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Comment by walrus01 | Hacker News Reader

I would recommend reading up on what the ATF considers a "destructive device" or "any other weapon" before home building any cannons or similar things.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=atf+defin...

An ignorant but technically motivated person can also "accidentally" build an NFA form 1 or form 4 firearm by making a short barrelled rifle without the appropriate tax stamp, just by combining pieces together. Or by doing something like putting a vertical foregrip on something that is legally a pistol. Or by making a home-made silencer. And so on.

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https://www.atf.gov/firearms/firearms-guides-importation-ver...

> Any type of weapon by whatever name known which will, or which may readily be converted to expel a projectile, by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore greater than one-half inch in diameter.

Hmm, guess that would technically cover potato canons? Though the exemptions include

> a device which is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon

:shrug:

Only if it shoots flaming tennis balls.

I wonder if they make silencers for wet blankets :p jk

> Or by making a home-made silencer

My father made 3 of these in the 1980s for 3 different caliber pistols. We later disassembled them out of fear.

Isn't there a "homemade gun" scene that operates on the idea that a weapon whose resources are collected in a single state, and that is assembled is that state, is not subject to federal firearm restrictions? (Since many if not most federal regulations rely in the commerce clause)

People are 3d printing Glock 19 gen3 compatible frames, the rest of the parts can be purchased with no FFL or serial number.

I don’t know. But silencers are not guns and are outlawed federally.

The point is, the federal government does not have a delineated power to regulate firearms or silencers. When they outlaw them, they say they're regulating "interstate commerce", which is a power they are granted.

If you manufacture the silencer yourself and don't cross state lines, and the materials you used also didn't cross state lines, the federal govt can't regulate it. (Although the state can.)

I found more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privately_made_firearm

They aren’t outlawed federally. They’re just subject to a $200 tax stamp.

Getting the tax stamp takes several months, unfortunately.

And you need a new stamp if you want to transfer it to another person.

Considering that no potato cannon uses cartridges, then I doubt that NFA applies to them?

People make bowling ball mortars from gas cylinders and those have a bore even larger than any potato cannon. Yet they are perfectly legal.

Ofc here both are illegal, as the potato cannons cannot use combustion for power.

> I would recommend reading up on what the ATF considers a "destructive device"

Oh you pussy. You think Sam Bankman-Fried built a 20 billion dollar empire with that attitude?

Would you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

"Empire" is a big word for a pyramidal tower of cards

All empires are towers of cards, with respect to some timescale.

Out planet is just a backyard ballistic, on the appropriate timescale

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