[Still Thinking]

As Slate notes, the Act makes it illegal to “manufacture, sell, ship, deliver” or “possess” firearms that garden-variety metal detectors or x-ray machines can’t detect. A renewed act would presumably cover guns manufactured with 3-D printed gun parts, which are plastic.

Moron. A plastic barrel isn't going to work, whether it's printed or injection molded. So the same parts that now have to be made from metal to be practical won't be able to be printed unless the technology can use metals strong enough for them, which would be exactly the same situation we have now with wrought parts. The 3D tech has no impact on the detectability issue. It's not like plastic will work for barrels and back ends just because now it can be printed instead of molded. Idiot.

[Salgak]

No, but there ARE Carbon Fiber barrels for AR-15s out there.

While printers cannot AS YET extrude carbon fiber, I suspect they WILL be able to within a year or two.

Back ends, I suspect, will have to wait for home laser-sintering or E-beam sintering printers. . . but I expect those to be available in hobbyist designs within 5 years. . .

[eddie willers]

Well I know nothing about guns or 3-D printers but I need to ask this.

On a recent CSI TV show, they figured out an assassin was using a gun made from a 3-D printer.

The scenario was that, yes it was destroyed by the single shot, but you also had a bullet with no lands and grooves.

If he needed to do another hit, he just printed another gun.

Is this possible or just TV hokum?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Carbon fiber is substituting for metal in high-end automobiles. Would it work for barrels and other parts?

[Celtic Conservative]

A plastic barrel with a stainless steel bore insert would likely work just fine.

CC