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Future gun control has been shot down
- MaxBarraclough 6y agoA minor erratum: the article refers to the FGC-9 weapon as the FCG-9.
- aaron695 6y agoThis reports is an ok rundown. The 3D printed shotgun cartridges feel like something out of Hello Kitty - Desktop Firearms: Emergent Small Arms Craft Production Technologies - http://armamentresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ARES-Research-Report-8-Desktop-Firearms.pdf http://armamentresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ARES-...
- zepto 6y agohttps://www.glockforum.com/threads/sold-glock-42-custom-hello-kitty-for-sale.39983/ https://www.glockforum.com/threads/sold-glock-42-custom-hell...
- hcurtiss 6y ago“You don’t need no gun control, you know what you need? We need some bullet control. Men, we need to control the bullets, that’s right. I think all bullets should cost five thousand dollars… five thousand dollars per bullet… You know why? Cause if a bullet cost five thousand dollars there would be no more innocent bystanders. Yeah! Every time somebody get shut we’d say, ‘Damn, he must have done something ... Shit, he’s got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his ass.’ And people would think before they killed somebody if a bullet cost five thousand dollars. ‘Man I would blow your fucking head off…if I could afford it.’ ‘I’m gonna get me another job, I’m going to start saving some money, and you’re a dead man. You’d better hope I can’t get no bullets on layaway.’ So even if you get shot by a stray bullet, you wouldn't have to go to no doctor to get it taken out. Whoever shot you would take their bullet back, like "I believe you got my property.” ― Chris Rock
- shaftoe 6y agoThat's a fun blurb for a comedy routine, but ammunition is trivially easy to manufacture. People do it in their basement as a hobby.
- esperent 6y agoNonetheless, this is pretty much exactly the form of gun control practiced in Switzerland. Nearly everyone owns a gun, but ammunition is closely regulated.
- Tuna-Fish 6y agoBut do note that it is not actually effective at all. Because of lack of border checks, you can purchase a trunk full of ammunition from a backyard dealer in the balkans, and then drive right to Switzerland. Lack of gun-related crime is more caused by the law enforcement being very enthusiastic and effective about solving such crime, than it is caused by a lack of guns oe ammunition.
- esperent 6y agoI think it's more because people in Switzerland just don't feel the need to shoot each other, to be honest.
- hcurtiss 6y agoI think this is an under-analyzed factor. It seems some jurisdictions are culturally more violent, and increasingly so (the U.S. in particular).
- petre 6y agoBackyard dealer in the balkans? Good luck crossing the Serbian border or in fact any EU/non-EU border with a trunk of ammo. I just mentioned Serbia because their border police is rather too vigilant. They wanted to tear a friend's RV apart to look for cigarettes or drugs. Imagine how delghted they'd be to find a trunk full of ammo. It would almost certainly be on the news. Also if you're under 30 and looking cool, you're very likely to be pulled off for a not-so-quick routine search. Also good luck crossing the Swiss border if you succeed.
- jerkstate 6y agoImprovised firearms are as old as factory manufactured firearms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm I disagree with the premise that gun control has been shot down because of this new technology applied to make improvised firearms. First of all, these things are going to be far less effective, durability, reliability and range wise than factory firearms. Second, laws are about scaring transgressors into not doing something with the threat of state violence against them, not making some action a complete impossibility.
- warmwaffles 6y agoPowdered metal printing is becoming more popular. Porsche and some other auto manufacturers have made pistons from powdered printing. As the cost of entry starts to drop we are going to see interesting times ahead.
- lumberjack 6y agoWhy such high tech? CNCs have been around for ages and can do the job just as well.
- warmwaffles 6y agoSo CNCs are great, but there is some benefits to the powdered printing. Better oil galleries that you can not accomplish with CNC machines.
- terramex 6y ago3D metal printed pistons are ~10% lighter because they can have more sophisticated shape at the same strength. Reportedly this allows Porsche to increase RPM and get about 5% extra horsepower. It is still an experimental technology, not used in any road car. This is how they look like: https://images.hgmsites.net/hug/porsche-3d-prints-piston-for-2018-911-gt2-rs_100752722_h.jpg https://images.hgmsites.net/hug/porsche-3d-prints-piston-for...
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- tengbretson 6y agoI wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not like there's a constitutional amendment protecting your right to own and operate a 3d printer.
- gruez 6y agoWhat are you suggesting? That we ban/restrict the use/ownership of 3d printers? A 3d printer is just some motors and a extruder on a set of rails, so I'd imagine it's not too hard to make your own. At that point you're back to square one.
- jowsie 6y agoA gun is just a tube and a pin.
- ape4 6y agoOf course they are called "arms" in the second amendment
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago> A gun is just a tube and a pin. That's kind of the point. Prohibiting of the sale of something that anybody can easily make for themselves only restrains the people who follow the law from having them.
- StillBored 6y agoHasn't stopped them from outlawing a plant that will happily grow on the roadside.
