The TSA Has Found 3D-Printed Guns at Airport Checkpoints 4 Times Since 2016
But we’ve been told by all of the smarted politicians and media talking heads that 3D-printed guns were undetectable by airport security and would bring about the end of western civilization . . .
“TSA has determined that these items can — and have been — detected at the security checkpoint,” spokesperson Michelle Negron said in a statement to TIME. “Our officers are trained to look for and detect threats, including artfully concealed weapons, and through use of sophisticated technology, including Advanced Imaging Technology, can detect non-metallic items concealed on a passenger.”
Travelers carrying 3D-printed firearms at security checkpoints will be referred to local law enforcement and face civil penalties by the administration, the agency said.
Trophy-hunting foes sue to shut down Trump wildlife board
TDS in action . . .
Animal advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to shut down U.S. President Donald Trump’s board advising on federal rules for importing big game, saying it is stacked with trophy hunters and politically connected donors and cannot serve the public interest.
The lawsuit said the “deceptively named” International Wildlife Conservation Council actually promotes the hunting of and importing of body parts from “imperiled species” such as African elephants, lions and rhinos.
It said the 17-member council, created last November by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, violates a 1972 federal law designed to curb White House use of “secretive” advisory panels to set national policy, and should lose its powers and charter.
Trying to Ban 3D-Printed Guns Will Only Make Them More Popular
They never learn . . .
This is called the “Streisand Effect” and is one of the most predictable rules of the internet. Whenever the government (or a celebrity, or a company) tries to censor something, they immediately make it exponentially more popular and widespread than it was in the first place.
The lawsuit itself seems to be on shaky ground: In settling Wilson’s lawsuit, the Department of Justice has already cut-and-run on this issue, and there are strong First and Second Amendment defenses. Some experts consider CAD files code (which many scholars believe could be protected by the First Amendment), but, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in an amicus brief in Wilson’s case against the DOJ, these files could also be considered art, or technical information, or scientific information.
“The design files at issue here, for example, are not ‘functional’ software that can be ‘run,’ ‘launched,’ or ‘executed,’” the EFF wrote. “They are storage files for text, images, and three-dimensional shapes, having “functional” consequences only after a third party interprets and implements them with software, hardware (such as a 3D printer), and raw materials. Even under the government’s flawed view that ‘functionality’ diminishes First Amendment protection, files here are, if anything, less ‘functional,’ and at least as protected, as the computer instructions for encrypting data.”
That’s OK. Go ahead. Keep attempting to censor the information. In the mean time, get your 3D gun files right here.
“We will not be bullied into fear”: Denver’s March on NRA protest will continue Saturday, student activist says
“Every time we plan to stand up for students there is always a group or someone who thinks it is OK to threaten innocent lives,” Somers wrote in a statement. “There were talks of what do we do for all scenarios and one was to cancel the march/rally, however we will not be bullied into fear.”
The Colorado State Patrol and the Denver Police Department were notified of the online threats from several people. Somers said both entities determined it is safe to continue the rally.
A Denver Police spokeswoman told The Denver Post on Wednesday that authorities wouldn’t confirm whether a threat was credible, but that they would make sure the events were staffed appropriately.
‘Top Shot’ marksman admits St. Louis-based gun fraud
The question is, what guns did he buy? . . .
Matt Burkett, 46, of Scottsdale, Ariz., started Predator Tactical LLC in 2010 to make high-end custom firearms. In April 2012, he attended the National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis, where he met a St. Louis-area buyer who later became an investor, his plea says.
Burkett admitted as part of his plea that he accepted $50,000 from the investor, who later opted to use the money instead for firearms purchases. Burkett never delivered any of the guns, his plea says.
The plea also says Burkett will have to repay that buyer and others a total of about $200,000.
Burkett’s indictment accused him of using money from buyers for personal purchases from 2012-2017.
There are those who think it’s OK to threaten or bully the innocent.
That’s why we’re bullying the 5 million innocent members of a shooting club.
They detected an undetectable gun? Wow, they’re good.
So tell me, these evil 3d printed gun terrorists were thrown on the ground, handcuffed, and dragged off to prison for their crimes, right? They wanted to repeat 9/11?
Or… These were just the test cases where officials try to get contraband through screening to ensure it is catching it?
These are the only one’s they detected … but the millions of real 3D printed guns that got through have been responsible for billions of deaths across the nation (mostly children). It is such a shame that this scourge is being allowed to continue!
