

Disruptions: With a 3-D Printer, Building a Gun With the Push of a Button - newsery
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/with-a-3-d-printer-building-a-gun-at-home/

======
lutusp
>I’m talking about a fully functional gun, where the schematic is downloaded
free from the Internet and built on a 3-D printer, all with the click of a
button.

Yes, and that is not possible at present, because it requires metal parts. The
article raises some important points for the future, but the article is
written as though it applies to the present.

A careful reading shows that the author tries to avoid ever saying this is a
present risk, but it's also true that, taken as a whole and to a nontechnical
reader, the article suggests printing a functioning gun is possible right now.

A 3D printer that uses metal, and not just any metal but one suitable for
crafting the barrel of a gun, is entirely outside the consumer level of
printers.

It seems the author just doesn't understand that a plastic gun can't actually
be fired: "After committing a crime with a printed weapon, a person could
simply melt down the plastic ...". This is not so -- without some metal parts,
the first round would destroy the weapon, not the target.

The author goes on to reverse himself and say, "The basic problem is not the
printing technology, but the lack of plastics strong enough for a real gun."

To me, this article is intentionally confusing, and I think the explanation is
that the author is confused.

