From the moment the State Department removed barriers for 3D printed files being transferred on the internet, it was game over for gun control pretty much anywhere in the world.
It’s damn near impossible to control firearms as it is, but when anyone with a $200 3D printer and some basic knowledge could churn out firearms, you’re never going to keep a population disarmed. While that’s troubling to many political leaders, it’s really troubling to tyrants. You can’t oppress an armed population, and if you can’t disarm them…
Yet a lot of people don’t see it that way, probably because they’re would-be tyrants in their heart of hearts. They want to oppress you and yours, but only for your own good, you understand.
Regardless, a lot of us aren’t interested in that.
Over at Reason, J.D. Tucille had a bit of a field day over a recent report about these guns in the New York Times.
Illegal home-built guns are bringing libertarianism to the world. That’s what the good people at The New York Times say. DIY firearms are also helping rebels fight oppressive regimes and, as is inevitable when weapons make their way into the hands of regular people, fueling European officials’ fears of crime and terrorism. This is a result of recent technological developments that severely cramp governments’ ability to enforce restrictions—including when it comes to the FGC-9, a partially 3D-printed firearm.
Libertarianism With a Bang
“This American brand of libertarianism has historically been a tough sell in many other parts of the world. Even if some people believed it in theory, strict laws made buying a gun so difficult that the ideology was almost beside the point,” wrote Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff in the Times. “The FGC-9 is changing that.”
By “libertarianism,” Dearden and Gibbons-Neff mean the (familiar to Reason readers) belief that people have the right to freely live their lives whether governments like it or not. The philosophy is on display at the website of Deterrence Dispensed, a loose online community of those interested in designing and building homemade firearms and ammunition. “All individuals are entitled to the utility to defend their humanity,” the group boasts. “Gun control has failed. You can’t stop the signal.”
There’s no greater evidence of exactly that than the popularity of the FGC-9—the full name of which is the Fuck Gun Control-9.
“This model of homemade semiautomatic firearm, known as an FGC-9, has appeared in the hands of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, rebels in Myanmar and neo-Nazis in Spain,” note Dearden and Gibbons-Neff. “In October, a British teenager will be sentenced for building an FGC-9 in one of the latest terrorism cases to involve the weapon.”
Now, Reason is a publication and foundation that pushes libertarianism as a whole, and not everyone who supports gun rights is libertarian. At least, they wouldnt’ describe themselves as such.
That’s fine because I want to talk about the underlying point here for a moment.
The report cites a few incidents where the FGC-9 was used for terrorism or other illegal actions; as if that’s sufficient reason to ban something. What we see here is cherry-picking to push a narrative. Yes, the FGC-9 may have been used by these people, but more traditionally manufactured guns have been used by similar folks far more often.
In other words, bad people get guns regardless of the laws against it.
But let’s also remember that the rebels in Myanmar are fighting back against a military coup that ousted the legitimate government. That’s an important point, because that is the point. The junta that overthrew the government doesn’t want people to resist, yet the FGC-9 gives these rebels the means to do just that.
Bad people will break the law in order to do bad things.
Yet there are times when good people must act. That’s when bad people are those in power, and democratizing gun manufacturing may mean the difference between living under the boot of an oppressive government and living free.
Regardless of how you feel about big-l libertarianism–meaning the party itself–most people who support gun rights ultimately believe in the idea of natural rights and personal liberty, what many call “small-l libertarianism.” Guns like the FGC-9 work toward preserving that as they should.
So the New York Times lamenting them, even as they apparently acknowledged that there are zero homicides linked to the uber-popular FGC-9, is really just telling you they haven’t changed much from the days of Soviet apologism.
