I'll second comments that the shift in focus of the ATW is a great great idea and I'm excited about it. Especially if there is reading involved.
Stepping back, one of the huge problems of the discourse in American society is it is completely short-term focused and everyone has the memory of a gnat. I strongly applaud the effort by ATW to its new "just-say no" approach to the latest manufactured narrative of the day.
I also applaud Taibbi being the fact-based skeptical journalist while allowing Kirn to roam free-range and offer takes that push and dissect narratives. It really works well.
Don't forget that France is a character in this novel too. The British mentality may be engaged with the American but the French take is also there -- the defeated French, their Catholicism, and world-weariness as displayed by the Surete chief, Vigot, who loves Vietnam.
I love the shift to thoughtful and show determined focus AND the deeper literary exploration bent. Aligns perfectly with my own shifting focus toward history and literature. Synchronicity, at least for me … which is the actual definition of the word.
When I was in Vietnam in 2017, we met a young woman who, speaking about the Americans' use of Agent Orange against the Vietnamese people, said, "It still contaminates our groundwater and our bloodlines." A powerful, haunting image that I cannot forget.
Very cool. I just read Edward luces “zbig” about zebrinksi and he had a lot of “the quiet American” in him especially when he strayed from opining on his home country of Poland.
3D printed gun? You still buy a steel gun barrel, metal spring, because if you fire a 38 out of plastic you wont be able to set off the firing ring and if you can the gun will explode in your hand.
The truth is there is nothing special about 3d printing the assembly a lot of guns have non metal parts, wood stocks and so on. The reality though is that what makes a bullet fly forward is that the bullet is in a tight metal barrel that contains all the energy of the bullet explosion and only allows one escape route for the bullet. If the barrel was plastic it wont work because the plastic can not contain the energy of the explosion.
One thing the “signs and laws can stop bullets” crowd will beed to contend with is that within a few years, the 3D printing and home CNC tools needed to make “ghost guns” will be less expensive to purchase than legal firearms in the most restrictive states. In California, it might already be cheaper to own the means of operating a “ghost gun factory” than to legally purchase a single Glock pistol, and when the government cracked down an banned the sale if the “80% lowers", some of the companies started sharing the plans to 3D print one for free (even Congressional Dems have yet to make a case for how the commerce clause would apply when there's no transaction). When home CNC tooling gets to be affordable, anyone anywhere with the right program will be able to manufacture the reciever for an AR-15 from a blank rectangular block of aluminum (possibly even from one they cast at home using hundreds/thousands of empy soda cans and a furnace made from terra cotta pots and a leaf blower).
First, its harder than you think, second this is boring old news. I live in the rust belt with machinists, die makers and the people who make bombs, tanks and many who have made homemade guns way back in the 40s. The ability to make a gun has never been a hurdle but no machinist I know does it because you get better components cheaper buy simply ordering barrels, springs and carrier components from any of the online or previously mail order shops
You need to mill a barrel, casting it will make you a gun that will be accurate at about 20 ft and run the odds of literally blowing up in your hands.
It cant be an aluminum barrel way to soft, and milling steel is MUCH more difficult to setup, basically to mill an 8 inch pistol barrel will cost you about 30k in equipment on the cheapest end and a lot of cnc knowledge, programming GCode is nothing like using your little 3d printer.
Nobody anywhere needs to make their own barrel or uppers, the lower reciever/frame is the only component which requires a background check to purchase. Once you have the ability to manufacture that yourself, every other part can be purchased online wothout much fuss. Re-read what I actually said, there's nothing about making DIY barrels with any success.
With a 3D printed Glock (or P80 style) handgun frame, you can then buy the other 33 parts needed to make a fully functional Glock pistol off the shelf, and often as a kit (or if you want something special like a match-grade barre or slide set up for special sightsl there are companies which do that as well.
For a rifle, the lower reciever can be machined out of a rough casting or plate billet using a home CNC mahine, then all of the other parts purchased (AR is highly customizable in multiple ways). The aluminum alloy used to make the bottom of soda cans is remarkably close to the 6061 alloy "aircraft aluminum" used to make commercial AR lowers; the temper might be off if you're melting cans or scrap metal and casting ingots, but there are sutions for that as well.
Skilled machinists and tradesmen have always had the ability and known how to use the tools needed to do these things, but with the newer and upcoming tech, anyone woth an internet connection and reliable electricity will be able to make the only part that's regulated as a "firearm" and buy the rest without restrictions; after that, it's just a matter of assebly, not fabrication.
Great conversation. I was in Saigon a few years ago and went to the room at the Hotel Continental where Green stayed. Audie Murphy played Pyle in the original film and it had numerous script rewrites supervised by Edward Lansdale to make it more pro-American. The 2002 film really captures the essence of the book and is a fine film, as well as being the first Western film to be filmed in Vietnam since the war.
