Do plastic gun bullets have a ballistic signature?

[jpak]

If not - why do the gun humpers want them?

IBTL

[Flaleftist]

1. With plastic barrels, I doubt it.

I see few purposes. Cheap guns that can be used for murder and thrown away, and guns that can be made/acquired by people who are not legally allowed to have guns guns due to reasons like felony records.

I see no stopping it, though. The printers exist and once something is on the Internet, it's there accessible forever.

[jpak]

3. So why does Trump want them?

[Flaleftist]

5. I'm not familiar with Trump's position.

It the Democrats are against them and the NRA supports it, I suppose that's all he cares about.

[lame54]

6. Would the bullets have a trace of plastic?...

That won't identify a particular gun but it will tell that it came from a plastic gun

[jpak]

9. Maybe the BATF should require tagants in 3-D printer media and handgun rounds

Just sayin'

[Flaleftist]

11. This is new to me and I have done little research.

I would assume forensics could determine a plastic gun was used. But that is it. The guns would be cheap to make they would probably be tossed/destroyed after used in a crime, and since
the barrel is plastic it probably won't leave the same markings for each shot. So even if they did find the particular gun used, there could issues with it being admitted as evidence.

[Oneironaut]

2. The bullets themselves would not be plastic.

It's just the guns. Plastic bullets are actually used in non-lethal crowd control. I believe they would use normal bullets.

[jpak]

7. So, there would be no unique rifling marks on the bullets?

Untraceable guns AND expended bullets?

Who knew?

[fescuerescue]

12. Just like a shotgun with a filed off serial number

But worse.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

16. Ballistic tracing in real life is pretty hit or miss

Its not like what you see on TV or movies. Only full metal jacket rounds generally survive intact enough to detect enough rifling to match to a gun. Hollow points, which is what most people use in handguns, expand, deform, and usually break apart into small pieces, making rifling mark detection difficult.

[Brother Buzz]

4. They pass through metal detectors undetected?

I'm just spitballing, here

[Flaleftist]

8. The firing pin and bullet would be metal.

However, one could probably sneak a small pin and bullet past a metal detector/security guard much easier than a gun made of metal.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

10. The bullets are regular bullets.

If the barrel is 3D printed, it may still have rifling (or it could be smooth, which would be less accurate). Whether the plastic would imprint on the bullet or not, I have no idea. In general, they are one use only. The gunpowder pretty much destroys the plastic internals after the first shot.

[marylandblue]

14. At least one-shot pistols aren't good mass murder weapons

[Dr Hobbitstein]

17. Indeed. They also have a good chance of malfunctioning.

Blowing off the user's hand, et al.

[safeinOhio]

18. Cops love them. Malfunction is no problem for

your "throw down" weapon.

[GulfCoast66]

13. This whole thing is a canard to distract from the real issues

Granted, 3D printed guns are bullshit and should not be allowed.

But with our current gun laws any criminal can buy a gun anytime they want and a gun show. And 3-D printers are expensive.

[marylandblue]

15. Doesn't matter if they are expensive

You can quickly make your money back selling the plastic guns.