Elected representative calls for ban on 3D printed guns.

Soooo, they could basically ban anything they feel "constitutes a phaser"

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They're thinking ahead, just like with this ban.

Hunks of steel that use gunpowder to fire lead projectiles from a brass casing are NOT going to be the most popular weapon forever. Just like stone knives weren't. Neither were bronze swords, or steel ones. Or bows and arrows. We tend to have a very skewed vision of the world and the future in that we seem to believe that the future will always mostly resemble the life we're living now. Except that's never the case. That ancient Greeks would have thought the weapons we buy at Cabelas now are the tools of the gods. A 12th century archer might think your 1911 is witchcraft.

Weapons built entirely from what we currently think of as "plastics" could very well be commonplace in the future. Out idea of what a "plastic" is will probably be totally off 100 years from now. Just as electricity used to be the fist of Zeus and now it's something we use in everything from cell phone batteries to cars, energy could very well become a practical weapon many years from now. And my AR15 will be the equivalent of an English Longbow in the eyes of history.

These laws are dangerous because right now no one really cares. Who cares about banning something that doesn't exist yet? Not many. But later on when these things start to become possible, the laws preventing everyday people from making, possessing, or using them will already be in place. They're playing the long game, and we're letting them do it.

The thing is they may have a point here, imagine a time not too far in the future when 3D printers become somewhat common and the technologies mature. After all it seems these 3D printers are improving at an incredible pace every year, and they have only been around for a handful of years, so any year now we might see the home 3D printer capable of printing a functional firearm. Don't laugh, instead remember how shocked you were the first time you saw a home computer printer that could print photo realistic images, just a year or two before everyone thought that tech was decades away, then it was out there in Wal-Mart for $199 (sure the ink cartridge sells for $75, but that is just a small detail).

So, are we next to register all 3D printers ? Or only
automatic and semi-automatic printers ? How about
black powder printers ? (Or is that racist ?)

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No, heavens no. Only the ones with adjustable power cords, pistol grips, and bayonet lugs.

Register your knives too

In China the madmen use knives- and over there kids are a favorite target. The carnage is just as devastating. One of my favorite threads is the guy building an AK from a sh*t shovel... and if someone wants to build a pipe bomb they don't need a 3d printer. There will always be homicidal lunatics... that's an argument for MORE guns in our hands, not fewer. Here in NJ if you have even seen a marriage counselor and don't divulge it on your application for each firearm they can deny you on mental grounds, that's a little overboard (a lot overboard), but I'm definitely for some background checks.

I gotta wonder. Would one - if so inclined - (1)ban the technology, (2)the activity or (3)the product.

or

1 - I have the ability - but don't taze me dude! I'm not gonna use it.

2 - I'm running the program - but don't taze me dude! I'm not gonna complete the process.

3 - I guess this is one of those 3Dprint thingees - but don't taze me dude! I didn't make it, can't make one and am only holding it for a friend.

so any year now we might see the home 3D printer capable of printing a functional firearm

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I suppose S&W will eventually go the way of the Record Label and Print Publisher if cheap, open source guns (or bootlegs) become makeable in the cottage. I wonder how different (if any different) congress' response would be to this than the illegal music/file download they're either botching or overreaching on? I also wonder what happens when the unfortunate folks in ghettoes plagued by violence, suddenly gain force equality with their tormentors (by which I mean criminals, not the government ).

I have a number 4:
Yeah it's a gun, and I have the file for it (as a backup for replacement parts), but don't taze me, it wasn't orignally printed out by me but by a manufacturer, and I paid for (but lost the reciept to) the digital image from the manufacturer!

What a tangled web we weave...

“Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”

In a way, I am laughing like crazy! After all, the whole point of a 3D printed gun is to get around gun bans. If 3D printing becomes sophisticated enough to make whole guns, and I believe it will someday, (after all, metal 3D printers now exist) all it will take is the right computer program, (information) and out pops a gun. No government permission necessary. It may take a while, but then only a short time ago, 3D printers were "Star Trek" phantasies.

This is what really freaks out the control freaks. After all information is very hard to control for long.

we are not amused said:

In a way, I am laughing like crazy! After all, the whole point of a 3D printed gun is to get around gun bans. If 3D printing becomes sophisticated enough to make whole guns, and I believe it will someday, (after all, metal 3D printers now exist) all it will take is the right computer program, (information) and out pops a gun. No government permission necessary. It may take a while, but then only a short time ago, 3D printers were "Star Trek" phantasies.

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Right now, the primary point of a 3D printed gun is to get around bans. Improvements in 3D printing could affect the direction of commercial production of firearms, at which point bans on 3D printing of guns will be a legal impediment on technological innovation.

Are citizens of that future going to repeal the prohibition if advancements head that way? Who knows.

Guns don't kill people. Rapid prototype machines kill people

(This joke is based on my assumption that a rapid prototype machine is the same as a 3D printer, if I'm wrong thrn please disregard).

Guns don't kill people. Rapid prototype machines kill people

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Only once they become self-aware...

"Robots building Robots? Now that's just stupid"
--Will Smith in I Am Robot

BTW, another, better quality and much stronger option for RP than the 6-shot wonder posted earlier (appears to be an extrusion built prototype; very weak bead adhesion and lots of voids in the model) is nearly available. This box uses UV laser light to build very high resolution surfaces with cured epoxy in layers. It's supposedly as strong as an injection molding (as opposed to lightly-welded plastic)

Ironically called the "Form 1" 3D Printer--Pre-orders from 3300$ are planned to be filled next April (I just might be saving my pennies...)

PS(who would have thought these guys could raise 2+ million bucks off kickstarter?)

TCB