Trent, while I respect your opinion that people should learn 'the old fashion way' instead of just printing, I'm sure back in the day people said that about doing things by hand instead of "these new machines". Technology changes and whether we like it or not, 3D printing (especially as the patent falls off the metal 3D printers this year) looks to be the way things are heading for non commercial builders.
Hitting a button to make something beyond our capabilities became a dream of humans recently. I'm not convinced it is a good move for our civilization. Taking this out of the context of the microcosm of "firearms", the broader angle to look at is "when machines make things beyond our understanding, we become dependent upon them to make things, as we no longer have the understanding."
The loss of knowledge is more of a causal action, than an effect, than perhaps most people realize.
20 years ago if I wanted to "understand" something (learn it) I'd pick up books, and gain a full understanding of it. Today, people just Google / Siri / etc a question and get an answer. There's no learning, no enlightenment, no path to follow. Just "I don't know" and "here's an answer."
What is lost is the method, the process to work from point A to point B, to understand the full process. It weakens us as a species. It ultimately creates a single point of failure for knowledge and skill, for a civilization.
Yes I know this is well beyond the scope of "hitting a button to make a firearm" but it is also NOT beyond that scope; the two are intertwined. We're seeing it here applied to a singular thing, but as our civilization marches ever onward we are dumbing ourselves down. Losing our understanding. Losing the path to knowledge.
I still feel that the proper course for building something isn't the quick & easy way. It's to learn a trade and execute it properly. Learn how to read prints. Learn how to use measuring tools. Learn how to turn the crank on a milling machine by hand.
Because then, you can truly make anything, and gain an understanding, and even - perhaps - improve on the process. Once you understand the process, then move on to CNC, write the program, learn the g-code, know what tools to use when, what cuts to make in what order.
Because then you can make an AR-15 receiver. Or a Ma Deuce. Just need the prints.
My big concern is when someone out there realizes how simplistic (and utterly *plastic*) a truly modern gun is, like a PS90 or Fs2000, and starts cranking out full auto trigger packs and receivers with the push of a button. There's not MANY metal parts in those guns. Barrel, bolt, rods, springs... most of those parts would be very simple to finish machine.
A semi-auto FS2000 is two
plastic replacement parts away from being a full auto F2000. (The trigger packs are 100% plastic/polymer, excepting pivot pins). The auto sear is plastic.
AR-15's are one thing, but we're dangerously close to the ground where the NFA itself is challenged by "push button machinegun producing machines".
And THAT is a game changer.
We may all go "Hurrah! Down with the NFA!"
But there's some real bad groups out there who would love to outfit their gangs with gear like that. And once that line gets crossed, whenever it gets crossed, *all* of us will pay for it.