(for those that need it /sarc)
I thought this would be the case. I’m not a TSA fan, but they do look for suspicious non-metallic objects (Dart guns, glass knives, and more, anyone?), so I didn’t think the plastic would make a difference there. Other places…maybe. Maybe even probably. Metal detectors are less useful than before, that’s for sure. Even if it’s a single shot, that can count.
I have personal experience proving that there are metal detectors that can detect a single round of .44 Magnum absent-mindedly left in a pocket after a range trip.
If the ammo can be detected, I’m unclear on what all the fuss is about.
rosignol….It’s the bullets made from Jell-O that has them worried.
So long as they use brass cases, that probably won’t help…
Like all the stupidity when Glock was first imported as the PLASTIC GUN. Hard to make springs and barrels and bolts out of plastic. Some high end 3D printers can use metal powder, but ….
X-ray scanners indicate the relative density of scanned objects on a computer monitor. Of course a metal handgun would stick out like a sore thumb among clothing and toiletries in a carry-on bag.
Well guess what? A nylon handgun would also tend to stick out like a sore thumb among clothing and toiletries in a carry-on bag. Why you ask? Because nylon is considerably more dense than clothing. And while it may be less dense than some toiletries, those toiletry items are all small compared to a handgun.
I suspect that you could easily get a nylon handgun through airport security if:
(1) Your handgun did not look anything like a handgun.
(2) Your handgun was disassembled.
(3) You did NOT carry brass cartridges.
(4) You had one or more partners carry some of the parts.
(5) You fill in voids with matching dummy pieces so that the scan indicates nothing more than a slab of nylon.
To be honest, I think getting a working nylon handgun onto a plane is fairly easy. The hard part would be getting cartridges through security. I cannot think of any way to camouflage them.
I once boarded a plane to pick up a car with a license plate and a Rhode Gear Tool Pod screwdriver bit kit in my carry on.
The guy on the x-ray machine was interested, as the pod full of screwdriver bits looked a bit like a loaded .22 or .25 magazine. He wasn’t too excited, just wanted to see it to make sure. He didn’t act upset or anything when I pulled it out and showed him what was in it.
On the other hand I boarded with 20 rounds of 9mm in a jacket pocket that had just come from a uspsa match once upon a time.
Perhaps they had psychics that could detect ghost guns?
Of course, TSA misses _real_ weapons, too.
(Shhhh)
The only thing TSA won’t miss is . . . wait for it. . .
snack time.
How’s about some physical readiness standards? One of the reasons the U.S. Military has them is it saves the government $$$ on uniforms. Another is that it builds ‘readiness’.
MFrs couldn’t beat me to the gate walking. Half of them sit there, with dead eyes, ass eating a stool. . .
tsa excellent @ groping genitalia & stealing, plus giving guided tours to somali-criminals
And yet the TSA MISSED 95% at a recent airport…you guys are special😄😎😏
Yeah, bureaucracy at work. Though given we haven’t had an airplane hijacking in this country since 2001…the other guys must be really stupid. Or smart enough to just try something else. I don’t think citizens will sit quietly if this happens again.
We haven’t had a plane hijacking since then because everybody but the TSA knows that that was a one time deal. The passengers will never let that happen again.
We haven’t had a hijacking, but how many instances have there been where the passengers or crew put down a fellow passenger who was getting hinky? A lot.
“The Colorado State Patrol and the Denver Police Department were notified of the online threats from several people. Somers said both entities determined it is safe to continue the rally.”
Who wants to bet that the ‘threats’ were really just disagreements with the students? With Gamergate and Metalgate the exact same leftist progs claimed that they were threatened and when asked to prove the threats, all they could show was comments that disagreed with their point of view. You really think they don’t want to disarm you? The left thinks words an thoughts can be literal violence. So you can bet what their stand on firearms will always be.
Yeah I wonder about that anytime someone’s claims they’ve received threats, especially when they’re a liberal. Like that ogre from Berkeley who trashed Barbra Bush, then claimed she was getting death and rape threats. I thought, really? You? Getting rape threats? Maybe in your dreams.
Death threats, definitely. Rape threats? Eww…
Gotta wonder how many are self-posted for the press exposure–and to attack the NRA as a bunch of violent thugs.
That is what happened during Gamergate and to a lesser extent Metalgate. Also look into various ‘racist’ threats on campuses. Leftists actually making the ‘death threats’ to themselves. See also all the hundreds of fake hate-crimes that leftists made up. Facts do not matter. Only narrative.
