9 Chapter Nine Meanwhile, in the Basement With the exception of serious fabricators of improvised/modified firearms whose missions, safety, and even lives depend on these weapons, the majority of designers and builders are that good old American buddy, the home workshop tinkerer. While their manufacture is not quite a cottage industry, these firearms hold legitimate station in the American tradition of home gunsmithery. F; Some of these gunsmiths are fiercely independent Americans, such as one who calls himself Steve Higgins, which obviously is not his real name, as that was, at the time, the real name of the director of the BATF. The ersatz Mr. Higgins says, 'What I make in my own home is my own business so long as I don’t harm anyone else or threaten to do so. The feds and their gun police can go [commit sodomy on] themselves. . . " I Others are like Allen Freed, a hunter and competitive shooter, who says, 'I just enjoy tinkering with old guns and trying to build small firing devices into non traditional gun formats. It's no big deal, and they never leave my workshop No, I have no license to build anything, and I usually destroy what I build. It's just fun, I mean no harm, and I don't want to spend the hassle or the money to get a federal license."