I love the idea of an exploration of literary works in the context of current affairs -- and vice versa. It is how I have lived my entire adult reading life.
Illegality: handguns are illegal in NYC unless you’re Gestapo - so the “ghost gun” bullshit is just hype. It just doesn’t matter, and as evidenced so-called “ghost guns” are unreliable as hell.
Suppressors: these used to be / should be legal for anyone who doesn’t want to fuck up their hearing while shooting. If you think they work like Hollywood portrays them, you’re an idiot. Another non-argument to scare morons into supporting more illegal gun laws.
The issue here is the state must make this guy a “terrorist” for doing what society should’ve done years ago and declared these for-profit criminals pretending to provide healthcare as such. They are making an example out of him so other people don’t follow suit. That’s all.
Murder millions of Americans by denying healthcare to earn a higher bonus, you get rewarded. Murder the CEO who helped murder millions of Americans - you get the chair, apparently.
The reliability of a "ghost gun" depends a lot on the type and materials used to make it. For a "glock" type of pistol, they're only 3D-printing the frame (which is made of polymer on most commercial pistols these days anyway) and buying the "upper" assembly (barrel, slide, sights, and recoil spring assembly) from any number of commercial sources since those parts don't require any background check or proof of identity beyond a shipping address and method of payment. The reliability of a 3D printed "lower" depends entirely on which material is fed into the printer, and whether or not a few small bits of metal are embedded at specific points; it's possible to make one that will hold up decently, or to make one that'll fall apart after just a few shots.
Most places where they're allowed, the law requires the maker to file with the State governnent and obtain a serial number (even California allows the home manufacture of handguns as long as they're then registered, and any sale is handled through a FFL dealer). New York's prohibition on handguns has been overturned by the courts, but there are still severe restrictions on carrying, and it's very likely that posession of an unregistered "ghost gun" would be a crime (although a less severe charge than Murder 1, so the idea that someone like Luigi would make the decision to kill in public and then be cowed by weapons laws when selecting the tool for the job is dubious at best); even carrying a legally owned gun on the street in Manhattan without a CCW permit is likely about as severe as posession of an illegal and unregistered weapon.
.. like a book club, but cool
i hope so
They’re back and better than ever!
I'll second comments that the shift in focus of the ATW is a great great idea and I'm excited about it. Especially if there is reading involved.
Stepping back, one of the huge problems of the discourse in American society is it is completely short-term focused and everyone has the memory of a gnat. I strongly applaud the effort by ATW to its new "just-say no" approach to the latest manufactured narrative of the day.
I also applaud Taibbi being the fact-based skeptical journalist while allowing Kirn to roam free-range and offer takes that push and dissect narratives. It really works well.
Don't forget that France is a character in this novel too. The British mentality may be engaged with the American but the French take is also there -- the defeated French, their Catholicism, and world-weariness as displayed by the Surete chief, Vigot, who loves Vietnam.
I love the shift to thoughtful and show determined focus AND the deeper literary exploration bent. Aligns perfectly with my own shifting focus toward history and literature. Synchronicity, at least for me … which is the actual definition of the word.
When I was in Vietnam in 2017, we met a young woman who, speaking about the Americans' use of Agent Orange against the Vietnamese people, said, "It still contaminates our groundwater and our bloodlines." A powerful, haunting image that I cannot forget.
Very cool. I just read Edward luces “zbig” about zebrinksi and he had a lot of “the quiet American” in him especially when he strayed from opining on his home country of Poland.
3D printed gun? You still buy a steel gun barrel, metal spring, because if you fire a 38 out of plastic you wont be able to set off the firing ring and if you can the gun will explode in your hand.
The truth is there is nothing special about 3d printing the assembly a lot of guns have non metal parts, wood stocks and so on. The reality though is that what makes a bullet fly forward is that the bullet is in a tight metal barrel that contains all the energy of the bullet explosion and only allows one escape route for the bullet. If the barrel was plastic it wont work because the plastic can not contain the energy of the explosion.
My dad commented that, as a fighter pilot in 1967-68, Viet Nam would be a beautiful place for golf courses.
Ohhh, Trump.
this was made into a movie with michael caine and brendan fraser
One thing the “signs and laws can stop bullets” crowd will beed to contend with is that within a few years, the 3D printing and home CNC tools needed to make “ghost guns” will be less expensive to purchase than legal firearms in the most restrictive states. In California, it might already be cheaper to own the means of operating a “ghost gun factory” than to legally purchase a single Glock pistol, and when the government cracked down an banned the sale if the “80% lowers", some of the companies started sharing the plans to 3D print one for free (even Congressional Dems have yet to make a case for how the commerce clause would apply when there's no transaction). When home CNC tooling gets to be affordable, anyone anywhere with the right program will be able to manufacture the reciever for an AR-15 from a blank rectangular block of aluminum (possibly even from one they cast at home using hundreds/thousands of empy soda cans and a furnace made from terra cotta pots and a leaf blower).