I’m sorry, the Streisand reference leaves me scratching my ass. Anyone?
I think it’s something about she spoke out against something and ironically made it way more popular by doing so.
“I’m sorry, the Streisand reference leaves me scratching my ass.”
“The Streisand effect is a phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide, remove, or censor a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
She sued an aerial photographer in order to force him to remove pictures of her home from a publicly accessible database, thereby increasing the number of people who downloaded her house from exactly four to over 400,000 within a month:
From Wiki:
The term alluded to Barbra Streisand, who had sued photographer Kenneth Adelman and Pictopia.com for violation of privacy.[6] The US$50 million lawsuit endeavored to remove an aerial photograph of Streisand’s mansion from the publicly available collection of 12,000 California coastline photographs. Adelman photographed the beachfront property to document coastal erosion as part of the California Coastal Records Project, which was intended to influence government policymakers. Before Streisand filed her lawsuit, “Image 3850” had been downloaded from Adelman’s website only six times; two of those downloads were by Streisand’s attorneys. As a result of the case, public knowledge of the picture increased greatly; more than 420,000 people visited the site over the following month. The lawsuit was dismissed and Streisand was ordered to pay Adelman’s legal fees, which amounted to $155,567.
Another example of the Streisand Effect is when a couple of anti Constitution totalitarians in Washington conspire to violate Defense Distributed’s free speech rights, people like me, who had no desire to possess the DD CAD files download them and spread them as widely as we can.
Take that, Bob Ferguson, and the black robed cocksucker you rode in on.
State attorney general Bob Ferguson is a shining example of the negative consequences of voting a Democrat into the governor’s office.
In some states, does the governor hire the AG like the President does?
In Michigan, the winners of the gubernatorial primaries pick their party’s candidates for Lt Governor, AG and Secretary of State to fill out the ticket. Yeah, it’s a shitty system, as far as selecting an Attorney General goes.
In Washington:
Bob Ferguson is the 18th and current attorney general of the state of Washington. A Democrat, he was first elected on November 6, 2012, and sworn in on January 16, 2013; the seat was open following Rob McKenna’s decision to run for governor. Ferguson ran for re-election to a second term in 2016.[1] He placed first in the state’s top-two primary election on August 2. He won the general election on November 8, 2016.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
The Streisand Effect is kind of a blech name for a phenomenon.
I prefer to think of it as The Alderaan Effect…
Thanks all for the explanation. A very appropriate analogy.
And thanks Dan for the link to CodeIsFreeSpeech. I exercised my right to click on free speech. 🙂
Not related, but worth reading I think-
http://www.wvcdl.org/kavanaugh.pdf
I wonder if their advanced detection machines are really just normal x-ray machines, the kind found in every airport across the country. Sure, a solid chunk of plastic may not appear as bright as if it were metal, but it still should show up.
Who the hell trophy hunts a leopard? Who the hell still trophy hunts anything? I’m with the advocacy group here. Unless it’s a problem animal, leave it alone.
As for the gun control idiots, I wouldn’t she’d a single tear if they got massacred. I’m past the point of caring or trying to show them the error of their ways. I realize now, they won’t listen. Even if a good Samaritan saved their lives with a gun, they’d just say it doesn’t represent the vast majority.
Old (or, for some species, dangerous) examples of exotic species have hunting rights auctioned off to get rid of them. Otherwise you have them drag the whole herd down, harming the overall population, or have to pay their overseer to kill them. By selling the ability to hunt the problem ones you bring in money (and remember, these reserves are often located in lands where just a few American dollars goes a LONG way)
That’s why I left the exception of problem animals. Even still, it’s a single animal. Not trophy hunting.
If you’re talking about Africa, trophy hunters are the guys (and gals) who pay astronomical sums for the privilege of shooting the animals that the locals need killed. The locals keep the meat.
If you’re talking about USA, you’re talking about the guys who travel around, spending large amounts of money on nonresident permits and often guides, to participate in harvesting the number of animals the state DNR wants harvested. I’ve never heard of the meat going to waste.
Dafook is your definition of the evil “trophy hunting”? Like it is a hanging offense, or something? Do You have any idea what you’re talking about? I’m not a hunter, but I seem to know quite a bit more than you do. Why don’t you look up some info on how you would go about hunting a jaguar, how long it would take and how much it would cost, instead of making wild accusations and assumptions?
