Working gun made with 3D printer
(BBC): The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US. The controversial group which created the firearm, Defense Distributed, plans to make the blueprints available online. The group has spent a year trying to create the firearm, which was successfully tested on Saturday at a firing range south of Austin, Texas. Anti-gun campaigners have criticised the project. Europe's law enforcement agency said it was monitoring developments. Victoria Baines, from Europol's cybercrime centre, said that at present criminals were more likely to pursue traditional routes to obtain firearms.
"But as time goes on and as this technology becomes more user friendly and more cost effective, it is possible that some of these risks will emerge," she added.
Defense Distributed is headed by Cody Wilson, a 25-year-old law student at the University of Texas. "I think a lot of people weren't expecting that this could be done," he said.
Category: World News
Idiots! The computer has really now become the DEVIL!
Wow, it appears most of you have never held a gun, much less know about them. This isn't the "first' thing (as one poster suggested) that 3D printing has done. In fact, a few days before this there was an article on how it created an ear for someone who didn't have one.
Secondly, it isn't like you can go to your local hardward store and buy a 3D printer yet. They are falling in prices to be sure, but it isn't as easy as going and buying.
Third, your existing laws cover this already. IE: You have to be a licensed gun owner, get cleared by the Police, etc to own a gun (any gun!).
Fourth, if you are so naive to think that criminals who want to own guns can't get one in Cayman you really need to wake up. Even a small island like Cayman, it seems that you can't keep guns off the street now, so this doesn't add to your problem in the least bit.
In fact, maybe you should just turn off the television/internet/all outside communications so the big bad evil empires of the world can't corrupt your soul.
10:16, are you a spokesman for the NRA?
With arguments as weak as this, and with a firm belief in those weak arguments as strong as yours, have you ever considered local politics?
3d printing is the future. imagine everything you need can be made from plastic. no more parts, no assembly, no jobs (oh no!) from the computer to the printer. if mankind can figure out a how to properly recycle and develop a safe biodegradable synthetic, 3d printing is/ will be the next big thing!
No reasonable person would spend thousands on a 3d printer and materials for a one-shot pvc flare gun with no ammo, especially in a country where the real thing can be acquired for peanuts. This revelation will hopefully provoke tighter controls on the 3d print technology which currently allows the wrong people to circumvent border controls, copyright, licensing, and regulation on any number of objects. Hopefully the resulting regulation will be positive in respect to this technology's use for peaceful purposes.
I cannot even begin to fathom the implications of this development. When young Mr. Cody references "liberty", is he referring to my "liberty" to be shot by any random criminal or seriously mentally ill person?
These people are unbelievable. Not happy with having children slaughtered in their own country, they want to help children be slaughtered in other places too. Dear American gun fanatics, you can take take your second amendments and shove it where the gun barrel don't shine.
This is quite frightening, but at least it may put the illegal gun importers out of business here..now, for a price, practically anyone can make their own gun..horrific thought..
Even worse is the fact this can be concealed from metal detectors…..imagine if someone is caught going through a US airport with one of these…….you think its a pain in the ass to travel to the US now…….
How odd that the first thing they want to publicize with 3D technology is a gun? Are there not more important things out there, like emergency spare parts, medical equipment etc? No, we want guns, damn it!
I would suggest that our American friends who are so fond of their firearms stay well away from this.
It smells like something cooked up from the CIA or some other alphabet soup department of ever-diminishing liberty, otherwise known as EDL. I must be right because the anti-gun lobby, ever-faithful to the script, have condemned the project already.
Personally, I've never owned, nor do I want to own a gun, but neither do I want the government sticking its unwelcome nose in my business.
Re: "but neither do I want the government sticking its unwelcome nose in my business."
This is a ridiculous statement. One of the main functions of government is to protect its citizenry. For example, is it not the government's business to make sure it isn't legal to arm yourself with a grenade? The last thing we need is more weapons and easier access to them and that's what this technology appears to do. So yes, we do need the government to intervene, and the quicker the better. This has nothing to do with the so-called anti-gun lobby. This is common sense which doesn't appear to be in abundance in the case of the statements made in your post.
These have been around for quite awhile now.
Thanks for showing the lost folks out there how to make yet another home-made weapon of destruction… oh yea it seems awesome that a gun could be made from a printer…wonder who thought this one up! as if we need anymore guns today!