First, its harder than you think, second this is boring old news. I live in the rust belt with machinists, die makers and the people who make bombs, tanks and many who have made homemade guns way back in the 40s. The ability to make a gun has never been a hurdle but no machinist I know does it because you get better components cheaper buy simply ordering barrels, springs and carrier components from any of the online or previously mail order shops
You need to mill a barrel, casting it will make you a gun that will be accurate at about 20 ft and run the odds of literally blowing up in your hands.
It cant be an aluminum barrel way to soft, and milling steel is MUCH more difficult to setup, basically to mill an 8 inch pistol barrel will cost you about 30k in equipment on the cheapest end and a lot of cnc knowledge, programming GCode is nothing like using your little 3d printer.
Nobody anywhere needs to make their own barrel or uppers, the lower reciever/frame is the only component which requires a background check to purchase. Once you have the ability to manufacture that yourself, every other part can be purchased online wothout much fuss. Re-read what I actually said, there's nothing about making DIY barrels with any success.
With a 3D printed Glock (or P80 style) handgun frame, you can then buy the other 33 parts needed to make a fully functional Glock pistol off the shelf, and often as a kit (or if you want something special like a match-grade barre or slide set up for special sightsl there are companies which do that as well.
For a rifle, the lower reciever can be machined out of a rough casting or plate billet using a home CNC mahine, then all of the other parts purchased (AR is highly customizable in multiple ways). The aluminum alloy used to make the bottom of soda cans is remarkably close to the 6061 alloy "aircraft aluminum" used to make commercial AR lowers; the temper might be off if you're melting cans or scrap metal and casting ingots, but there are sutions for that as well.
Skilled machinists and tradesmen have always had the ability and known how to use the tools needed to do these things, but with the newer and upcoming tech, anyone woth an internet connection and reliable electricity will be able to make the only part that's regulated as a "firearm" and buy the rest without restrictions; after that, it's just a matter of assebly, not fabrication.
Great conversation. I was in Saigon a few years ago and went to the room at the Hotel Continental where Green stayed. Audie Murphy played Pyle in the original film and it had numerous script rewrites supervised by Edward Lansdale to make it more pro-American. The 2002 film really captures the essence of the book and is a fine film, as well as being the first Western film to be filmed in Vietnam since the war.
I love the idea of an exploration of literary works in the context of current affairs -- and vice versa. It is how I have lived my entire adult reading life.
I missed you.🫨Not ”you were missed.”
Love this new serious take on things.. much better than sarcasm and ridicule. Great improvement. Bravo!!
Maybe I’m not following, but…
Illegality: handguns are illegal in NYC unless you’re Gestapo - so the “ghost gun” bullshit is just hype. It just doesn’t matter, and as evidenced so-called “ghost guns” are unreliable as hell.
Suppressors: these used to be / should be legal for anyone who doesn’t want to fuck up their hearing while shooting. If you think they work like Hollywood portrays them, you’re an idiot. Another non-argument to scare morons into supporting more illegal gun laws.
The issue here is the state must make this guy a “terrorist” for doing what society should’ve done years ago and declared these for-profit criminals pretending to provide healthcare as such. They are making an example out of him so other people don’t follow suit. That’s all.
Murder millions of Americans by denying healthcare to earn a higher bonus, you get rewarded. Murder the CEO who helped murder millions of Americans - you get the chair, apparently.
How is this not obvious??
The reliability of a "ghost gun" depends a lot on the type and materials used to make it. For a "glock" type of pistol, they're only 3D-printing the frame (which is made of polymer on most commercial pistols these days anyway) and buying the "upper" assembly (barrel, slide, sights, and recoil spring assembly) from any number of commercial sources since those parts don't require any background check or proof of identity beyond a shipping address and method of payment. The reliability of a 3D printed "lower" depends entirely on which material is fed into the printer, and whether or not a few small bits of metal are embedded at specific points; it's possible to make one that will hold up decently, or to make one that'll fall apart after just a few shots.
Most places where they're allowed, the law requires the maker to file with the State governnent and obtain a serial number (even California allows the home manufacture of handguns as long as they're then registered, and any sale is handled through a FFL dealer). New York's prohibition on handguns has been overturned by the courts, but there are still severe restrictions on carrying, and it's very likely that posession of an unregistered "ghost gun" would be a crime (although a less severe charge than Murder 1, so the idea that someone like Luigi would make the decision to kill in public and then be cowed by weapons laws when selecting the tool for the job is dubious at best); even carrying a legally owned gun on the street in Manhattan without a CCW permit is likely about as severe as posession of an illegal and unregistered weapon.