courtesy MALC Institute

In today’s edition of “Are you paying attention, AR builders?”…

Women in red T-shirts, some carrying young children, fanned out across the Maryland State House complex to press lawmakers to pass a series of bills that would make it more difficult to obtain guns. They advocated for a ban on 3D printed guns and guns assembled from kits known as “ghost guns” and for requiring background checks on private purchases of shotguns and rifles.

“ ‘Thoughts and prayers’ are nice but they’re not enough,” said Sen. Susan Lee, a Montgomery County Democrat, referring to a sentiment often expressed toward victims after mass shootings. She was one of several lawmakers who spoke at a boisterous rally of Moms Demand Action members.

Sen. Will Smith, also a Montgomery Democrat, said Maryland has done a lot on gun control — banning assault weapons, banning bump stocks, creating a “red flag” law to remove guns in some emergency situations — but could do more.

Lee called them “no-brainer gun safety laws.”

– Pamela Wood for the Baltimore Sun, Gun Control Advocates Push to Ban Build-Your-Own-Guns

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

56 COMMENTS

  2. Amazing how many air heads are out there demanding action on things they know nothing about. Just program them, wind ’em up, send ’em out ! They will recite talking points till they wind down. Useful idiots.

    • Well, in reality, they prevented a Vegas-style shooting by banning bump stocks long before the Vegas shooting, oh, wait, I mean after. Let me try again…

      Look how many crimes involving bump stocks have been prevented due to the ban! We had an epidemic of bump stock crime! I have been extensively searching for stats, and as of today, I’m aware of a bump stock being used once in the history of the device for the commission of a crime! That’s an epidemic! Glad Maryland put a stop to this problem!

      Okay, I tried…

  3. Me thinks that some pro self defense women with pink shirts should go pass out flyers promoting self defense through gun ownership at the same location with a baby on one hip and holstered pistol on the other.

    • I am one of those Moms who used to be all about gun control. Not now. We need to save our constitutional republic. How do we stop these people? Ugh. And no I’m not advocating for violence. I’m sick of this sh*t.

  4. Let them try and ban whatever they want. It’ll all be invalidated when Supreme Court Docket 18-280 gets a decision.

    • Hard to invalidate something that was never valid to begin with. However, you could re-affirm the invalidity of a non-law.

  6. Yeah there should be some law saying you can’t buy grenades out of vending machines at elementary schools. What the hell is a ghost gun build kit?

    • … and yet, in Switzerland, you can buy military surplus ammo from a vending machine at any of their thousands of public shooting ranges. Every adult is required to perform a term of militia service and a large number of them keep their down converted (they take out the giggle switch) 550s after they are done. Funny how this has literally never been a problem in a country the size of New Jersey and a population larger than most US states. Also, all it takes to form a private shooting club is to grab two friends and a parcel of land. The canton government will then be happy to supply your range with ammunition at wholesale cost and help with the upkeep.

      Fun fact, in Switzerland, you can buy any full-auto gun so long as you file a 50 franc “purchasing permit” (good for 6 months, three guns, and one seller) with the reason for purchase being listed as “collecting”. They are quite a bit more picky on stuff like NODs and body armor, but firearms are basically on a “shall issue” basis. The only thing you can’t really get is a carry permit, which in a country like Switzerland is absurdly unnecessary.

      • Great system, but nobody gets a firearm until they complete a minimum of two years of military service where they learn a basic manual of arm and advanced instruction. How about that for an idea for America, no firearms until you had 2 years training. That’s how it works for Switzerland.

        The Democrats would support that initiative as reasonable gun control, how about you?

        • Um… no. Not how it works at all. By the time you’re old enough to buy a gun, you’ve either started your militia service (and have been issued a gun you must keep at home) or have been deferred. If you were deferred, for whatever reason, you can still buy whatever gun you want provided you don’t have a criminal record.

        • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Switzerland

          Basically, if you want a free Sig550, go to boot camp. 21 weeks of recruit and specialty training for all males sounds like a splendid idea in general. Fail the PT requirements and you get kicked out and charged an extra income tax. Seems like a great idea to deal with modern snowflakes. Hell, given that most Swiss employers continue to pay basic salary during this period, I’d do it right now for fun and a quick skill refresher. It can’t possibly be worse than PI.

