Good or bad: free plans for making pistol with a 3-D printer

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Seattleimport

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Saw this article about a group that intends to develop, and freely distribute, plans for a pistol which can then be printed by a 3-D printer. So anyone with a 3-D printer can then print as many of such guns as desired.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-project-derailed-legal-woes-6213570

I'm skeptical of capability of *current* 3-D printer technology to produce fully functional firearms; they currently can't replicate metal parts (springs, barrels, pins) or fine detail. But eventually they will.

So I don't think I like this. 3-D gun printing bypasses all restrictions on access to firearms. Think of the folks you don't want being able to hit a button and create a functional handgun (or, heck, a fully automatic rifle): kids, felons, people on terror watch lists, the mentally unstable. Gangbangers will be able to outfit an army in an afternoon, all with untraceable anonymous weaponry.

I imagine that the government will respond by restricting sale of ammunition: limit sales of bullets to folks with ID and a registered firearm in whatever caliber you're trying to buy. In my opinion that won't be effective.

What do you think?
 
3-D gun printing bypasses all restrictions on access to firearms.
Click to expand...

That's exactly the point...

Information should be free and open...

If a tyrannical entity 'decides' to shut down your access to the hardware, the software will be eternally available in the ether...
 
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Well first of all is not illegal to manufacture firearms for your own use.

Second do you have all the tooling, computer skills, access to proper material, technical know how such as heat treating, and lab equipment to measure stresses, etc. ?

Third education on firearm laws and manufacturing will reduce your panic on news reports such as these.
 
So I don't think I like this. 3-D gun printing bypasses all restrictions on access to firearms. Think of the folks you don't want being able to hit a button and create a functional handgun (or, heck, a fully automatic rifle): kids, felons, people on terror watch lists, the mentally unstable. Gangbangers will be able to outfit an army in an afternoon, all with untraceable anonymous weaponry.
Click to expand...

What keeps them from doing this now with a lead pipe, a stock and a nail? DIY 12ga.
Its not illegal to make firearms for your own use. They are just lowering the barrier of entry. It still takes considerable skill to make the machine to build the firearms. Anyone with access to a CNC mill can make any firearm they want with CNC files freely available online as well.

You're just scuuurd.
 
there are very detail capable 3d printers. They arent makerbots, but they are out there. No reason you couldn't print an AR lower with inserts for the pins to go though..
 
There's a lot of hype about this going around since someone printed an AR-15 lower. It reminds me of the mid-90's when the mainstream press thought the internets were going to make washing machines revolt against us.

You can carve a pistol frame out of wood with a pocket knife and make a barrel out of some pipe, a nail and a rubber band. The tricky part is making it all come together without blowing your hand off. Or without accidentally making an "any other weapon" by, for example, failing to rifle that pipe.

Assuming this tech gets cheaper and is eventually able to make some kind of functional metal parts, then it will be useful for small-scale manufacturing and for hobbyists. But it's unlikely to have much impact on firearm production stateside. There are a lot of regulations on manufacturing firearms for interstate sale, and plenty of problems with insurance, shipping and marketing. How many are going to be willing to buy a firearm made from gooey corn plastic and some kind of soft alloy? That's not exactly a Glock.

Places like the UK or Australia where firearms are highly controlled are another matter, and the implications over there are interesting. I suspect their govs will simply outlaw possession of the technology.
 
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Laws are created in response to technological progress all the time. Make no mistake, if the violent criminals of the country begin to utilize 3D printing technology to manufacturer their weapons on a routine basis, we will see laws that criminalize the manufacture of firearms without a license. Not that this will actually stop any criminal from doing so.

This kind of technological paradigm shift is actually good for our cause, because the 3D printing tech is so useful for so many other things, the core technology will not be heavily restricted from consumer use. As such, the public will be forced to accept that guns are becoming more available to everyone and that, perhaps, they should arm themselves as well.


If any technology can make guns as ubiquitous as cell phones, 3D consumer printing is it. It's a Good Thing.
 
