Do you need to settle the score with someone in another cell block, intimidate your political adversaries or make a statement about the “healthcare” system? A zip gun might be right for you.

I couldn't find a definitive definition of the term zip gun but one suggestion I did read was that it simply meant a gun that you “zipped” together using whatever you have lying around. As you can see, these guns range from what look like psychosis-induced nightmares cobbled together using literal duct tape, springs, pipes and bits of wood to beautifully designed CNC-milled parts that are used in conjunction with traditional gun parts to create a weapon without a serial number.

The advent of the 3D printer has taken illegal gun manufacture to a new level, a great example of this being Luigi Mangione using printed components in the gun he allegedly used.

On the 8th of July 2022, Tetsuya Yamagami assassinated the former prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, using a shotgun he made of wood, vinyl tape, 2 metal pipes, an electronic firing system (a battery) and gunpowder made of fertilizer.