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Popular Mechanics Scores with 3D Gun Article
Gun Watch ^ | 22 April, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

Posted on 04/23/2014 8:10:09 AM PDT by marktwain



The Popular Mechanics article shows that it understands technology much better than the New York Times or the Washington Post.  This isn't too surprising, given the politics of the the two prominent newspapers, but it was not always so.

The Article sums it up nicely:

So, should we be afraid to live in a world where anyone can afford the equipment to manufacture a gun in his or her basement? I hope not—because that's the world we live in now. Guns are comparatively simple devices. In fact, plenty of custom firearms are manufactured today using equipment that wouldn't be out of place in a basement.
The utility of 3D printed guns is not so much that they make the technology of firearms available to everyman; that has been the case for centuries.  The utility is that it demonstrates that fact in a way that resonates with those in the "progressive elite", especially in the old media, that they were blind to otherwise.

They may never have operated a drill press; they may never have filed a  washer to make a shim of the right thickness; they may never have ground a screwdriver blade to the proper size and shape for the task at hand.   But, they have operated a printer!

So when someone talks about 3D printed guns, it is a revelation, a "road to Damascus" moment.  They understand that it would be possible for them, and almost anyone, to set up the machine and hit the "print" button.

They ignored the Pakistan shops in Darra Adam Khel.    They ignored the thriving underground Philippine gun industry, the percentage of homemade guns in the District of Columbia, and the Brazilian workshop submachine guns.  Yet they find the 3D printed single shot pistol compelling.

This is a good thing, because it brings them a bit closer to understanding the reality beyond their "progressive" theories.    Some "progressives" are known to mature out of "progressivism".    The more that do, the more we have a chance to escape the devastating consequences of willfully ignorant policy makers. 


©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch


TOPICS: Education; History; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: 3d; banglist; guncontrol; popularmechanics
Homemade guns will always be with us.
1 posted on 04/23/2014 8:10:09 AM PDT by marktwain
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To: marktwain

A nice configuration but it is really only good for one thing. It’s akin to a “Liberator” 45 ACP gun dropped into France prior to the invasion. Meant to be used for up close dispatching of Nazi guards, etc.

Where government gets antsy about this technology today is that they cannot detect these with metal detectors. One assumes the bullet could be secreted elsewhere as in that Clint Eastwood movie where he was up against assassin John Malkovich.

For my part, I’d rather have something capable of full and sustained power over a lengthy time.


2 posted on 04/23/2014 8:17:10 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: marktwain

A nice configuration but it is really only good for one thing. It’s akin to a “Liberator” 45 ACP gun dropped into France prior to the invasion. Meant to be used for up close dispatching of Nazi guards, etc.

Where government gets antsy about this technology today is that they cannot detect these with metal detectors. One assumes the bullet could be secreted elsewhere as in that Clint Eastwood movie where he was up against assassin John Malkovich.

For my part, I’d rather have something capable of full and sustained power over a lengthy period of time.


3 posted on 04/23/2014 8:18:58 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: marktwain

A nice configuration but it is really only good for one thing. It’s akin to a “Liberator” 45 ACP gun dropped into France prior to the invasion. Meant to be used for up close dispatching of Nazi guards, etc.

Where government gets antsy about this technology today is that they cannot detect these with metal detectors. One assumes the bullet could be secreted elsewhere as in that Clint Eastwood movie where he was up against assassin John Malkovich.

For my part, I’d rather have something capable of full and sustained power over a lengthy period of time.


4 posted on 04/23/2014 8:18:58 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: marktwain

I’m thinking a lot fewer of them have operated a printer than this author may realize. It’s been my experience that many higher ups are averse to clicking on print buttons. As soon as the get promoted, they think someone else needs to do all their printing, and they take more time explaining what they want printed than it would take to print it themselves. Since those in dinosaur media were promoted before current printing tech, they probably never do it.


5 posted on 04/23/2014 8:19:41 AM PDT by demshateGod (The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.)
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To: Gaffer

It’s a step in the right direction. We need this technology to develop further though. Eventually, affordable 3D metal printers will come around and then they’ll truly have something to worry about.


6 posted on 04/23/2014 8:44:05 AM PDT by RC one (Militarized law enforcement is just a nice way of saying martial law enforcement.)
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To: RC one

Yes. And I applaud the freedom we should have to do it. That said, there are many ways to make a gun given a few simple machines. It all depends on just how stealthy you want to make them. That’s where it gets tricky.


7 posted on 04/23/2014 8:50:39 AM PDT by Gaffer (Comprehensive Immigration Reform is just another name for Comprehensive Capitulation)
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To: RC one

Use the output as a model for sand casting. Then cast the pistol frame in a home foundry. That is quite doable.

The output does not pass through metal detectors but functions well.

Look at the number of people who take an 80% AR lower and build their own weapon. It is not cheap, but it is done every day. And in most places is perfectly legal.


8 posted on 04/23/2014 8:52:31 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!)
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To: Texas Fossil; Gaffer

I have two words for you: trigger. groups.


9 posted on 04/23/2014 9:00:31 AM PDT by RC one (Militarized law enforcement is just a nice way of saying martial law enforcement.)
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To: RC one

Yep

http://cmctriggers.com/


10 posted on 04/23/2014 10:21:02 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!)
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To: Gaffer; All

If people can make a printed “Liberator “ pistol people can make what is called a “WELROD pistol” & that really scares the politicians. look up the WELROD pistol on google 8*>.


11 posted on 04/23/2014 11:59:45 AM PDT by Nebr FAL owner
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To: marktwain

can a pair of croc shoes be printed?

the second that happens, and entire corporation ceases to exist.


12 posted on 04/23/2014 12:06:44 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: marktwain

I thought the article was good;not so much from the standpoint that anyone is going to print such a great gun using that technology,but just the idea that it offers to guard against those who oppose our Second Amendment rights.


13 posted on 04/23/2014 4:50:59 PM PDT by oldtech
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