
How 3-D Printed Guns Evolved Into Serious Weapons in a Year - relampago
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/3d-printed-guns/
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ufmace
This doesn't seem to me like nearly as big of a revolution as the media is
making it out to be. You can already buy all the CNC mills and lathes and
other machine tools that you have space and money for, and use them to
manufacture firearms if you want to. Granted, it takes a lot more time and
money than using 3D printers.

At least in the US, the laws are pretty clear and established on manufacturing
firearms, and I don't see how they would be any different for 3D printed guns.
Right now, as an individual, you can manufacture and posses any firearm that
meets the legal definition of a pistol, rifle, or shotgun with no licenses at
all, unless prohibited by state laws. You only need a license if you want to
sell them. AFAIK, you can actually sell the guns you build, as long as you
aren't believed to be in the business of manufacturing them for sale, which is
a bit of a fuzzy line.

If you want to manufacture anything full-auto, anything explosive, or certain
other categories of weapons, then you need a special manufacturer's license
for that, regardless of what you plan to do with them, and are much more
strictly prohibited on who you can sell them to and how. AFAIK, currently, any
newly manufactured full-auto firearm can only be sold legally to either police
departments or other licensed dealers.

Nevertheless, this is still an interesting field, and I'd like to see what the
3D printing innovators manage to come up with as far as useful firearms.

~~~
celticninja
The difference is that a 3d printer is almost at the domestic use stage and
takes up far less space than a CNC Mill and lathe.

Now combine that with countries such as the UK where gun ownership is highly
restricted and you can understand how revolutionary it really is.

The article talks of only needing to make a lower receiver and buying the
remaining parts legally. This applies mainly to the USA, you cannot buy those
parts in the UK. The ability to print an entire gun is revolutionary it is
just that you are viewing it from a US perspective only and this is the sort
of technology that crosses international boundaries easily and quickly.

~~~
adwf
Yeah, as the UK is an island, we've pretty much only ever had to monitor some
clearly defined locations to prevent arms from being distributed (borders,
army bases, farms, legacy firearms, etc).

Now with 3D printing, they could be manufactured with ease anywhere within the
country. It's a whole different situation for the police to be dealing with.

Mostly though, it's the massively reduced cost from a CNC mill to a 3D printer
(that's why they're so exciting!). A £50k+ purchase for a mill and then the
expertise/blueprints to program it is very prohibitive for the general
population. Whereas the 3D printer for ~£1k with freely downloaded click-and-
go plans from the internet? Almost anyone could scrape that together if they
tried.

It's a tipping point situation that has really scary implications for any
country that has gun control.

~~~
dfc
I understand borders, bases and legacy firearms. But why farms?

~~~
MarcScott
Mainly pest control.

~~~
dfc
Varmint rifles are not legacy firearms? Or do farmers get a special license
for buying varmint rifles?

~~~
bmelton
I'm guessing a large part of that depends on how you define 'varmint rifle'.
To a lot of people, the AR-15 is a varmint rifle, and I'm going out on a limb
and just guessing that it's either very difficult or impossible to get a
license to own an AR-15 in the UK.

As for the definition I grew up with (e.g., rimfire .22 and slightly higher
power centerfire bolt actions,) my understanding is that, for the most part,
those things are still accessible in the UK, if one jumps through the
appropriate hoops.

~~~
dfc
Thank you, we have similar notions of what a varmint rifle is. My somewhat
fluid ordering of rifles is: varmint -> plinker -> hunting -> assault -> anti-
materiel.

If your description is accurate, (and I have no reason to believe otherwise)
the answer to my original question is "farms are a bad example and are simply
a manifestation of legacy licenses." All of the other examples were
categorical concerns

~~~
bmelton
My original thought, as pertaining to farms, was just that they're traditional
shipping hubs. Lots of packages (feed, seed, grain, machinery) come in, and
lots of packages (livestock, meat, produce) go out.

If I were looking for a non-descript place to traffic guns through, I could do
worse than a farm.

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bradleysmith
Full disclosure: I was involved in the defense distributed project of
initially designing the Liberator. A startup I was helping run printed their
first AR-15 lower receiver. I actually pressed print on a number of their
first builds.

