
Americans can legally download 3-D printed guns starting next month - dsr12
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/07/19/us/3d-printed-gun-settlement-trnd/index.html
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dkoubsky
I don't see why a CAD file would be any different than normal instructions for
building firearms. For example, building a 12 gauge shotgun from 1" and 3/4"
steel pipe is cheaper, easier, and probably safer/more effective than the
plastic gun from the article. It seems to me the 3D printing part of this made
the article popular for clickbait and thus it garnered more attention than the
traditional approaches to homemade weapons. I guess my point is that making a
CAD file illegal when a PDF instruction file is legal isn't very consistent or
logical.

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meowface
One concern is that it's now cheaper, easier, and faster to mass produce
weapons which will evade metal detectors. I don't think any of this should be
illegal, but the concerns should be considered.

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asfasgasg
The saving grace, such as it is, is that these firearms are single-shot, and
the rounds themselves are still metal and explosive-residue-detectable. While
3D printing has changed manufacturing methods, it's not like the method of
deposition changes the strength of the material that much, so it's improbable
that these plastic firearms will ever be able to withstand more than one or
two shots.

It strikes me as likely that a 3D-printed gun will not be the most effective
way to accomplish almost any kind of harm for almost any kind of perpetrator,
no matter how situated. And that gives me a little comfort, even if I wish my
countrymen were less fascinated with weapons.

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em3rgent0rdr
The 3-D printed guns are single shot, but the new ghost gunner machine is a
CNC mill and I believe uses an aluminum alloy which can handle multiple shots.

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maxerickson
The ghost gunner is used to finish metal parts that are fully functional, they
will last for thousands of shots.

But they also won't pass metal detectors.

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toomanybeersies
There's an entire industry in the Khyber Pass region in Afghanistan and
Pakistan dedicated to making firearms with nothing more than simple hand tools
and scrap steel [1]. Firearms are trivial to produce. It's producing
ammunition that's the hard part. Specifically, producing propellant for your
bullets.

The panic about 3d printed guns is baseless. Any panic about terrorists being
able to use something to commit heinous acts is generally baseless panic. As
we've seen, all they need is a car or a knife and they can go on a rampage.
The only reason we don't have more terrorist attacks isn't because of
increased gun control or aviation security or restricted access to fertiliser.
The only reason we don't have more terrorist attacks is because there simply
aren't many people in the western world who hate it enough to commit terrorist
attacks.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Pass_copy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Pass_copy)

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jhallenworld
Interesting! There are videos:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRte65F_KRk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRte65F_KRk)

Of course firearms were made in pre-industrial times, and it's fascinating to
see how: (just how do you chamber a gun accurately by hand?)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTy3uQFsirk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTy3uQFsirk)

But how would a technologically savvy first world person do it? These days you
can buy a "gunsmithing" lathe for your garage workshop. Check out this video
by Shiraz Balolia, CEO of Grizzly Industrial (they sell Chinese made
industrial equipment to home shop machinists):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb-
RvRe_9-g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb-RvRe_9-g)

I was going to link to Joe Pieczynski's excellent machining videos on how to
make an AR-15, but it looks like there are new YouTube guidelines:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAYMzAMwEI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZAYMzAMwEI)

In any case, the information is widely available (and check out his other
videos if you want improve your machining skills).

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ryanmarsh
Guess what, if you go in your garage and make a can with even one baffle
inside and a hole in each end big enough for a bullet you’ve built a silencer
(however shitty). If you don’t have a class III license you just broke the
law. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure 3D printing an impractical but illegal
silencer is within the reach of most makers.

Technology is going to continue to make breaking all manner of laws easier for
stupid people. I’m not sure what, if anything should be done about this
(generally speaking).

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LyndsySimon
> make a can with even one baffle inside

Actually, you don't even have to do that. The ATF has ruled in the past that
it the device is _intended_ to reduce the report, it's a suppressor.

> Furthermore, I’m pretty sure 3D printing an impractical but illegal silencer
> is within the reach of most makers.

