It's violence. Tighter gun laws disarm people who would only use a gun to save their lives. Some of the tightest "gun laws" in the US are in Chicago. I hear it's pretty save to walk the streets there. :) Thinking that outlawing something is going to get rid of it is foolish. I didn't work for alcohol, it's not working for drugs, and it won't work for guns. All it does is disarms law biding citizens. The last time I checked, law biding citizens weren't commiting these crimes. If you want the real stats, go here: http://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/gun-violence/welcome.htm . This article talks about an AR15, which is almost never used in a crime. In fact rifles in general account for something like only 2% of firearms homicides. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl20.xls

So please, before the feel good "more gun laws == less gun violence" take a look at some numbers.
The problem is crime, not guns, and that's a human problem. Victim disarmament does nothing to prevent the crime, other than skewing the odds greatly in favor of the criminal.

The pipe/nail is called a zipgun and is "illegal" in some states. If you google, you'll find John Moses Brownings workshop. It's pretty basic and he developed the 1911 from scratch there. With CNC's it's not hard to make a real firearm and with the AR, the only thing with "paper" or background check is the lower receiver. I know tons of people who have "rolled' their own, and have done it legally. Heck, an AK47 can be made with hand tools and a hydraulic press.

There are already polymer lower receivers out there. http://www.lw15.com/ is one. I prefer to machine my lower receivers out of an 80% completed block of aluminium. I'm not seeing why everyone is up in arms (punny) over this. :) It's legal to make your own firearm.

Bring back the Astro City Rocket slide!

As a non-native Californian living in the PRK. I'm still amazed at the rights the state takes away from parents in the name of "It's for the children." Work permit from the school?!? As a parent of 3 teens, I'm the work permit, grades slip, work stops. Done. Just because some parents are slackers, the state tries to impose the "proper" way to raise children with rules and regulations often written by bureaucrats and legislators that have no children. My kids know the rules and know what's allowed, I do not need the STATE telling me how to raise them. This is a great ruling, the legislator here needs to get back to the basics and get off their social agenda. 60 cents a gallon gas tax and you need an offroad vehicle to drive down most major roads here. :)

You sometimes wonder if this should be a part time gig for these guys. :( Yea!, my tax dollars at work. :(

Oh, what a glorious way to waste tax dollars. First design a system, then require everyone to get on board with it. Price it through the roof and have a single vendor for all the gear. So some volunteer fire dept in Iowa that is on a shoestring budget has to spend thousands to upgrade radios. It will take years if it ever gets off the ground. This is _WHY_ amateur radio works, government has too many silos and too many important people that will push their system. Been there seen that, still paying the price. :(

They reduced the timers to below the minimums to increase revenue. Most famous intersection is Aero Drive and Murphy Canyon, that one was raking in $$$ for the city.

I think the crooks running the city of San Diego originated this. They had the redlight cameras shut down in 2001 for doing it. They put them at intersections where there was a high percentage of people that would pay the tickets and not at "Dangerous" intersections. Then they tweaked the timing on the lights and started raking in the dough. Read about it here.