And by “hunt” you mean “walk up to and shoot.”
The improvements in x-ray technology is more to do with software processing of the image to enhance and sharpen details, and to accommodate items in layers. Of course, unidentifiable x-ray opaque objects, would have to raise suspicions.
I remember a science show comparing them old and new x-ray imagers where the host attempted to get a handgun passed an x-ray detector. He took a glock pistol and removed the barrel, slide, and magazine, and put the parts inside an old boom-box type stereo. He was able to get the gun past the old style system but the new system caused the operator to pick out the frame, barrel, and slide amidst the clutter of metal parts in the stereo.
Clever, but I doubt a boom box would be allowed in an airport terminal or a courthouse. Even so, what sort of person would smuggle a single shot pistol into an airport?
“saying it is stacked with trophy hunters and politically connected donors and cannot serve the public interest”
So…like all other committees formed in government, by both sides. Check.
I’ve had sand and other crap in my action, but never a Streisand.
It always amuses me when the antis complain about being threatened. You’re going against the NRA and gun-owners. If anyone actually wished you physical harm, they are the most equipped to do so. And yet here we are, the number of shootings against GunSense or MomsAgainstGunViolence or HoggsDimwits or whatever standing at… zero.
If I feel threatened, I have a tool I can bring with me that helps raise my defense to a higher level. It’s called a gun.
What was the online “threat” anyhow? That they’d make sure Starbucks along the March didn’t have any soy milk? That the government offices that give out .gov cheese wouldn’t stay open past 5pm to accommodate the march? The porta pots would be gender binary?
Oh!, the humanity!
If you read the responses posted here on TTAG, you will see “threats” abound.
There are always a few who say that some people should be killed (hanging is the usual method espoused) as traitors.
These are “death threats.”
Keyboard commandos often make such threats, with no more seriousness than those who claim “just one more” anti-gun policy will result in a massive uprising.
Such people have always been around, and always will be; social media (like TTAG) has just made them more visible, without increasing the danger of their “threats.”
So it appears that 3D guns (partly plastic, 80% metal) are capable of being found…
Of course that the TSA Security Theater, has a failure rate of over 97% and still never stopped a single terrorist event in its entire history while stealing and mispsending over $8Billion/year….
It just means they missed at least 97 others… 🤣
While I agree that the patriot act and the TSA are just the start of a US police state, the fact that they are checking bags has stopped illegal gun carry by bad guys and end use(as well as legal gun carry by good guys).
Anyone who believes that owning firearms, brandishing to a threat, or living in a state with fewer restrictions on firearms stops bad people from attacking you must also believe that the TSA is stopping bad guys from flying with firearms.
Of course I do not support them, but I have to say it appears to be working.
I keep a pat of butter in my fridge to keep elephants out.
It appears to be working.
Living in Montana, I carry an umbrella to keep away the alligators. I works perfect. Never seen a gator yet…
rt66paul…… I have personally ( over the years ) had to ” brandish ” a 357 magnum to stop a bad guy, never had to fire it. Try again with your theories. This will not always work but as the democommies say ” if it will save only one life “……
Real funny, guys, but don’t forget the flip side. If another attack *does* occur, instead of deducing that the billions spent on prevention did no good, and stopping it, we decide instead that MORE prevention spending is needed, more infringement on our freedoms, more craziness which accomplishes nothing. Look at the French choo-choo, Americans will not stand by for terrorist attacks ever again, even if it costs their lives. TSA has outlived its usefulness, let’s quit. Agents can report back to Burger King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KatYW_gN4j8
The government was absolutely correct in trying to “quietly” settle with DD as this was only big news to the gun community as it should have stayed so but it was only in the past week that this became big news and spread. Its like bump stocks only a few even knew about them, fewer even cared, but one big incident breaks out and everything goes crazy! Eventually criminals would have figured all this out and made such weapons but by government prohibition they have actually increased and expedited this threat. If you want to blame someone blame California and their NAZI gun laws otherwise no one would ever have gone through the effort to make an AR lower especially with plastic but due to the free market Cody is a product of tyrannical governments not the other way around.
But the thing is it is easier, faster, and cheaper to build an AR from an 80% lower than it is to go through the rigamarole of buying one of his milling machines and a block of aluminum. The press just doesn’t seem to get that. They don’t understand that all he is making available is plans for a lower, and that you still have to go out and buy all the other parts to make a functional rifle. We get that, the press seems intentionally obtuse about the whole thing.