We discussed this not that long ago. I won't give as detailed a response as then.

Basically guns can already legally be made by most people, no permission required in most states.

This idea seems more intriguing than it really is, and part of the big draw is how it is being presented, played up for its shock value. Suddenly anyone will be able to have a gun...oooh

Yet you can already buy a CNC machine and have been able to for years to make several firearm designs.
There is also instructions online on how to build a submachinegun pretty easily with basic hand tools.
This guy was disliked by his government in the UK for making such information freely available :
http://thehomegunsmith.com/


Those already mechanically experienced can make a firearm that cycles ammunition.
Those who are not can already make a single shot.
 
I think we are several generations (human generations) away from 3-D printing being able to manufacture a proper firearm (one that would fire more than a round or two before blowing up or melting). Whan that point in time is reached, the technology is going to be very expensive and is not going to be available to very many people. We've been doing CNC now for a few decades and, frankly, there isn't an enormous amount of fundamental difference between a CNC machine and a 3D printer...they are machines that work off of a computer program to create a part. A CNC machine has to be loaded with metal stock...a 3D printer with plastigoop or whatever it is. At least one whole human generation has passed with CNC and the capital outlay is considerable. Given how a 3D printer works, that's going to go the same way...3D metal printing that is.

So go out, buy yourself a CNC machine at the 5 and dime and you could probably manufacture yourself a hundred 1940's era Sten guns or M3 sub-machine guns without breaking a sweat...might not even need blueprints for a Sten.
 
3D printing doesn't have to "go to" metals, 3D printing with metals has been around for a little longer than 10 years. The technical name for it is Ultrasonic Consolidation.
 
HoosierQ said:
I think we are several generations (human generations) away from 3-D printing being able to manufacture a proper firearm (one that would fire more than a round or two before blowing up or melting). Whan that point in time is reached, the technology is going to be very expensive and is not going to be available to very many people. We've been doing CNC now for a few decades and, frankly, there isn't an enormous amount of fundamental difference between a CNC machine and a 3D printer...they are machines that work off of a computer program to create a part. A CNC machine has to be loaded with metal stock...a 3D printer with plastigoop or whatever it is. At least one whole human generation has passed with CNC and the capital outlay is considerable. Given how a 3D printer works, that's going to go the same way...3D metal printing that is.

So go out, buy yourself a CNC machine at the 5 and dime and you could probably manufacture yourself a hundred 1940's era Sten guns or M3 sub-machine guns without breaking a sweat...might not even need blueprints for a Sten.
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If your gonna use your $100,000 cnc to make grease guns or sten guns your also gonna need a stamping press and dies to make the receiver and all the stamped parts. Unless you wanna make the worlds first machined sten or m3, which would definately be a stronger design. Honestly with a cnc in your garage and the know how you could make any gun you want. In the city I live in there are several family owned cnc shops that are making all kinds of things from automotive parts to a local gunsmith who can do just about anything. Therefore I don't see 3D printers when the prices come down and they become more avalaible making much of a difference.
 
I don't see any physical downside here. More guns available to all. That's kind of a fundamental core value, you know? Seeing as I don't buy, believe in, or find ANY comfort whatsoever in the concept of "gun control", I don't accept that this will negatively impact the safety of the American (or any other) population one iota.

Now, for being a driver of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (of the sort that the OP himself seems to be experiencing) being used to push the masses to accept further restrictive legislation -- that's always possible.

But the greatest solution to that is to make guns and ammo so universally common and easy to obtain that gun control laws are properly seen by the masses as foolish, naive, and unenforceable. This is a good step in that direction.
 
HoosierQ +1

This is really much to do over nothing, at least at this point in time. It is far easier and cheaper for a felon, or any individual for that matter, to obtain a gun through illegal means or "on the street" than it is to buy or gain access to this hardware and software. Even if one did have access, the results wouldn't have capabilities significantly different than what could be made in a home workshop.
 