As user ufmace (and artificialidiot) points out, this is NOT nearly as big of
a revolution as the media is making it out to be. You CAN buy CNC mills or
lathes to build higher quality weapons with little or no licensure, for
generally the same or less $$ than a 3D printer. You could also buy much of
what is necessary to build a Liberator-style weapon in a Home Depot. You could
also buy a czech-stamped 9x18 makarov pistol for under $150, and put hundreds
or thousands of rounds through it, all without talking to an FFL holder.

This was a perfect storm of tech interest and general wonderment in 3D
printing meeting zealotry applied towards gun laws, from both directions.
People from Defense Distributed are well aware of this; nonsense or not, it
made a great launch pad and buzz mill. Mr. Wilson has already signed his book
deal and on to his Dark Wallet project.

Me personally, I've always thought that building some STL files of the solvent
trap adapter[0] or adapter used in the Econo-Can suppressor[1] would be more
meaningful parts to distribute via 3D printers (If you're all into the
freedom-of-weapons via technology bandwagon, which I'm not). Suppressors are a
very real tactical advantage, and small threaded adapters are much more likely
to stand up to the stresses of weapons use.

[0]-[https://cadizgunworks.com/store/index.php?route=product/prod...](https://cadizgunworks.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=54)
[1]-[https://cadizgunworks.com/store/index.php?route=product/cate...](https://cadizgunworks.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=20_26_69)

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Expez
I'm glad I live in a country (Norway) with a ton of guns and very little gun
violence. I don't think easier access is going to change that going forward.
Perhaps a little bit.

Other countries are less fortunate. It is my hope that instead of building
higher walls--in the literal sense, or in the form of checkpoints--we can take
a closer look at what drives the gun violence. Inequality seems to be a big
factor. Access to psychiatric treatment might be another.

It saddens me that the easiest solution might be to simply ban 3d-printers.
This would get someone a cheap political win, not actually solve the problem,
and ruin something great for everyone else.

~~~
celticninja
The reprap is a 3d printer that can print the parts required to build another
reprap. Banning 3d printers would never work.

~~~
Crito
It can't print all the parts... but you can find the rest of the parts at any
poorly stocked downtown hardware store (let alone a real hardware store).

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artificialidiot
For the about the same price of a 3d printer and plastics, you can buy a small
lathe and aluminium stock to build a gun far superiour yet just as dangerous
for the user. Required skill is comparable. Why aren't there any talks about
banning those hobby machines too? Because you need a good scary story to sell
and cutting metal is old news. I don't buy the plastic widget manufacturers
getting in the way angle either. Do you have any idea how much cheaper is
buying a mass produced thing instead of designing, building and botching the
same piece with worse tolerances and worse materials?

~~~
gutnor
The fear comes from being able to buy a relatively cheap 3D printer at
Walmart, download a firearm template and build yourself a firearm that way.

Manufacture of a weapon may require the same skill using lathe and other
machining tools but duplication can become very easy with 3D printer after the
initial weapon has been created.

Nevertheless that is just media made circus. Getting firearm is currently so
easy there is no underground manufacture even with cheap tools and low skill
needed. So at worst 3D printing could change the type of weapon in
circulation, not change the overall availability.

~~~
artificialidiot
If you can operate a computer equipped with a plastic printer, I think you can
operate a 18th century machine following a blueprint on paper. It is not like
machinist design those lower receivers from scratch either.

~~~
gutnor
_IF_ 3D printer become as popular as regular printer, that will change.

A car for example, require more skills overall than using a printer or a
lathe, yet you can ask the vast majority of American to use their car for,
comparatively speaking, much more complex tasks than printer or machining a
gun.

That said I agree that it is low skill to achieve on a lathe. Basic furniture
making, DYI, car fixing, ... are also low level type of task. However, few
people have the opportunity (time, money) to acquire those skills in the first
place. If 3D printers becomes popular, it may not reduce the overall
complexity but it will seriously increase the pool of people qualified and
equipped to make them.

Not that I think this is a genuine concern in the US. Why would you print a
gun when you can get a reliable, discreet one very easily.

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JoeAltmaier
You can spend $1000+ for a serious handgun, or $25 for one of these jokes. Why
the price difference? Because handgun manufacturers are stupid?

No, its because machining hardened steel designed to contain the gas pressure
required to project a bullet down a barrel at high speed is costly. Tolerances
have to be very fine to fire again and again without jamming.

With a plastic gun, what kind of muzzle velocity is being achieved? Can it
penetrate a pop can at 10 feet? Will it break skin? I'm dubious.

