I wasn’t sure if I should discuss this publicly given the radical anti-gun slant in Washington, but then I figured that since I filled out the paperwork to buy a silencer, I’m probably on their target list already. So here it goes:
I bought a Polymer 80 kit to build a pistol that is compatible with Glock parts.
Doesn’t sound that dangerous or dastardly does it? A shame I have to think twice before talking about it.
For any of you who are not in the know, the Polymer 80 is an 80-percent kit that I can use to make a so-called “ghost gun” in the privacy or my workshop with common hand tools. The gun grabbers are so haunted by the idea of people building their own guns that the BATFE is looking for ways to make them illegal or to require them to be given serial numbers, thereby removing their “ghostiness.” (As if criminals, most of who use and obtain their guns illegally, follow the laws.)
Note that it is perfectly legal under Federal law and most state laws to build your own gun. You could build it from scratch or from a kit. You can build them using a $300 3D printer. Buying receivers that are partially finished, like the Polymer80 and other popular 80-percent receivers, remains an approved and legal build. It is only if you start to build weapons to sell that you might run into legal problems if you are not a registered firearm manufacturer.
If building your own gun becomes illegal, then I guess I will just have to hope that I’m grandfathered in or living in a Second Amendment sanctuary provides me with some degree of protection.
New Gun Salesman of the Year
I had not intended to buy a pistol, ghost gun or otherwise. If the gun grabbers and bureaucrats hadn’t started talking about ghost guns, I would have never purchased one. But an opportunity to poke them in the eye for just $139? Too good to pass up.
They called Obama the gun salesman of the year during his term. I think Biden has now accepted the mantle.
I expect I will have fun building my own gun, so the kit will sit on the shelf in my gun safe until I have a chunk of free time. Maybe this winter.
When building AR-15s, I found that I learned a great deal that helped me service, upgrade, and maintain my weapons. I expect building a Polymer80 pistol will teach me about Glocks. Like the AR, they are pretty modular and I can swap parts in and out and make basic repairs, but I have no doubt there is more to learn.
I Need a Slide
Because I have owned Glocks for more than 25 years, I have accumulated plenty of spare parts and accessories. That means I have all the parts I need to build the polymer80 into a functional pistol except the slide. I even have a spare 9mm barrel.
Buying a slide with the cutaway for mounting a red dot is at the top of my list. I only have one pistol with a red dot on it, and it’s an IPSC open gun in .38 super. Not exactly something you’d carry concealed. It may be time to make a carry gun with a Holosun or some other red dot.
A Knee-Jerk Reaction
Is buying a gun kit simply because it might be illegal a knee-jerk reaction? Yes. I admit I am victim of an potentially unreasonable desire to own something because it might be banned. That very same reaction has powered gun buying since the early 1990s. When George Bush wanted to ban imported assault weapons, guns that had been languishing in dealer’s safes flew off the shelves. When they banned high-capacity magazines in 1994, everyone wanted not one or two, but six or twelve. And whenever a president starts talking about banning assault weapons, they start selling like hotcakes.
There is a supply and demand lesson here for preppers that deal with scarcity: Buy your guns and your prepping supplies before they become scarce. Stock up on toilet paper, canned goods, frozen chicken and freeze-dried beef before panic buying sets in. You’ll get a better price, a broader selection of goods, and when everyone else in panicking, you’ll be sitting pretty. You may even be able to sell some of your excess items at a profit.
Buying guns before they are banned is also a way to resist the illegal actions of the government. People who never wanted to own an AR-15 or a 20-round extended magazine for their pistol have bought one (or three) because they don’t like the idea that someone might tell them they cannot own one. There are still people out there that value their freedom, and part of that freedom is to buy, own, use, and carry guns of all types and descriptions. The right to keep and bear arms is the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights instead of the eighth or ninth is because it was top of mind to the founding fathers.
It should be at the top of your mind as well. It’s the right that ultimately helps preserve all the others.
It’s Reverse Psychology
As a parent, I know how telling a child they can’t have something makes it that much more desirable. For example, telling my daughter that she can’t date a boy made him more appealing. Growing up, I would sneak off and buy fire crackers and bottle rockets with my allowance money, even though I wasn’t supposed to play with fireworks. Being told no enhances the allure.
How many people dyed their hair an unnatural color, smoked their first joint, or found another way to rebel by doing what they knew their parents would object to? (You would think the gun grabbers would figure this out and stop talking about banning guns, but apparently they are not that smart.)
Some people buy guns just to resist government over reach. The act of buying a gun is itself like spitting in the eye of the gun banners. Knowing that the gun itself could be a tool in resisting tyranny, should it one day come to that, is just a side benefit.
I am entirely in favor of people who buy guns as a means of pushing back, because when the government starts to infringe on our God-given rights, pushing back is an appropriate response.
Weekly sales hit a record of more than 1.2 million guns sold this spring after setting a record of 1 million per week a year ago. Almost 40 percent of American households are willing to tell survey takers that they own guns, up from 32 percent in 2018. I expect the number is far higher but many respondents won’t admit to ownign guns.
