A switchable gun is a gun that includes a mechanism to turn the output stream off and on with simple signals, often gliders. A small example is Dieter Leithner's switchable LWSS gun from July 8, 1995. The ON signal enters from the northeast, and the OFF signal from the northwest.
x = 122, y = 100, rule = B3/S23
bo$2bo$3o49$120bo$119bo$119b3o2$77b2o$77bo2bo2$81bo2$79b2o$78bo3$75b2o
3b2o$75b2o3b2o$76b5o$77bobo2$77b3o$96bobo$96bo3bo$100bo7bo$86b2o8bo4bo
4b4o$86b2o12bo4bobob2o$81bo14bo3bo3bo2bob3o8b2o$82bo13bobo6bobob2o9b2o
$80b3o23b4o$76bo31bo$75b3o19bo$74b5o18bobo5bo$73b2o3b2o17b2o4b3o$102bo
$89bo12b2o$87bo2bo9b3o$75b3o10b3o9b2o$75b3o10bo10bobo$89bo$89b3o$76b2o
$76b2o$81bo$79b4o6b2o2b2o$73b2o3bobob2o5b4obo2bobo$73b2o2bo2bob3o5b2ob
o3bo3bo$78bobob2o4bo12bo5b2o$79b4o14bo4bo4b2o$81bo19bo$97bo3bo$97bobo!
#C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]]
#C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 HEIGHT 500 X 30 Y 26 GPS 30 LOOP 500 ZOOM 8 AUTOSTART PAUSE 2 ]] |
| NE ON signal, NW OFF signal (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here |