4 ms·

What is their motivation? What good could possibly come from making possibly anyone being able to easily manufacture (untraceable) guns?

rpmisms 5y ago
Maximum freedom. The means of projecting force should never be held entirely by the state.
- azinman2 5y ago
  I’m hesitant to even get into this into HN, so I’ll try to keep this very narrow. You say maximum freedom, but already the biggest means of “projecting force” (here it seems you literally mean as a projectile) cannot be 3D printed and is only in the hands of the government.. tanks, attack aircraft, missiles, nuclear weapons, etc. So how does a 3D printed gun give maximum freedom, especially when you can buy legal equivalents, and the real “maximums” aren’t possible?
  - rpmisms 5y ago
    It's the current local maximum. The point of civilian gun ownership is to keep the means of offense and defense in the hands of the people. Think socialism, but instead of companies, it's guns.
    - dzhiurgis 5y ago
      That just reads as terrorism to me
      - rpmisms 5y ago
        Well, yes, governments generally tend to categorize civilians who violently disagree with them as terrorists. John Brown was a terrorist, too.
    - azinman2 5y ago
      But that’s already the case. A state is just a bunch of people. Without public support, states fail. Public opinion is far, far more powerful than weapons, and open source 3D printed guns will have the most positive impact only for criminals. If there really was some revolution where ordinary citizens required guns, there’s already more legal guns than people in America.
mike_d 5y ago
> What is their motivation? Of the people I know manufacturing firearms, the motivation is gun laws themselves. California laws are so completely insane [1] that many normal sane gun owners I know have just kinda thrown their hands up in the air and decided if they are going to be criminals anyways, they might as well be criminals with the stuff they want. These are tax paying, law abiding, average joes that have given up on trying to "stay legal" within their hobby. 1. Here is the flow chart to figure out if the rifle you've done target practice with for years and is legal in most of the US will get you thrown in jail: https://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf https://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf

rpmisms 5y ago

Maximum freedom. The means of projecting force should never be held entirely by the state.

azinman2 5y ago
I’m hesitant to even get into this into HN, so I’ll try to keep this very narrow. You say maximum freedom, but already the biggest means of “projecting force” (here it seems you literally mean as a projectile) cannot be 3D printed and is only in the hands of the government.. tanks, attack aircraft, missiles, nuclear weapons, etc. So how does a 3D printed gun give maximum freedom, especially when you can buy legal equivalents, and the real “maximums” aren’t possible?
- rpmisms 5y ago
  It's the current local maximum. The point of civilian gun ownership is to keep the means of offense and defense in the hands of the people. Think socialism, but instead of companies, it's guns.
  - dzhiurgis 5y ago
    That just reads as terrorism to me
    - rpmisms 5y ago
      Well, yes, governments generally tend to categorize civilians who violently disagree with them as terrorists. John Brown was a terrorist, too.
  - azinman2 5y ago
    But that’s already the case. A state is just a bunch of people. Without public support, states fail. Public opinion is far, far more powerful than weapons, and open source 3D printed guns will have the most positive impact only for criminals. If there really was some revolution where ordinary citizens required guns, there’s already more legal guns than people in America.

mike_d 5y ago

> What is their motivation? Of the people I know manufacturing firearms, the motivation is gun laws themselves. California laws are so completely insane [1] that many normal sane gun owners I know have just kinda thrown their hands up in the air and decided if they are going to be criminals anyways, they might as well be criminals with the stuff they want. These are tax paying, law abiding, average joes that have given up on trying to "stay legal" within their hobby. 1. Here is the flow chart to figure out if the rifle you've done target practice with for years and is legal in most of the US will get you thrown in jail: https://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf https://www.calguns.net/caawid/flowchart.pdf