Op-Ed: 3-D Printed Guns Will Literally Blow Up
” If you still think gun control isn’t a problem, it’s about to get a whole lot worse. As 3D-printed gun blueprints continue to circulate, they will cause more harm than good.
Back in 2012, a Texan student, Cody Wilson, developed a gun designed to be built with a 3D printer. The full story can be viewed over at the Sydney Morning Herald. In order to conform with US firearm laws, an inch large chunk of steal was inserted to make it detectable for meta detectors.
It took 16 parts and 27 hours for the NSW police to make a gun. While the gun did fire and generated an enormous stopping power for what it’s worth, there are drawbacks which Homeland Security and various regional police units are emphasizing.
Seen through a demonstration video by released by the NSW police, the 3D printed gun blew up after a shot, which can cause bodily harm to both the victim as well as the shooter. Scraps of plastic flew everywhere as the gun was fired, and it can be views from the attached video.”
We think there are some problems with this video , or rather the events that it depicts . It is certainly very easy for the authorities to produce these kinds of videos showing the inherent “dangers” of making your own firearm by using plastics that are known to be unable to withstand the pressures involved in detonating a center-fire pistol cartridge .
There are different grades of plastic available for all types of manufacturing today and that goes for 3D printing as well as any other. Having experience as professional fireworks technicians we can say that there are plastics that are safe to use as launch tubes and there are others that are not . That goes for metals as well as plastics .
While we’ve no doubt of the veracity of the video and the New South Wales experiment in 3D gun construction , the fact is that Mr Wilson has created one that does fire safely.
There can be no doubt either , that the whole concept of 3D printing and the loss of control that it represents to the State has the authorities quaking in their boots , as well it should . However , the fact remains that the “Additive Manufacturing” horse has fled the barn never to be re-stalled .
Furthermore , the emphasis placed on the choice of plastic as a construction medium is of minimal importance to the whole “make it yourself” issue . Very few people have a desire for an undetectable firearm , especially when the authorities are certainly capable of detecting the cartridges and projectiles , without which the “plastic” gun is useless
What the State should truly fear from 3D printing is the fact that it works with metals as well . That means that with the proper printer , freely available CAD drawings and materials anyone will very soon be able to print up their very own , un-numbered , untraceable , fully functional 1911 or AR-15 … Chew on that …
There-in lies the rub . What mode of Statist intervention are they going to try in a ham-fisted attempt at stuffing the 3D genie back in the bottle ? They’ll never be able to stop the flow of digital file sharing … the drawings , CAD files and how-to information freely available via the internet , that much is a certainty . Of course that doesn’t mean the idiots won’t try , but that effort is doomed to failure .
No , the only real hope they have of smothering this technology in it’s cradle is through the control of either the printers themselves , or the materials using in the layering process itself . But again , the task that the State faces even attempting to tackle the issue from the supply side is daunting . You have doubts , you say ?The State will be able to control the sale of printers and additives you say ?
If you believe that allow us to put this in a different perspective … just think of the printers as guns and the additives as drugs . Need we say more ? We don’t know about where you live , but in most parts of the country it would take all of an hour on the street to be able to come up with just about anything in the gun/drug department anyone could desire .
We have been following Mr Wilson and this emerging technology for some time now and have posted many items on this fascinating topic . In fact we feel that the combination of the internet and the coming 3D home manufacturing revolution sound the death-knell for the State as we know it … One can hope anyway . To that end we offer a collection of links from past articles that we have posted on the future as seen in 3D …
Introducing Defense Distributor’s “Cuomo” AR Mag … DIY … With 3D Printing
“3D Printing Brings the Science Lab to Your Backyard”
3D Printing = The End of Gun Control
3D Gun Fires 600 Rounds – Legally*
The Battle Lines Are Drawn – Technology vs The State
Cody Wilson On The Angel Clark Show Talking 3-D Printable Guns
The Genie NEVER Goes Back In The Bottle
A Sit-Down With Cody Wilson Of Defense Distributed
Does Technology Doom The Gun Control Movement ?
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