They don’t have a couple of generations to wait. We are on the threshold of individual manufacturing of weapons as easy as downloading a file and printing it out. Obviously this is not mature today, but it won’t be too many years for the costs to come down and for the technology to spread and go through rapid improvement. The traditional regimes of manufacturing control and distribution control won’t work against this.
I think it’s safe to say weapons manufacturing will be the keystone of the revolution in 3D printing, just as porn was the primary driving force in the creation of the internet we know today.
“We are on the threshold of individual manufacturing of weapons as easy as downloading a file and printing it out.”
I think this one would do it. Note that in one configuartion this is both an additive AND a subtractive CNC device. It would take more than one file, but with this, both the plastic AND the metal parts can probably be done on one machine. The only thing that probably can’t be done with this is the barrel.
http://store.qu-bd.com/product.php?id_product=45
You’re talking basically about zip-guns, staple of inner-city violence from a bygone era, and they were outdated once criminals got the wherewithal (through strong-arm robbery or welfare bucks) to illicitly purchase “the real thing”.
The new legislation that will come in the wake of small-business “arms” manufacturing, will take the form of the kinds of laws in place prohibiting illegal marijuana growing and moonshine stills.
Printed guns may work for a shot or two, but NCR machines can easily turn out real guns.