This is why I make ceramic guns in my pottery studio.
Patrick Swaze’s Ghost Gunner?
The Streisand Effect is most assuredly in play here. It’s the same as when state governments try to ban “assault weapons”. Here in NY, upstate was already awash in guns meeting the state’s definition, but after the SAFE Act was passed by Cuomo, the number spiked and has continued to climb. I know people who had never sought to own an AR-15 who now own one. For some of those people, the rifle was their first gun. And yes, you can still buy AR-15’s in New York State.
In the 1990s, I believe millions of SKS and AK47s were sold to people who had no desire to own one before the 1994 AWB.
I became familiar with the M-16 in Vietnam, never sought to own one until Clinton’s AWB, purchased my first (not my last) the day he signed the law. Sales did not really go down, though, at any point in the 10 years, you could always buy what I guess they call “featureless” now, no flash suppressor (muzzle brake OK), no bayonet lug (bayonet only mounts on 14.5″ or 20″ barrel), such silliness.
What plastic-fantastic firearm is that in the OP anyway?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jFjtE7bzeU
Thank ya!
“The lawsuit said the “deceptively named” International Wildlife Conservation Council actually promotes the hunting of and importing of body parts from “imperiled species” such as African elephants, lions and rhinos.”
And without trophy hunting, these species would be wiped out, as they are both dangerous and severe nuisances to the local peoples. Without the significant value placed on them by foreign trophy hunters, there would be no reason for the locals to preserve their populations.
Also the proceeds from trophy hunting is used to hire and put afield game wardens to catch the illegal poachers that are responsible for diminishing wildlife. Without these funds they cannot afford this protection to the animals.
“..This is called the “Streisand Effect””
Can I make a suggestion? Can we change the name of this to the Tipper Effect? Or Gore Effect if that sounds any better?
Streisand is the most recent target, but this idea really got it’s start way back in the late 80’s with Tippers PMRC and her groups attempt to ban rap music. (not just rap, but for the sake of simplicity)
Besides, Babs is having a really rough time right now with Trump being in Office… lets giver her a break by not continuing to keep her famous by invoking her name.
“But we’ve been told by all of the smarted politicians and media talking heads that 3D-printed guns were undetectable by airport security and would bring about the end of western civilization . . .”
The first quality someone who seeks office has to posses is that of a comfortable liar,the second are the qualities of a rattle snake.
The “3D-Printed Guns Found by TSA” article illustrates why we cannot trust the news. It lists four supposed “guns” confiscated by the TSA in the past few years. One is a plastic replica, not a gun at all. Two items are AR-15 lower receivers, which are technically guns, but without the upper receiver, barrel, handguard, magazine, grip, cartridges, etc., are no more than harmless hollow inert plastic sculptures, less dangerous than shoes with spiked heels. And one more 3D-printed “gun” that was surrendered, with no other details. The inflammatory headline is totally misleading, and the article itself makes no mention of the complete lack of threat of the confiscated items. Shame on the author and CBS for publishing this #fakenews.
A while back, I had the misfortune of seeing a television that was tuned to CBS. There was a commercial for that evening’s news broadcast in which it was proclaimed “CBS News – REAL NEWS”.
The gentleman doth protest too much. All of these networks are completely fake.
Years ago I remember the press in a battle to protect their rights to not give up their sources. They proclaimed their rights under the first amendment to be a “free” press. Now they have volunteered to be a propaganda arm of socialists that write their talking points, amazing. Surrender without a fight.
Nah bro, the TSA said they found “4 guns AND Accessories”, which if you translate, it could mean 1 3d printed gun and 3 grip panels, … or maybe just 4 grip panels.
They didn’t even clarify it, so it could have been a big nothing burger. But yea, it’s certainly not “undetectable”.
Yawn. I really don’t understand all the drama concerning 3D “ghost” guns. I mean if you’re into that kind of stuff, fine. Me, I’d rather buy something that I know is gonna go bang when I pull the trigger.
I’m hoping that with all this fuss over some printed plans being uploaded to the internet, the more sensible 2A’rs will focus on more important issues. Like national reciprocity and the vote on a new scotus. We’ll see.
The moment you include ammunition, a 3d gun is stupidly detectable. Of course, nerf guns have always been xray detectable, soooo… /shrug?
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