A police officer in Beong-dong, northern Seoul was shot and killed Wednesday during a standoff with a man (Seong Byung-dae, 45) who was also kitted up with body armor and had previously attacked a neighbor with a hammer. The firearm or multiple firearms used by the attacker were particularly crude homemade multi-barrel muzzle-loading weapons fabricated from pipes and held together using duct tape. These none the less proved to be lethal, officer Kim Chang-ho (54) succumbing to injuries sustained after a projectile penetrated his lung. His attacker was eventually apprehended after an hour long standoff. The weapons which were used are pictured below.

Authorities had previously expressed concern over the ease with which instructions on how to make firearms can be viewed by its subjects and earlier this year responded in a full 1984 manner by making the communicating of such information illegal (and therefore much more alluring). With the first two amendments of the United States constitution obviously presenting some difficulties in this area, police have admitted that they are powerless to stop people being exposed to such information uploaded from overseas. A certain Youtube personality, revered by a cult following as ‘comical American boy of felonious danger acts’ was touted as one particular example of what is readily available to corrupt young and vulnerable minds.

Considering the weapons in question are 13th century technology, efforts intended to ‘un-invent’ them are unlikely to be successful. Like other improvised firearms, each barrel in this case consisted of a length of tubing crimped and bolted at one end with a small touch hole drilled for a fuse or match, each then loaded with black powder taken from fireworks coupled with a suitable projectile. Perhaps a better idea instead would be to consider air dropping such instructions over their northerly neighbor.