- 71615BFC3796 6y agoYou make a good point. The second amendment is already dreadfully infringed throughout the US (in some states far more than others), and the first amendment is being chipped away, too. It's unfortunate that we the people allowed it to get so bad. But guns are scary.
- hirundo 6y agoAs time goes by and this tech improves, restricting guns to a given level will require increasingly invasive regulation. Where once you could accomplish it by regulating manufacturers and dealers and imports, now you have to restrict 3D printers and common items from the hardware store. As 3D printers become common household items, the same level of gun control will require detailed mass surveillance and/or restrictions on common items like pipe and scrap steel. This may mean that gun control simply fails in non-authoritarian countries, and they either go authoritarian or increasing live without effective controls on guns. As a gun culture the U.S. may be better prepared for this transition.
- dragontamer 6y ago> As 3D printers become common household items, the same level of gun control will require detailed mass surveillance and/or restrictions on common items like pipe and scrap steel. Are people worried about un-riffled longarms though? Unless you have a way to rifle the inside of a pipe, that won't really be an issue. You'll just be making inaccurate muskets. The important item isn't the 3d printer. Its the CNC Lathe.
- grimjack00 6y ago> Unless you have a way to rifle the inside of a pipe https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/08/13/make-a-factory-quality-9mm-rifled-barrel-in-your-kitchen-using-salt-water-and-electricity-ecm/ https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2019/08/13/make-a-factor...
- deelowe 6y agoI can see how advancements in 3d metal printers would make this a trivial task.
- matheusmoreira 6y ago> This may mean that gun control simply fails in non-authoritarian countries, and they either go authoritarian or increasing live without effective controls on guns. Yes! This isn't limited to gun control either. It's a politico-technological arms race. People develop technology that subverts the government. New laws are eventually created, allowing the government to adapt to the new technology. With each cycle, the government must become increasingly tyrannical and totalitarian in order to maintain its own power over the governed population. We'll end up with either an uncontrollable population or an absolute state.
- busterarm 6y agoThe proliferation of technology has never successfully been curtailed through regulation on long enough time scales.
- Retric 6y agoSeems to have largely worked for Chemical and Nuclear weapons. At least in terms of weapon systems, banning lasers designed to blind was apparently completely effective.
- matt-attack 6y agoI guess it helps when the technology being deterred (strong lasers, etc) are simply not fun and recreational. I frankly have no strong desire to turn on a super strong laser and burn things with it. On contrast, learning to operate firearms safely and accurately can be a life-long pursuit. They're simply more recreational thus the desire to own.
- smolder 6y agoNo, that doesn't hold water. There's nothing inherently "more recreational" or more interesting about a thing that shoots bullets than a laser that burns things. That's just your personal interest built on top of the interests of other people, a cultural artifact. Whatever you say about guns, I can counter with something like: lasers can be bounced off mirrors, therefore they are more interesting and fun than devices that fire bullets.
- seph-reed 6y agoEh. Recreational generally implies some amount of affordability and easy entry level. Nuclear weapons and lasers are not simple machines, nor are they cheap, and (somewhat unrelated) they generally aren't as instinctively fun or easy to practice at towards any goal.
- Retric 6y agoThe US was actually building a weapon system for this when it was banned. It’s more than just a laser, you need a complex targeting system to be effective. Anyway, the limitation on line of sight vs over the horizon missiles and the straightforward countermeasures probably played a major role.
- amelius 6y agoWhy does Apple have more control over my phone than the US government has over guns?
- dimitrios1 6y agoBecause only one of those are a right enshrined in the Constitution.
- __blockcipher__ 6y agoYou're right, Apple should have less control over our guns! But just to state the obvious, there's nothing in the constitution that talks about an inherent right to control over your phone, but there is absolutely an amendment that says "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" (and no, "well-regulated" does not mean the modern definition of "regulation")
- amelius 6y agoAnd communication is not necessary to the security of a free state? Times have changed, you know ...
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago> You're right, Apple should have less control over our guns! According to the analogy, Apple should have less control over our phones. Which is true.
- __blockcipher__ 6y agoYeah, that was a brain typo on my part
- x87678r 6y agoThis is a South African newspaper right? Sometimes I wonder if HN headlines are just suggestions for discussion for bored or easily distracted tech workers.
- xwdv 6y agoIt's more likely that this article has a stimulating headline that many people will likely upvote without even reading. The poster is a karma farmer.
- stonewareslord 6y agoAccording to the user's bio: > Consultant in Johannesburg, South Africa So probably closer to something that relates to him directly than posting because of the headline.
- fouc 6y agoIs it true that a $200 3D printer is sufficient?
- Ancapistani 6y agoYes, without question. I’ve printed AR lowers on an Anycubic i3 Mega that I bought for $100 on Facebook. My current printer was $500, but doesn’t bring any more capability.
- _wldu 6y agoWe should ban hardware stores.