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At shot last year I saw a (very expensive) 3D printer technology that "printed" in metal. it wasn't forged steel strong, but it seems like we're getting closer and closer to the point where something like this (for at least most of the parts on a firearm, possibly not the barrel) will be possible in the future.
 
Sam1911 said:
I don't see any physical downside here. More guns available to all. That's kind of a fundamental core value, you know? Seeing as I don't buy, believe in, or find ANY comfort whatsoever in the concept of "gun control", I don't accept that this will negatively impact the safety of the American (or any other) population one iota.
...

But the greatest solution to that is to make guns and ammo so universally common and easy to obtain that gun control laws are properly seen by the masses as foolish, naive, and unenforceable. This is a good step in that direction.
Click to expand...

I'm interested in the idea of eventual Public Domain gun makers. Using ideas no longer patented and without trademark. Perhaps this will be where "cheap guns" go in the future.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
 
So I don't think I like this. 3-D gun printing bypasses all restrictions on access to firearms. Think of the folks you don't want being able to hit a button and create a functional handgun (or, heck, a fully automatic rifle): kids, felons, people on terror watch lists, the mentally unstable. Gangbangers will be able to outfit an army in an afternoon, all with untraceable anonymous weaponry.
Click to expand...

Isn't the basic printer that is a kit that isn't good for much detail or construction around $1,000? I think that the good ones are the ones that would be used to make these guns and those cost around $30,000 last I checked. I don't think many kids, felons, etc could afford one of those. An army in an afternoon? It takes hours to create something basic.

It's cheaper and better to just get a multi axis CNC machine and you can replicate all of those horrible handguns and rifles. Here is a website with free downloads of firearm receivers such as 1911s, SIGs, Berettas, etc.
 
So I don't think I like this. 3-D gun printing bypasses all restrictions on access to firearms. Think of the folks you don't want being able to hit a button and create a functional handgun (or, heck, a fully automatic rifle): kids, felons, people on terror watch lists, the mentally unstable. Gangbangers will be able to outfit an army in an afternoon, all with untraceable anonymous weaponry.
Click to expand...

Mind you, there's always exceptions to the rule, but typically, the kind of people we don't want making firearms can't afford these types of printers and do not have the techy know how to do so. Some of them have enough know how to build a zipgun.

Besides, this is freedom of the press at its best! Just think, using the freedoms of the 1st Amendment to MAKE guns protected by the 2nd Amendment. What will they think of next.
 
If your gonna use your $100,000 cnc

You don't need CNC; a $1K mill drill will work. I made a 1911 frame on manual machines, for example, and that's not the easiest design to manufacture. Just look at the tools JM Browning had, or for that matter what's done in Pakistan today with very minimal tools.

Google 'cutting board AR-15' for accounts of people making AR lowers out of plastic cutting boards. You can also find a fellow who made an AR lower out of wood (I think the result was there wasn't room for quite enough wood around the takedown pin holes; you'd need to tweak the design to make durable wood AR lowers).

That, I think, points to where an illicit gun market would go if factory guns were not available - illicit manufacturers would adopt greatly simplified designs (who needs rifling, drop safety, or durability for a mugging). As with meth labs, someone would crank out a few and sell them. The machine shop owner who's behind on the bills just has to come in on a Sunday for a few hours.
 
I've got on this before--the next thing (if it isn't already) will be a 3-d print program for a bit o' plastic that snaps into the back of a Glock's slide. Ding-ding-ding, 10 years in club fed if you hit CNTL P. But I'm kidding myself--THIS one is already out there.
 
Can 3-D printers do metal work?
What would come before full blown guns are the auto sears. The plans are oft available online in PDF's (I have several for kicks) and are usually fairly simple. You could print out lightning links like there's no tomorrow.
 
12gaugeTim said:
Can 3-D printers do metal work?
What would come before full blown guns are the auto sears. The plans are oft available online in PDF's (I have several for kicks) and are usually fairly simple. You could print out lightning links like there's no tomorrow.
Click to expand...
You could mill them 100x faster on a cnc mill... which are already available everywhere.
 
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