~~~
ChuckMcM
In my experience there is less to guns than you might think. Inmates have been
making so-called 'zip' guns since they were first imprisoned, POWs have had
similar sorts of experience. The truth seems to be that its possible to make
something that can injure and kill another human being using a manufactured
cartridge and some easy to come by materials.

That has been true forever of course, now however 3D printers have mind share
so its kind of link-baity to use folks fear of guns to induce fear of 3d
printers. My chemistry teacher pointed out that a stochastic mixture of
hydrogen and oxygen was a high explosive (it burns super sonically),
technically you can drop a battery into a sealed jar of water with an igniter
and turn it into a bomb. (after the electrolysis has time to work).

All that proves is that knowledge of weapons is sufficient to build weapons.

~~~
sehugg
I was reminded of this NY Times article describing how someone cleverly gamed
a gun buyback program by making and returning homemade $5 zip guns:
[http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/the-very-
brief-...](http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/the-very-brief-
revival-of-the-homemade-zip-gun/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0)

~~~
ChuckMcM
There was a hilarious example when the Mill Valley sheriffs had their gun
buyback weekend at the same time one of the major sporting goods store was
clearing out their gun inventory. People were allegedly buying guns for $125
and turning them in for $200.

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jqm
Printing 3-D guns is pretty useless unless one can also print 3-D bullets.

(for the record I would be a bit leery of operating a device used to explode
gunpowder in a chamber and force a projectile down a tube at high velocity
that had been printed from plastic on a hobbyists printer...)

~~~
ISL
Chris Rock might agree with you:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrFVtmRXrw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrFVtmRXrw)

Making low-quality bullets isn't that hard, nor is reloading brass, but at
present, neither can be done with a 3-D printer.

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sitkack
I don't yet see how these are serious, but with advances in material science
for 3d feedstocks they definitely will.

On a threat level, printed guns probably rank lower than death by bee sting.

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grannyg00se
"a key part of a semi-automatic weapon called the lower receiver. That part,
which comprises most of the body of a gun, is the most regulated element of a
firearm. Print a lower receiver, and you can buy the rest of a gun’s
components off the shelf without an ID or waiting period."

That's an easy fix I would think. But I'm surprised that the barrel isn't just
as highly regulated.

~~~
pilom
The barrel is just a metal tube. How do you regulate metal tubes?

~~~
guizzy
Purpose. If the police can prove or otherwise convince a judge that the
purpose of that metal tube is to serve as a gun barrel, then it's a gun
barrel. Circumstances would go a long way in these cases. Say, if the barrel
is mounted on a gun. If the owner is known to be making a gun. If the owner
has no reason whatsoever to explain why he has a precisely rifled metal tube
and a bunch of gun parts on him.

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pessimizer
Gunsmithing in Pakistan:

[http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/07/30/gunsmithing-
in...](http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2012/07/30/gunsmithing-in-pakistan/)

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

~~~
bradleysmith
good stuff, thanks for the share.

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jmzbond
The first thing this made me think of is that there are a burgeoning group of
"share economy" type 3D printing services. What happens if a buyer essentially
crowdsources 3D printing of various parts for a functional gun and then uses
it to commit a crime?

Interesting to think about...

~~~
krapp
If this takes place in the United States, depending on where you are, just
buying a gun is always going to be easier and less expensive. Elsewhere, it
might make more sense.

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pingburg
I guess it's because of the plastic but all of the guns look like they were
sold at Toys-R-Us.

BTW: The gun made in Japan (1st video in the article) has a background track
that is hilarious and worth the click.

~~~
cgcardona
FWIW I would think that how a weapon _looks_ matters less than how it
performs. If it shoots and injures/kills it doesn't matter to me if it's
bright pink with rainbows and unicorns all over—it's still a perfectly valid
weapon.

Looking like a toy could even serve as a useful form of camouflage.

Finally I would say that the fidelity of 3d printers is going up and the price
is coming down. I would imagine that they won't look like they were sold at
Toys-R-Us for much longer.

~~~
dfc

      > I would think that how a weapon _looks_ matters less than how it performs.
    

Said no one who has been held up at knife point.

Put another way if someone waved a gun in your face and threatened you, would
you need to see a tight grouping at 50 yards before you felt intimidated? Or
would the mere potential for violence be enough to raise your anxiety level?