It's within reach of everyone with access to a soda bottle and a roll of duct
tape.

\---

Gun laws in the US are Byzantine. There are all kinds of things that fall
under the same law as suppressors (National Firearms Act of 1934) that make no
sense at all. For instance - installing a vertical grip on a pistol, or
installing a barrel of less than 16" on a rifle.

Using any of the items on this page on an AR-15 lower receiver that is
configured as a rifle _or was sold by a dealer in the past while configured as
a rifle_ is a felony and carries the same penalty as possessing an
unregistered machinegun: [https://palmettostatearmory.com/ar-15/barreled-
upper-assembl...](https://palmettostatearmory.com/ar-15/barreled-upper-
assemblies.html?upper_barrel_length=1352)

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drasticmeasures
Right now, people are commenting this will enable 3D-printed _plastics_ , but
there are mildly expensive (about $1000-$3000) 3D metal printers, and with a
bit of metal-working and gun-smithing skill it should be possible to mass
manufacture good-enough, metal guns from those files.

So, this lowers a bit the money and skill needed for it, but it's not
braindead easy or dirt cheap yet. A decently organized gang will print its own
guns in the near future, or paramilitary groups, or insurrectionaries.

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ryanmarsh
In the US it’s so ridiculously easy to obtain a firearm I don’t know why
anyone would bother. A home made (3D printed) firearm is just as likely to
kill its operator as anyone else.

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drasticmeasures
It's on the Internet, so this goes beyond the US. I'm thinking gun-controlled
areas or conflict areas.

I'm also thinking how this potentially shuts down for the FBI entrapping
wannabe-insurrectionaries by posing as weapons dealers.

Or how non-American gangs will have vast quantities of guns at their disposal,
and how that will necessarily change police policy.

And how determined and savvy, but dangerous, individuals will more easily
(this is the key thing here: more easily, lower barrier of acquisition) get
their hands on guns in gun-controlled areas and go on rampages.

This will make gun control much more difficult.

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ryanmarsh
In conflict areas, of which I’m familiar, AK47’s are often easier to obtain
than fresh produce.

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drasticmeasures
And in gun-controlled areas? They would have to control the printers and the
digital blueprints as well.

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ryanmarsh
You mean like Chicago?

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sparky_
Realistically, how effective would a 3D printed firearm be? I was under the
impression that PLA/ABS plastics are simply not that strong of a material.

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MisterTea
It could be a good intimidation tool for stick ups. All it takes is one shot
so most people will be scared enough to comply as they would when faced with
any other gun or weapon.

On the flip side, the barrel doesn't last fore more than one or two shots if
you're lucky. You can't reload fast and have a single shot. I can see it being
a useful tool for an assassination. But that single shot better count
otherwise you're either captured, dead or you lose the target.

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lozaning
Wouldn't you be way better off buying one of those realistic airsoft guns and
painting the tip? Plus in many jurisdictions should you ever be caught, crimes
committed with a gun require serving more years.

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jessaustin
It's on the internet. It won't be just "Americans".

Nice that TFA mentioned Cody Wilson's interesting politics, too. He certainly
lives them...

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drasticmeasures
How are they going to get bullets in gun-controlled places?

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LyndsySimon
The same way they do now, presumably.

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drasticmeasures
What way is that?

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brandonmenc
Probably the same way they get guns.

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mesozoic
Wow great victory for freedom of information.

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cheez
Not at all fear mongering by this Gardiner person:

    
    
        Gardiner fears it will make it easier for terrorists and people who are too dangerous to pass criminal background checks to get their hands on guns.
    
        "I think everybody in America ought to be terrified about  that."
    
        The fact that high end 3-D printers are still too expensive for most people doesn't ease her concerns.
    
        "The people who make them will be state actors or well financed criminal cartels who have the ability to execute well organized criminal attacks in the United States and elsewhere," she said.

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majewsky
FYI: It's really annoying to read quotes when you have to move the scrollbar
left and right all the time. Please avoid using codeblocks for quotes. Just
put a "> " at the start of each quoted paragraph.

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cheez
Noted.

