I am assuming that the better 3D printers are not sold but licensed, because the printer used to make this plastic gun was originally confiscated by the company from the gun makers possession. He obtained another run, I presume on the down-low, to finish the project.
The genie is out of the bottle now. There will only be better and better designs from here on out. Banning one not only won’t work it will spread the idea further, as evidenced by the millions of downloads already completed. There are not millions of 3D printers. People are storing the file for some day in the future.
After the publicity he got from the confiscation it was a piece of cake to get the donations necessary for the $8K printer used to test and make the one you see in the video.
What’s great is the design makes it relatively easy to print. Although I haven’t seen all the files yet.
And a friend of mine called me Friday to see how soon I could print out 20 of them to sell as novelties.
I might be able to pay for my printer in a few months, but I won’t.