What would you buy, if there were no restrictions whatsoever?
Jon Stokes has written about Smart Guns technology for the tech blog TechCrunch (warning: his article is a political, this blog post is not). He brings up an excellent point: to what extent are guns designed around laws, rather than the what the market or gun designers would prefer. Jon writes …
As long as we live in a world where a millimeter of barrel length separates a highly restricted “short-barreled rifle” from a regular rifle, and where a plastic gun handle is willfully misidentified as a dangerous aid for mass killers — in other words, where people who know zero about firearms nonetheless continue to design them through legislation — smart gun technology will be a bona fide existential threat to non-smart-guns, and people who don’t want to buy smart guns will do everything they can to strangle the technology in the cradle.
If you asked the average gun enthusiast (myself included) what guns they would own if there were no laws preventing or restricting ownership of certains guns, most likely they would tell you machine guns, short barreled rifles, suppressors, short barreled shotguns, Russian Dragunov SVD rifle etc. In other words: everything!
The question is, what would we actually be buying if all restrictions were dropped tomorrow without fear of them coming back, and more specifically, what would gun designers be designing if they had no legal restrictions.
Would Glock start designing fully automatic machine pistols? Would people start buying machine pistols for self-defense rather than just for fun at the range?
Would the Russian Dragunov SVD rifles become popular? Or would the novelty wear off quickly.
Would 14″ become the new 16″ for rifle barrels?
Would MAC-10 machine guns sales continue, or would they plummet in value and people start buying fully automatic MP5s instead?
What would home defense shotguns look like? 12″ barrels, drum magazines and fully automatic? Or would pump action 18″ barrels still reign supreme?
Let us know in the comments would you think would be the most popular gun products in a future where everything is legal.
I founded TFB in 2007 and over 10 years worked tirelessly, with the help of my team, to build it up into the largest gun blog online. I retired as Editor in Chief in 2017. During my decade at TFB I was fortunate to work with the most amazing talented writers and genuinely good people!
More by Steve Johnson
![[NRAAM 2024] NEW Taurus & Heritage Revolvers for 2024](https://cdn-fastly.thefirearmblog.com/media/2024/06/04/06441/nraam-2024-new-taurus-heritage-revolvers-for-2024.jpg?size=350x220)
Comments
Join the conversation
If all restrictions went by the wayside, we'd certainly see a boom in sales of Class III full-auto arms and short-barreled arms. As fun as those are, however, the fun starts to wear off when you see how fast your hard-earned cash turns into noise. (The offset to this might be a sufficient surge in ammo demand to justify increased investment in new production facilities and vastly more ammo production capacity).
I'd like a short-barreled shotgun, likely a 20-gauge, for home defense. Think of a 4-shot semiauto 20 gauge with a barrel about 12-13" long with a folding foregrip and muzzle brake. We'd hopefully see some innovation in ammo designs too. A small bore (28 ga?) shotgun shell designed for semi-auto shotguns that could be easily magazine fed without the case-rim issues.
A 14" barreled lever rifle in most handgun calibers would make a handy item for road trips, camping, and farmers and ranchers. Likewise there would be a market for a select-fire magazine-fed PDW with a 10-14" barrel in various calibers (.221 Fireball anyone?). I'd think something like HK's MP7 layout combined with a full power 10mm cartridge and a 2-3 round burst mode would be awesome.
MP5K-PDW as a ccw arm. I'd be cool with that in semi-auto, actually. I'd just like to have the option of a stock.