Allen Pan’s Sufficiently Advanced YouTube channel has a new DIY gun meant to encourage the ‘mask holes’ of the world to wear PPE in public. Dubbed the “mask gun” but really more of a pneumatic launcher than a firearm, the creation does exactly what its name implies. The recently spotted launcher fires protective masks, propelled by an 800 PSI CO2 canister.
The concept itself is probably more than enough to rattle the cages of the deeply-entrenched ‘personal-freedom’-focused crowd. But obviously, it’s meant to be in good fun rather than as something that should ever be used in the real world. That would be dangerous.
As with all of the engineer’s and educator’s inventions, this is a fairly simple gadget. At least on the surface. It’s comprised of four bent rods, the CO2 canister, a pistol grip-style spray paint handle, and a mask. The ear loops have, of course, been replaced with bits of string with magnets attached. That way, when the mask impacts a face, it wraps up behind the newly-mask-wearing victim’s head like a bola.
Does this mask gun even work?
As is almost always the case, lab- or home-borne inventions very rarely work out in the real world. Mr. Pan had intended to hunt for maskless participants at L.A.’s Huntington Beach. Fortunately, although the technology worked almost perfectly in testing, another test was performed out in the real-world before that happened.
Wind and other factors ultimately broke off one of the magnetic ends on the mask’s strings. That, in turn, left little recourse but for Mr. Pan to remove the other magnets to keep the balance set properly during launch. Duct tape generally fixes everything but the result of that impromptu change-up was that the mask-firing weapon no longer wrapped up faces properly on impact. And it didn’t seem to launch with nearly as much precision anymore either.
In the end, the group of volunteers found to test out the equipment shot the mask at a test dummy instead of real people.
Hospitals are already overcrowded so please don’t try this at home
Obviously, the world — and the US in particular — could move past the ongoing restrictions and stay-at-home orders more quickly with increased tracking and contact tracing. And more people wearing masks definitely wouldn’t hurt. But shooting other people in the face with a DIY pneumatic ‘gun’ that’s essentially firing a cloth mask is not a safe activity. Even if it might seem a bit more fun than awkard songs sung by certain AI.