Guns have existed in our society for a long time. For centuries they were made, one at a time, by blacksmiths; the same people who made horse shoes, door hinges etc. Typically the blacksmith would build all the tools required to make a gun, them use those tools to make the gun. The principles of operation of modern firearms have changed little since the late 1800s (see the list at the end of this article for a brief chronology of event leading up to modern gun design). What has improved over the years is , manufacturing techniques (allowing mass production) and materials developments (using fiber glass, polymer or carbon fiber in place of wood and metal. My point being that anyone with reasonable mechanical skills can learn to make a gun the old fashioned way. In today’s world, with very reasonably priced machine tools such as metal working lathes and drill presses available from mainstream retailers like Harbor Freight, the process can be much simplified.

Banning the manufacture and sale of firearms would likely spawn cottage industries of gun builders much as prohibition created a generation of underground whiskey distillers and distributors. It is commonly believed that the profits from these whiskey sales financed the major crime syndicates which still exist today. Similarly, the banning of marijuana (a weed that anyone can grow anywhere in North America) has created a new underground industry. In desperation, some governments are considering legalizing it since the have been unsuccessful at controlling it.

I saw a newscast recently where a local prison was subjected to a rigorous cell by cell search. It turned up a stack of improvised, and illegal, hand made weapons. An example of how, even in the most controlled and supervised environment we have in our society, evil people will create, possess, and use deadly weapons.

So, lets ban all guns and create another criminal enterprise on the level of the modern day drug cartels. Another great idea from people who can not think rationally. I guess the preceding rant is a long winded way of saying “when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns”.

A brief chronology of the the development of the modern gun.

Gunpowder was invented in 9th-century China and spread throughout most parts of Eurasia by the end of the 13th century.

In 1884 Paul Vieille invented smokeless gun powder. This enabled the development of self loading firearms.

The first practical self-loading machine gun was developed in the mid 1880s by Hiram Maxim.

The first semiautomatic pistol was patented in 1891.

The principles of gun operation have changed little since then.