Click, print, shoot: Downloadable guns possible

[defacto7]

Nothing like technology and implements of death to brighten your day....

Downloading a gun's design plans to your computer, building it on a three-dimensional printer and firing it minutes later. No background checks, no questions asked. Sound far-fetched? It's not. And that is disquieting for U.S. gun control advocates. At least one group, called Defense Distributed, is claiming to have created downloadable weapon parts that can be built using the increasingly popular new generation of printer that uses plastics and other materials to create 3-D objects with moving parts. University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, the 24-year-old "Wiki Weapons" project leader, says the group last month test fired a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle—one of the weapon types used in last week's Connecticut school massacre—which was built with some key parts created on a 3-D printer. The gun was fired six times before it broke.

http://phys.org/news/2012-12-click-downloadable-guns.html

If this is the future of American technological prowess, what an interesting future is ahead. What ever happened to just going to the moon? Now kids will be able to download the killing vehicle of their choice. It's ironically crazy to me that something as fascinating as 3D printing can become the very nightmare we want to dismiss from society.

Where are we headed people?

[Sherman A1]

1. The technology can do many other things

that will be a help to society by fabricating all sorts of useful products and items. That said one suspects that not everyone will be able to afford or want these "printers" (as they are called) as they are not exactly just an ink jet you hook up to a lap top.

[joshcryer]

2. And, it'll be protected under first amendment rights.

It'll circumvent Feinstein Amendment SP 419 as far as I understand.

[DeSwiss]

3. We know where we're headed......

...we may not like to admit it, or even think it is possible. That much is evident and oddly, is not the most pressing concern.

- The question is, will we stop it?

"Just look at us, everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroys information and religions destroy spirituality."

~Michael Ellner

[Prometheus_unbound]

4. .

I seriously doubt that additive manufacturing (3d printing) can, at this point, make metal objects requiring reasonably high tolerance to stress and pressure.

[Exen Trik]

5. Six shots

Then it falls apart. That's about all that a printed assault weapon is good for at this point. That will change over time, but I'm not sure by how much or when.

I think what we'll be seeing in the future because of this is tighter control of bullets in addition to outlawing possession of unlicensed guns. And depending how this tech grows, the kinds of materials that can be printed with privately could be regulated. If you want to use a high quality printer that can be as strong as metal you might have to go to a licensed and regulated third party business to use it.

The thing most up in the air is the enforcement of copyright in the era of the 3d printer. One will restrict the other, no matter what.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. There have been experiments which went much longer than that (200 rounds)

Just the lower receiver was printed, since it is the controlled item.