Reader James Kaleda writes . . .
Gun rights deniers are increasingly up in arms about 3-D printing and the making of “ghost guns.” Many states, such as New York and New Jersey, have jumped on the bandwagon, passing laws intended to prevent people from purchasing certain parts, downloading 3-D plans, and all kinds of other silly restrictions. The ATF is putting a rule in place to redefine what “gun” means.
It’s all so silly, not just because prohibition never works, but because the materials and instructions for making your own firearms have been readily and easily available for decades.
I don’t know when the first book on how to make homemade guns was printed, and I don’t know when the first person noticed that certain pipes at the hardware store were the same diameter as a 12-gauge shotgun barrel. But the knowledge and expertise have long been out there and you can still buy books on how to build your own from Amazon (for now). In fact all of the books below were, at least until recently, available on Amazon.
3-D printing a firearms is an increasingly viable option, but it’s not for everyone. If you’re someone who’d rather build your own and get most of what you need from the local hardware store, there are several books available for free on the internet at allow you the build firearms with tools you already have lying around your house.
Homemade Guns and Ammo by Ronald Brown provides instructions on how to make a shotgun out of some pipes and scraps of wood…or just a couple of pipes. And quite a bit more.
And then there’s everything that’s (still) on YouTube . . .
If you have a bit more skill with tools than I, well there are plenty of sources available online right now — for free — on how to build submachine guns with parts you can get at Home Depot and tools you probably have in your workshop.
Expedient Home Firearms – The 9mm Submachine Gun
Expedient Momemade Firearms, VOL II – the .32/.380 Machine Pistol
The Sten MKII – Complete Machine Plans
Home Workshop Guns for Defense and Resistance – .22 Machine Pistol
A Do-It-Yourself Submachine Gun
This is probably a good time for me to include the obligatory disclaimer about following all applicable gun laws, regarding background checks, unregistered gun parts, lower receivers, unserialized firearms, the National Firearms Act and other federal laws administered by agencies including the ATF and FBI. It’s generally illegal to make your own untraceable full-auto gun in the United States. P.A. Luty, author of Expedient Homemade Firearms, was incarcerated for making some of his designs, so act accordingly.
All of that said…do you want something in a bolt action? Maybe something with a little more power? Bill Holmes has instructions on how to build a 50 caliber rifle. If that’s still not enough, there’s even a manual that shows you how to build a DIY bazooka.
Now maybe you may be thinking, “That’s all fine and dandy, but now anti-gunners are talking about regulating ammunition, too.” That’s OK, you can find instructions on building your own ammunition at The Home Gunsmith.
Gun Powder? There’s The Do-It-Yourself Gunpowder Cookbook by Don Mclean.
Want to quiet things down a bit? Well there’s are plenty of resources out there for that, too (including a number of options still available at Amazon):
Workbench Silencers – The Art of Improvised Designs
With all of the attention that 3-D printing, 80% lowers and “ghost guns” have gotten, it’s easy to forget that all of this information is available for free, and has been for decades. So why are the gun bigots so excited now? Could it be that they never noticed that free bazooka plans are and have been available online? Or is all the outrage just pretense to make further infringements on our Second Amendment rights?
James Kaleda is a gun rights activist and Anarcho-capitalist, known for challenging anti-gun politicians. He was the host of the Out of Order Gun Rights podcast.
This post was originally published in 2018.