Wired Re-Creates Assassin’s Pistol and Silencer

U.S.A. — Writer Andy Greenberg at Wired.com has replicated the 3D-printed pistol and silencer used to assassinate UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. The task took him several days and thousands of dollars worth of time, machinery, and parts. Greenberg does a credible job of explaining the process and the lengths he had to go through to do so legally.

With personal advice from an acknowledged 3D gun printing expert, a serious budget from Wired, and a licensed silencer manufacturer, Greenberg succeeded in the State of Louisiana. The action took place in Louisiana because much would have been illegal under New York State law. Taking the gun back to New York State would also have been illegal. Greenburg turned in the finished frames to the police in Louisiana. From wired.com:

All of that meant that the only real legal hurdle to my experiment in 3D printing a Glock-style ghost gun was a flight from New York to New Orleans, where a gun range on the east edge of the city had agreed to host me and my WIRED video colleagues as we built and test-fired the weapon. James Reeves, the owner of that range as well as a lawyer and gun-focused YouTuber, assured me that it would all be fully above board, so long as I was only making my ghost gun for my own use and not selling it or transferring it to anyone else. “It’s a free country down here in the great state of Louisiana,” Reeves said.

Greenberg spends words worrying about the ability of people to make their own effective weapons without government permission or registration. The unstated assumption is that government laws forbidding people from making their own guns, or making it more difficult to do so, make us safer. The assumption has not been validated in real life.

In spite of numerous academic studies, gun control laws have very little effect when put into practice. Some studies show a reduction in homicides committed with guns, but no reduction in overall homicides. Similarly, suicides committed with guns may be reduced, but not overall suicides. Other studies show some reductions in homicides and violent crimes when firearms can be legally carried. Academic John Lott says every case he has found, where guns or handguns are banned, has seen homicide rates increase. It is clear the effects of such laws are, for better or worse, small, and can be negative as much as positive. Greenberg never mentions the Constitution or the Second Amendment. He does not consider negative effects of gun control.

The pistol Greenberg was able to produce took a fair amount of tuning, with the aid of his expert adviser, to become moderately reliable. Every component of the pistol was obtained on the advice of his expert.  Greenberg did not mention whether the homemade silencer was effective or not. It functionally changed the pistol from a semi-automatic to a manually operated repeater.

Greenberg concludes with this paragraph, after turning in his two printed frames to the police:

 I wondered what their reaction would be in another 10 years. By then, perhaps, partially and even fully 3D-printed ghost guns will be commonplace. America’s gun control system, after all, has shown no sign of keeping up with the pace of DIY firearm technology. Unless that changes, it’s safe to expect a future with more ghost guns than ever, and more people—like a certain alleged CEO killer—ready to use them.

Greenberg does not ask the obvious question. Why should readers be concerned?  Americans have always been able to make their own guns without legal intervention from the government. Until 1968, it was legal to purchase handguns, rifles, and shotguns in most places in the United States, without any government permission. Most could be purchased by mail.

After the 1968 Gun Control Act, homicides rose for most of the next 30 years.

It is only in the last few years, with hyperbole about “ghost guns” promoted in the media, that a few state governments within the USA have worked to make the process of making your own gun difficult and potentially illegal.

It would have been easier for Brian Thompson’s murderer or nearly anyone to purchase a factory-made pistol on the black market or to simply steal one. If a person knows how to obtain illegal drugs or knows someone who does, they have a way to procure items on the black market.  Many drug addicts commit burglaries, and firearms are a favorite target.

There are over 500 million firearms in the United States, with the number increasing by 15-20 million a year. If the purchaser wanted a “ghost gun”, it is much easier to remove a serial number than to manufacture a complete firearm.  In Japan, where gun control laws are extreme and harsh, the assassin of popular PM Abe made his double-barreled electrically fired pistol and ammunition, without 3D printing or any sophisticated tech.

Why did Brian Thompson’s murderer decide to use a 3D-printed firearm and a 3D-printed silencer? Why do so when the silencer made the pistol less effective, and it would have been much easier to obtain a factory-made pistol in Pennsylvania, where the murderer was apprehended?  It is likely the suspect did so in order to promote gun control.

This would make the murder serve double-duty: increase scrutiny of insurance companies through terror, and promote gun control at the same time.  As a Leftist, “social justice” activist, it is not surprising the assassin would want to push gun control.

Anti-gun Democrats’ major push against “ghost guns” rests on the inability to trace or register them with the government. There are already hundreds of millions of firearms in the United States that are not traceable or registered with the government. The brass ring of those pushing for a disarmed population is universal gun registration.

The ability of people to make their own guns without government permission destroys the possibility of universal gun registration.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.