ammunition. You still need a source of ignition and perhaps a chemical ignition with no metal could be made. Improvements in the technology, materials and 3D printing could also produce a far more effective and durable firearm.
This technological advancement should be celebrated not feared like some modern day Luddites. Instead we get more of the same. This idiotic anti-freedom law is scheduled to expire on December 9. But the GOP controlled House of Representatives already passed a “bipartisan” extension by a “majority voice vote.” Wait, what? A voice vote? I wonder why they didn’t have a normal vote so that they would have to be on record and have to defend that vote to their constituents.
Plus what does a “majority” of the House mean? Apparently, according to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), it means a majority of about 10 members of the House (out of 435) who bothered to show up for work on the floor at the time of the voice vote. He tweeted that he was the only opposing voice vote to this idiotic legislation. Not only did members of Congress not want to put their names to this bill, they didn’t want to show their faces either. This was truly a proud moment for liberty and proof of their strongly held convictions.
The simple reauthorization of this was not enough for the anti-gunners. They want more controls and less freedom. What can be said of a government that does not trust its own people? That fears technological progress? Indeed, there are many on the left that think the Second Amendment only guarantees the right to own firearms that existed at the time it was written. Now the House GOP seems to be endorsing that same view and has opted to freeze all gun owners in 1988. I for one will not regrow my mullet.
Jorge Amselle is a certified firearms instructor and writer covering all aspects of the industry from military and law enforcement firearms and training to the shooting sports. His youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/amselle.