“State-owned arms maker China South Industries Group (CSGC) has released footage of its electromagnetic coil gun,” Interesting Engineering claimed Sunday. “Allegedly capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute, the prototype represents a major technical leap in portable directed-energy weaponry.”
“Portable”? So, they’re not talking about some rail gun prototype designed to be mounted on a ship or other fixed military platform?
“This weapon debuts just a few years after another Chinese coil gun, the CS/LW21, was unveiled in 2023,” the report elaborates. “Another handheld electromagnetic coil gun, the CS/LW21 was developed by China North Industries Group (Norinco) for riot control and non-lethal use.”
So, it’s “handheld,” and per the report, “Far surpasses the AK-47.” It can serve uses “from crowd control to militarization,” with “adjustable lethality, making it ideal for ‘covert missions’,” meaning “the gun could transition to lethal battlefield roles (e.g., drones, automated turrets, or infantry weapons).”
That’s cool. So, how soon will it be available to “We the People”?
“This bullpup gun uses coins as bullets,” a two-year-old video accompanying the story explains. “It is totally legal because there is no gunpowder, and the output power is limited.”
That would even make it outside the purview of ATF. Clearly, whoever presumed “total” legality did not take into account the Democrat mania for citizen disarmament. And the output power can be increased. Let these things hit the market and watch how fast demands to “Close the rail gun loophole” translate into regulatory oversight and outright bans on civilian ownership. Except for the “Only Ones,” of course.
And what about the Second Amendment? They are arms, after all.
This is where our “gun rights leaders” may have painted us into a corner, by seizing on the criteria of being “in common use at the time” as the standard to determine if a gun ban violates the Second Amendment. It was never intended as a popularity contest.
Since no innovation ever begins “in common use,” a government with the power to do so can ban all new weapon developments from those they would rule, retaining them exclusively for itself. Remember the core purpose of the Second Amendment. To argue the Founders thought sending an outmatched yeomanry to their slaughter would be “necessary to the security of a free State” is insane.
It’s what I warned about when I wrote “Things to Come” back in 2002 for Guns and Ammo:
“It’s been said that a battle isn’t won until a man with a rifle occupies the ground. We must keep in mind that someone probably once said the same thing about spears.”
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
