Source:
Yahoo News The creator of what's being called the world's first 3-D-printed handgun is coming under fire from lawmakers concerned that anyone with a 3-D printer and an Internet connection will be able to print an untraceable arsenal.
Cody Wilson, the 25-year-old founder of Defense Distributed, is expected to release his controversial blueprint for the gun—called the "Liberator"—online this week, according to Forbes.
“Security checkpoints, background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser," Israel said in a statement on Friday. "When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology is proven, we need to act now."
Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/3d-printable-gun-153109290.html
Oops, forgot the link, fixed.
So far the media seems to be missing a key aspect of this story: Once a person can print their own gun, they don't need to buy one from the gun manufacturers. This means that the NRA will soon have to shift gears and come out against 3-D guns at the behest of their masters, Colt, Armalite, et al. Coming out AGAINST guns is something the NRA has never done, and I don't see the average 2nd Amendment extremist being very forgiving about any nuanced argument the NRA will offer up.
In order to protect its profits, gun makers will have to forcefully and vocally oppose 3-D guns.
Then there are all the other troubling aspects of this technology:
1) Guns will have no serial numbers.
2) Guns will be easy to destroy, thus eliminating ballistics comparisons. Print your gun, kill your target, melt the gun down.
3) Guns will be able to pass through metal detectors easily (though you will still have to get the bullets through).
4) Plastic bullets are next on the list (though I don't think it is possible, at least not now, to make usable plastic casing) further reducing the weapons magnetic signature. (Taggants in the gun powder would seem the only possible way of tracing such a weapon).
5) How reliable will these weapons be? A "misprint" could mean the safety does not work.
These are just a few of the ramifications, I am sure I am overlooking quite a few others.