    • It’s almost – but not quite – what’s in the article photo.

      Basically, it’s a kit that has everything but the serial numbered part of a gun, as a kit, plus an 80% receiver that you finish off yourself. A little machine tool work, some elbow grease, and you have a fully functional, legal (if you’re not a felon or otherwise prohibited person), firearm. A number of places offer them off, for instance, Polymer80 frames – kit comes with the guts of the lower receiver (e.g. trigger, slide release, etc.), a slide (either fully assembled or also kit form), plus the Polymer80 80% Glock frame kit. I’ve seen similar for ARs, with similar options (e.g. complete upper or needs-assembly).

      The only thing “off” about the photo above is that the lower receiver looks factory-finished.

      An AR “build kit” is similar, but assumes you’ll be supplying the lower receiver yourself. Those are often also called “ghost gun” kits, even though they’re not … especially if you use a serialized lower. But that’s a distinction I wouldn’t expect the MDA crowd to make.

  7. Astroturf Activist: We must ban ghost guns because they have killed so many children!
    Reality: Actually, they haven’t.
    Astroturf Activist: But, that’s what Bloomberg paid us to say.

    • More like “AHHHHHH RACIST BABY HATING MISOGYNIST APPROPRIATOR OF CULTURES HEY HEY HO HO ORANGE MAN HAS GOT TO GO SHAME SHAME SHAME”

  8. “no-brainer gun safety laws.”

    Yes … but not, I think, the way she intended it…

  9. Anyone one priced AR 80% lowers recently ? The inexpensive ones have been sold out for months and the only ones available are higher priced than mid to high line AR finished lowers. By the time this law gets enacted, the market will be out of products to sell because of the panic. Everyone who wants one will already have one.

    As far as moms go, most of them are pretty crappy parents. The average American youth of today is lazy and has a great sense of entitlement. Most refuse to work hard or work overtime, or even work at all. They spend most of their time staring down at useless inane photos and messages on their phones. Great Job Moms !!!!!

    • It’s interesting that you say that.

      While I currently have no need for a stripped or 80% lower I was looking at them the other day and noticed that in both cases all the ones in stock at the store were pretty pricey and all in “custom” colors like gold and bright red. I thought it odd.

      But then I haven’t seen in the market for such a thing for a while. So I hadn’t priced one.

  10. The Maryland State House is controlled by the lib-progs of the Baltimore-Annapolis-DC triangle, and throw in there Montgomery County (which I think of as California-East). There are conservative parts of the state (Western Maryland, the Eastern Shore, far Southern Maryland), but they are politically dominated by this one heavily-populated area. So this little MOM action (with concurrent politician sound bites) doesn’t surprise me. The Maryland legislature can and probably will pass more gun control acts, and the RINO governor will sign them into law. I used to live in the Socialist People’s Republic of Maryland and wouldn’t move back on a bet. I don’t even go there unless I absolutely have to. I don’t even like passing through to get from Virginia to Pennsylvania.

  11. If these red shirted Maryland moms should consult the FBI’s SHR statistics accessible here:

    https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/asp/off_selection.asp

    A little exploration would reveal that the vast majority of young children (under 12) who are murdered are NOT killed with guns of any type much less “assault rifles” or “ghost guns.”

    These red shirted moms might also discover that killers of young children are seldom some scary stranger. Most killers of young children are family members. In fact the profile of the person most likely to murder a child is a family member who is female and over 17 years old who is the child’s mother or step mother.

  12. I built an AR from a fully finished lower receiver and a parts kit. It can’t be a “ghost gun” if it had a serial number, but I don’t see what would make it any less threatening to these activists. And what makes a single kit containing all the rest of the parts to build a rifle more dangerous than breaking down the parts into “service packs”, i.e, a trigger group, bolt carrier group, barrel group, etc? Because if they can somehow outlaw complete kits, the only thing that will change is the way the parts get sold. Instead of one single SKU, the sale will include multiple SKUs. More inconvenient but not something a good web design can’t work around.

    • In fact it could be a bonus to the seller – different “trim levels” for the furniture, lower and upper parts. Mix’n’match, some of the fun of speccing it all out yourself but someone else making sure it’s all compatible.

  13. “… a Montgomery County Democrat, … also a Montgomery Democrat, said…” Saying this here in Montgomery County is like saying a fish is wet. I can’t wait to leave.

  14. The term “no-brainer gun safety laws” is more apt than these grabbers think. They are BRAINLESS ideas that none of the gun control proponents can give a cogent explanation about how they would actually work.

    • Given that they are democommies, they also support the murder of their own children, so long as it’s convenient for them.

      • You are so correct. They also support importing criminals as if we don’t have enough native crooks already.

    • It’s not abortion. It’s “a woman’s healthcare decision”.

      You fucking misogynistic supporter of the patriarchy! Why are you against women’s healthcare and women making decisions?

      This is why I hate when pro 2A people use the term “assault weapon”. Words mean things and if we cede the language we basically cede the argument in terms of public policy and support. We should be asking “Why are you against modern sports?” rather than trying to answer why we support “assault weapons” or “weapons of war”.

      Make them defend taking away civil rights, don’t let them make you defend scary shit.

      • “Make them defend taking away civil rights, don’t let them make you defend scary shit.”

        Hey, Strych –

        If you have the time, expound and expand on this and submit it to TTAG as an article, will ya?

        We need a lot more stuff like this. TTAG can create a category “Defending the 2A Toolkits” or something. Nuts-and-bolts stuff.

        The same with what you did yesterday on converting antis into non-antis…

        • I’m still on a “medical leave” from life so I do have the time. I’ll ask DZ about it. I might even have time to go back and write a few more of the articles I was writing for TTAG before RF left and my whole life went to shit.

  17. Let’s ban red shirts,,, every time I see one , I see RED,,, THIS HAS GOT TO STOP 🛑 Aaaaaa ! RED AGAIN !!! Aaaaaa!😡

    • It’s always so hard to get armed “counterrevolutionaries” into box cars to usher in the socialist utopia.

    • Well, of course.

      They are *responsible* gun owners.

      *You* are not…

  19. I almost hope some state legislature tries it. The cat-and-mouse game with Amazon, calling AR castings wall art was hilarious and would no doubt continue if there weren’t dozens of easier ways to get them. If a state tries it, as far as I know none have passed a bill yet, it will be worthless and hard-to-enforce.

    You see I can think a few moves ahead, I’m not incapable. However there’s no reason to believe the Trump bumpstock ban will be so toothless and have such a payoff. That’s just wishful thinking or empty promises by his fans.

  20. Lee called them “no-brainer gun safety laws.”

    There was certainly no brain involved when crafting these.

  21. I’ve got a better idea.

    Ban TTAG “authors” from being credited when they simply repost the work of others.

  24. For which philosophical reason should that be done? Then give me a philosophical reason why a populace should be disarmed? Nobody has given me one yet.

    • Generally I think it goes under the banner of utilitarianism or a vague Abrahamic-religious idea of paternalism. Either with a statist bent. Like (1) it’s the state’s job to increase social utility or control people for their own good, and (2) gun control is conducive to that ergo do gun control.

  26. Maryland Democrats have a super majority in both houses and our “Republican” governor Larry Hogan has signed multiple gun control bills in the past. Needless to say, this is going to steam roll through the general assembly and be law in Maryland before 2020.

    Please do remember the name “Larry Hogan” because he is contemplating running against Trump in the 2020 primary. He is a snake in the grass, a gun control advocate, and a left leaning Democrat at best. If he wins the Republican nomination make no mistake about it, your two choices in the general election will be a Democrat vs a Socialists.

    • Nobody is going to try and primary Trump. Without RNC money, which they already pulled from any candidate stupid enough to try, it would be an exercise in futility.

  27. Further proof that these people won’t stop until every firearm has been banned.
    “We’ve enacted a lot of gun control, but we can do more!” they say after each new law is passed..

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