Weapons and firms. The Ghost Gun, or "ghost weapon," is a term coined in the United States by arms control advocates and has become quite popular. As you know, the American constitution is loyal to its citizens regarding gun ownership. But this does not mean that in America there are no laws governing its acquisition, storage and use. By the way, the USA has the most stringent laws in the world regarding the deactivation of weapons. It is customary for us to drill the barrel or weld a metal rod into it, drill out the bolt, cut the firing pin. That is, they treat him carefully enough. There, weapons are mercilessly cut so that they cannot be restored in any way. And there are good reasons for this. The fact is that the American police do not want the appearance of a "ghost weapon", which today is becoming an increasingly real factor in American life. We've all heard that American citizens are law-abiding. But this does not exclude the fact that for 100 of them there will not be one … not the same as the others, and so he will just make an AR-15 rifle with his own hands and kill someone from it. So far, we have talked about how these rifles are made by US firms and also in other countries. Today our story is about how this rifle can be made, being an American, at home. And not easy to make. Because it will just become a "ghost weapon".
In general, there is nothing particularly scary in this name itself. This is just a semi-automatic rifle, but without a serial number, which the police do not know about. Here again we turn to American laws. And they say that not every part of it is a weapon, but first of all the "receiver" (lower receiver), since this is the basis of its design. That is, the US law defines that the "receiver" is a "firearm". This is because a serial number is applied to it, which is registered at the police station when the rifle is purchased. No number - no rifle, no weapon. Such are the American laws. If you wish, you can buy a tank there at the auction. True, his cannon will be deactivated. But no one bothers to buy you a tank machine gun and not even one. And put them on the tank. And you will have a real tank, but only with machine-gun armament.
And now the most important thing. The modern American, if he is planning to get hold of a "ghost weapon", needs to shell out as little as $ 67 for a piece of aluminum and $ 500 for a computer-controlled milling machine manufactured by Defense Distributed. This company gained fame in 2012 - 201Z years, when it printed its first plastic gun "Liberator" on a 3D printer. There was only one metal part in it - the firing pin for the capsule, and all the other 17 parts were plastic. But it was still plastic. That is, a fragile material, in fact, designed for only a few shots. In addition, the company was prohibited from posting its developments on the Internet, including this pistol. The litigation between the US Department of State and Defense Distributed for several years lasted, and it ended in July 2018 with the fact that the company was able to obtain permission to freely distribute its weapons models. After that, the company created the Ghost Gunner, which can already cut parts for weapons from aluminum. Of course, a skilled gunsmith could have made a metal receiver for the AR-15 in his garage before. It was enough to have a drilling and milling machine and it was possible to make the receiver no worse than the factory one. But … this required skills, knowledge and skills. Now none of this is needed.
Yes, in principle, it is not at all difficult to buy an AR-15 rifle in the USA. But you can make a receiver for it yourself, and buy all the other parts for it. The fact is that they are practically not regulated anywhere. For example, there is the Ares Armor website, where you can order all of its parts, including the barrel and bolt, and all you need is the delivery address. Moreover, although the sale and purchase of "gadget" is prohibited by law, its manufacture is permitted. And since it is allowed, then … you can buy an 80% semi-finished receiver for the "arch" and finish it yourself. But again, this will take skill. It's like a prefabricated model of a tank or plane made of plastic. It seems that all the parts are in the set, it remains to separate them from the frame and carefully glue them. But … someone succeeds, and someone does not. So for the vast majority of today's Americans, this is not an option. Of course, we are talking about those of them who conceived to make a "arch" - a ghost gun.
3D printing is a very fashionable thing today and, by the way, also allows you to make parts of weapons. You can use the $ 2,800 Makerbot Replicator for this. On The Pirate Bau's website in 2013, one could find a layout for the AR-15, completely ready for 3D printing. The diagram is downloaded as usual, loaded and the part can be printed. True, from the work of the printing head overheats and it takes time to stop, and then the interrupted process starts again. Parts can be made in this way overnight, but you will need to remove the backing plastic. And in addition, he will fill in all the small answers. Nevertheless, there are videos on YouTube that show how you can print a steel box made of plastic, which will be able to withstand several hundreds of shots.
However, today there are already such machines that make it possible to manufacture a part of any complexity in a fully automatic mode. First of all, it is the Ghost Gunner, which features its own black cube with two step motors. It can work either with the GRBL program, or with DDCut - a Windows-based program, and the manual for the manufacture of the steel box attached to this machine is designed for the use of DDCut. You buy a machine, then a blank for making the receiver yourself (already 80% ready), and by pressing a button, you start watching how he finalizes it. Sometimes the program gives the command to change the position of the part, tighten or loosen the fasteners, change the cutter or remove the shank. It takes almost four hours to make a part. But what you get is a rifle part that fits perfectly with all of its factory accessories!
After that, it will take another hour to assemble the AR-15. This is how the unnamed receiver turns into a weapon from which you can kill, but which is not tracked in any way, since it does not have a serial number.
According to American laws, such weapons, and above all the receiver, must be destroyed with a gas fuel, so that it could not be repaired by any forces. By the way, you need to know and remember about one more "trick". This product is illegal, that is, prohibited in the states of New Jersey and the state of New York. So if you live in the "Big Apple", then do not try to buy any of this from DD, or buy in another state, and enter "this" here! Well, now, how much will it all cost for an American? This has long been calculated: $ 1ЗЗ4 option with the manufacture of a receiver on a 3D printer: and the already mentioned option using the Ghost Gunner machine manufactured by Defense Distributed, including the order of their own set of cutters and drills for $ 86. But is that such a big price to pay for a murder with a "ghost weapon"? And how tempting, isn't it? And from 2020 DD will release a semi-finished product for … AK-47!