Excerpt:
Prosecutors highlighted “about $10,000 — $8,000 in U.S. dollars and then $2,000 in foreign currency that was found on his person,” CNN correspondent Danny Freeman said following the court hearing.
“Also they said that he had a Faraday bag,” which blocks cell signals, a move that prosecutors alleged marked “an indication of criminal sophistication and reason they should hold him on bail,” Freeman continued.
After prosecutors made the claims, Mangione said he would like to “correct two things.”
“I don’t know where any of that money came from — I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication,” the suspect said in a statement that suggested police framed him.
What’s the point in those beyond a tech demo though? Don’t they use so much of the donor gun that it’s effectively no different to just scrubbing the serial number but with a lot more effort?
The point is you can theoretically assemble a functional Glock this way without leaving a paper trail. The lower (or frame, really) is the serial numbered part that carries all the Federal paperwork. You can mail order the rest of the parts without raising any eyebrows, do a bunch of assembly and fitting and tuning and fettling, and then wind up with a functional gun.
I will point out that this is actually legal to do on a Federal basis, although some states have since individually passed laws against it.
But just wait until I tell you that any moron can walk into a Bass Pro shops and buy a perfectly functional and lethal black powder cap-and-ball revolver in pretty much any state in the union with no paperwork. According to the ATF, they are not interested in classifying arms that do not used “fixed cartridge ammunition” a firearms at all (although most states do).
The difference is (in most jurisdictions), it’s legal to do the first and illegal to do the second. If you are already a criminal, there’s only one part of a gun that’s a gun, and that’s the only part that’s illegal to sell you.
Wait. Does that mean sellers are not obliged to track sales of uppers and barrels and the rest? Yeah I can see why lawmakers are pissed off now lol.
Yup, the US only regulates “guns.” Which is the part of the assembled firearm that has the serial number. Everything else is a “gun part,” which for the most part, are not controlled.
So if you can acquire/manufacture the “gun” you can buy the rest of the “gun parts” on eBay.
Here’s your AK, bro.
And the 3d printing part is not relevant.
There is no national firearm registry and manufacturers are not required to track parts or kits. So you can “build your own” weapon without traceable serial numbers - regardless of whether you use 3d printing to create one or more parts
A parts kit always needs a lower. The lower is the part that is considered the gun legally and is registered and serialized normally. 3D printing the lower is what makes it relevant
If there are other ways to make or obtain a lower than it’s not exclusive to 3Dprinting