3 ms·

If you're able to cheaply print firearms, then it doesn't really matter too much if those firearms end up being disposable; if it breaks, just print another one

If you're able to cheaply print firearms, then it doesn't really matter too much if those firearms end up being disposable; if it breaks, just print another one. As for machining parts out of metal, people can and do build "slamfire" shotguns out of two pipes and a nail. Needless to say, I think you're overestimating the difficulty of shopping around at Home Depot.

kube-system 4y ago
I understand the problem space, I've built my own gun parts using both 3d printers and traditional machine tools. The thing is, criminals aren't hobbyists. They're not going to goof around at the range for 8 hours trying to tune in a mechanism. As long as traditionally produced guns are the price of a 3D printer, (or a busted pickup truck window away), there's really no reason for your local gang member to do an arts and crafts session.
- aksss 4y ago
  That's not how it works, any more than we make our own cocaine. The local gang member doesn't need to learn the specialist skills. He needs to know a guy who knows a guy.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    The gang member already knows a guy with reliable and cheap professionally made guns. 3D printed parts are inferior in quality and performance to injection molded.
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      > The gang member already knows a guy with reliable and cheap professionally made guns. Right, until he doesn't. 3D printing provides additional options that he didn't really have 15 or 20 years ago. > 3D printed parts are inferior in quality and performance to injection molded. They just need to be good enough to do the job. Firearms used in crime often get dumped afterward anyway.
      - kube-system 4y ago
        It won’t change in the US for a very long time. There’s simply too many readily available guns. Criminals in my area simply take a jaunt around the neighborhood at 3am checking for unlocked pickup trucks. It’s in our local news regularly. “Thieve robs a string of neighborhood cars at night, steal cash and a handgun” And I don’t see any easy solution to straw purchasing on the horizon.
        yellowapple 4y ago
        > It won’t change in the US for a very long time. Right, but there are other places besides the US. Those are the places where 3D printing (and home manufacture in general) is a more viable threat to their attempts at gun control.
        kube-system 4y ago
        Agreed. Although I don’t think the 3D printer is much of an advantage in countries with strict gun control. In those places, building the gun is the easy part. The hard part is primer (and to some degree, propellant). For instance, the guy who just shot Abe. What he built was more of a hand cannon, because it’s very difficult to make proper cartridge style ammo without factory made precursor components. If your ammo technology is limited to cannon technology, that’s the best you can build anyway.
        yellowapple 4y ago
        > What he built was more of a hand cannon, because it’s very difficult to make proper cartridge style ammo without factory made precursor components. For now, yes. A year or two from now? I would be entirely unsurprised to see CAD files to 3D print casings designed to be loaded with homemade black powder / arbitrary projectiles and ignited via some external source (e.g. an automotive spark plug). Even ignoring that possibility, the fact that some guy with a homemade electrically-ignited handcannon killed the leader of a country with some of the strictest gun control laws is itself a nail in gun control's coffin.

kube-system 4y ago

I understand the problem space, I've built my own gun parts using both 3d printers and traditional machine tools. The thing is, criminals aren't hobbyists. They're not going to goof around at the range for 8 hours trying to tune in a mechanism. As long as traditionally produced guns are the price of a 3D printer, (or a busted pickup truck window away), there's really no reason for your local gang member to do an arts and crafts session.

aksss 4y ago
That's not how it works, any more than we make our own cocaine. The local gang member doesn't need to learn the specialist skills. He needs to know a guy who knows a guy.
- kube-system 4y ago
  The gang member already knows a guy with reliable and cheap professionally made guns. 3D printed parts are inferior in quality and performance to injection molded.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    > The gang member already knows a guy with reliable and cheap professionally made guns. Right, until he doesn't. 3D printing provides additional options that he didn't really have 15 or 20 years ago. > 3D printed parts are inferior in quality and performance to injection molded. They just need to be good enough to do the job. Firearms used in crime often get dumped afterward anyway.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      It won’t change in the US for a very long time. There’s simply too many readily available guns. Criminals in my area simply take a jaunt around the neighborhood at 3am checking for unlocked pickup trucks. It’s in our local news regularly. “Thieve robs a string of neighborhood cars at night, steal cash and a handgun” And I don’t see any easy solution to straw purchasing on the horizon.
      - yellowapple 4y ago
        > It won’t change in the US for a very long time. Right, but there are other places besides the US. Those are the places where 3D printing (and home manufacture in general) is a more viable threat to their attempts at gun control.
        kube-system 4y ago
        Agreed. Although I don’t think the 3D printer is much of an advantage in countries with strict gun control. In those places, building the gun is the easy part. The hard part is primer (and to some degree, propellant). For instance, the guy who just shot Abe. What he built was more of a hand cannon, because it’s very difficult to make proper cartridge style ammo without factory made precursor components. If your ammo technology is limited to cannon technology, that’s the best you can build anyway.
        yellowapple 4y ago
        > What he built was more of a hand cannon, because it’s very difficult to make proper cartridge style ammo without factory made precursor components. For now, yes. A year or two from now? I would be entirely unsurprised to see CAD files to 3D print casings designed to be loaded with homemade black powder / arbitrary projectiles and ignited via some external source (e.g. an automotive spark plug). Even ignoring that possibility, the fact that some guy with a homemade electrically-ignited handcannon killed the leader of a country with some of the strictest gun control laws is itself a nail in gun control's coffin.