Posted on 04/18/2013 3:53:07 PM PDT by marktwain
Prompted by the horrific Sandy Hook shooting last December, lawmakers across the country are locked in debate over the future of gun control in America. While they fight in Washington over background checks, there has been a technological revolution brewing. In the face of increased gun control, several groups have taken the initiative to manufacture guns via 3D printers.
A homemade gun sounds revolutionary to most, but it’s perfectly legal so long as it meets federal and state restrictions on gun ownership. That said, $30 and a simple YouTube tutorial can land you a homemade ‘shotgun.’ For the more aesthetically minded, gun parts can be bought separately and modified at home to produce a fully functional AR-15. Homemade guns don’t require any sort of federal licensing or registration so long as you don’t plan to sell them.
The “Wiki Weapon” project began last June with the public reveal of Defense Distributed, the goal being to design gun parts that can be accessed and produced by anyone with a 3D printer. There are still several hurdles in the way of Defense Distributed’s goal, however. First and foremost is the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which bans the production and ownership of guns that can go unnoticed through metal detectors.
The law is set to expire this December unless lawmakers should choose to renew it, and with the current state of the gun control debate it doesn’t seem all too unlikely. The current cost of 3D printers is another concern with some of the cheapest models still pricing well over $900. Most concerning, however, is the overall quality of these guns. The materials used by 3D printers are hardly as durable as metallic parts already on the market.
(Excerpt) Read more at thelamron.com ...
Wasn’t there some where in Texas you could go and make your own personal lower receiver?
Want to get even simpler.
We have a right to them for self-defense against the criminals who use them.
I’d like to see a gun shop rent out a 3-D printer.
I wonder if one can go to Kinko’s yet and print a gun.
Scan the lower for the AR-15.
Print it, using a 3D material with a low melting point.
Make a cast of this lower
Now, make some really nearly perfect castings of the AR-15 lowers using some nice quality steel from bumpers, leaf springs and scrap metal from a local junk yard.
Or, just go buy a nice lower for ~$150-250 and build that AR-15 up over time. The beautiful thing about this weapon is that it’s highly reliable, and it’s customizable to the point that you can make it shoot almost any round on the market.
The only other weapon that comes close (or maybe beats it) is the good old Ruger 10/22. I still kick myself for passing on that rifle when it came out in the early 80’s. Never saw it as a worthwhile gun; thought it was a waste of $79 back then. Boy, I blew that one.
The 3D printing material is really expensive. I don’t believe you can re-cycle the wasted powder (I may be wrong), and you only get a fraction of the material actually used to create the weapon.
But, the stuff runs around $10-50/lb To fill a tray of material to make a single lower you are probably talking around 5 lbs or so. And this stuff is not nearly as strong as the weakest metal.
http://www.3ders.org/pricecompare/
Haha, liberals are about to find out that their dreams of “Gun Control” will soon enough be quite obviously a practical impossibly unless they want to reduce us all to stone age technology. By prohibiting information and and advances.
I’d say government schools are taking us pretty far along that path as it is.
Shotgun shell fits in 3/4” water pipe.
Use your imagination.
The 10/22 was introduced around 1965 not in the 80’s.
BigBlockk
Later.....
I don’t think that will nessary. Right now they would be better off renting uses of their equipment with themselves as “consultants”.
That being said just sinficantly rise the cost of guns and your going to wipe out gun ownership anyway.
So were going to have to wait for the cost of theses printers to come down, or form a underground gun market in the states in question.
You're wrong.
I’d have to add the FN-FAL. It’s reliable, powerful, hi-cap.
“I’d say government schools are taking us pretty far along that path as it is.”
Funny but sadly true, Our Government run schools are so obsessed with leftist indoctrination and funding the Democratic party by way of obsessive numbers of useless union employees that they aren’t bothering to educate our children anymore.
There are a few errors in the piece, and many articles about 3D printers have perpetuated some exaggerations and myths. I did custom machining for a living for a few years a long time ago, just before such work was, for the most part, reestablished in other countries with foreign slaves. Articles about CNC work and robotics also tend to keep some exaggerations going for the purpose of getting more customers to sign their lives away and become buried in debts.
Before buying a 3D printer, learn more about its limitations by studying traditional machining methods for a part or product that you’ve considered making. And study the likelihoods and doubts concerning market demands very thoroughly.
Didn’t most people back in 1791 make their own guns?
IMHO...
3D printing is not necessary for men who seek a couch alternative.
Men can just learn how to use a lathe and a few tools, buy them used and set up shop somewhere making homemade “hydraulic cylinders”.
A little brains and elbow grease.
And a hammer and punch...Oh wait
Just got a 3D printer in at work.. so far it’s been pretty awesome but the printer was $50k along with the S/W package so not your local home printer.
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