3D-Printed Gun Maker Now Has Federal Firearms License

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/415-gun-control-/16534-3d-printed-gun-maker-now-has-federal-firearms-license

On Saturday, Defense Distributed-America's best-known group of 3D gunsmiths-announced on Facebook that its founder, Cody Wilson, is now a federally licensed gun manufacturer and dealer. The group published a picture of the Type 7 federal firearms license (FFL) to prove it.

"The big thing it allows me to do is that it makes me [a manufacturer] under the law-everything that manufacturers are allowed to do," he told Ars. "I can sell some of the pieces that we've been making. I can do firearms transactions and transport."

Wilson and his colleagues have been making prototypes of guns for months now. Most recently, the group demonstrated an AR-15 semi-automatic, which is allowed under American law without a license. The legal difference now is that Wilson can sell and distribute the guns he makes.

Earlier this month Wilson told Ars that he had submitted the application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (a division of the Department of Justice) back in October 2012. The process can take as little as 60 days, but in this case it took around six months.

[justiceischeap]

1. 3D printed guns will do away with the firearms debate.

Anyone can buy a 3D printer, the plans to print a gun and go into the business of making guns. It will be all but impossible to keep these weapons registered and it'll be a great source of income for criminals.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. The djinn has escaped the bottle

It seems that if those seeking gun "control" as in, controlling the supply, remain entrenched in their current positions they are doomed to frustration. Education in safe handling, expanded mental health treatment and follow-up on enforcing restrictions aginst those adjudicated to have forfeited their RKBA is the most practical and logistically manageable course of action.

[justiceischeap]

4. But this will make any of the the things you mentioned impossible

Anyone who can afford the 3D printer and gun plans, and you can be sure you'll be able to find those on Pirate Bay when available, will be able to avoid education, mental health treatment, registration, waiting periods and restrictions of any sort.

[Fla_Democrat]

5. More of a reduction of expenditures,

than a source of income. If any one can buy the printer, and make their own, there would be no need to get them at a higher price from the black market. So criminals no longer need to worry about buying or selling to an undercover LEO in a sting. Thieves no longer have a market for their stolen firearms. It should remove the criminal element out of the picture all together, except what they use for themselves. You know. for their own recreational use.

Hmm, in fact, if someone would propose a tax... it would sound a lot like the plan to end the war on drugs.

[Notafraidtoo]

2. hmm

Easily disposable extremely cheap guns sure to be the weapon of choice for youths in gangs, I smell a murder rate increase in our cities.

[madville]

6. People act like homemade firearms is a new concept

It has always been legal and possible to make firearms at home for personal use. Many people don't realize that what the ATF actually classifies as the firearm is typically the receiver or frame, usually a machined, forged, or stamped piece of metal (a few plastic/composite these days) with no moving parts.

You can buy 80% receivers/frames that have the bulk of the work done and finish them at home, no checks, no serial numbers, etc. Always been legal. All the rest of the parts are not controlled and can be ordered online from thousands of sources.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

7. True - but it has never been push button easy

In fact you can go make or machine just about anything you want with enough effort, but these machines as they evolve will make it easier and easier to produce with practically no effort anything you want - prohibited or not, copyrighted or not.

[madville]

9. They have automated CNC mills and lathes

Get the programming and set up the stock correctly, push a button. Hobbyists build their own CNC mills and lathes at home or from kits and it's not that expensive either.

[TampaAnimusVortex]

10. Indeed, but you never will see those sitting on your average users desktop, unlike 3D printers

Saturation of the market by these devices will dwarf those specialized tools.

[reformist2]

8. Increasingly, I find I'm not a fan of technological progress.

Yeah, yeah, I know that it's not the technology that's the problem, it's "how it's used" - even so, I can't help but think the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives.