3 ms·

While I'm not super excited about people printing 3D guns, it seems like it's probably still cheaper to buy an illegal gun than it is to buy a 3D printer with t

While I'm not super excited about people printing 3D guns, it seems like it's probably still cheaper to buy an illegal gun than it is to buy a 3D printer with the material to print a functioning firearm (last I checked 3D printers were still ~$500+; and even legal guns can be as cheap as ~$100)... I'm not sure that this publicized letter helps the situation any. There is the interesting topic of "gun legislation" as well... once any individual can manufacture Thing X, how do you (or do you?) legislate control of it? It would be great if the first major, widespread, TPB-distributed 3D printed-thing was something less controversial, but such is life. There are people in jail for "hacking" and a huge variety of other issues, while one can apparently print guns without any legal ramifications. I am not saying that one is better or worse than the other - just drawing attention to how poor our legislative process is when it comes to handling _any_ technological advances whatsoever.

derefr 13y ago
The question might be more about marginal cost. What would it cost a militia to outfit themselves with a thousand illegal guns, versus the material and power to print a thousand guns? If printing is cheaper, how much more likely does this make the creation of militias?
- mbillie1 13y ago
  I would much rather there be no 3D-gun-printing situation... but I'm not sure that I'm too concerned about militias, albeit only given the current state of 3D printers. There's a weird race between the capacity to manufacture anything at any time, and the ability to harvest sufficient energy to make the former not-so-important... and the former is in front right now. That is for sure a kind of scary thought. Plastic-gun-toting militias are probably not a big deal right now, but yeah... what if 3D metal printers become as prevalent as mobile phones? Hopefully some balancing technology will have also become so prevalent. If not, there are companies that make amazing tents, and there are lots of mountains and woods... :)
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  If you're a militia, you're going to purchase a laser sintering printer. What then? Restrict the purchase of metal powder?

derefr 13y ago

The question might be more about marginal cost. What would it cost a militia to outfit themselves with a thousand illegal guns, versus the material and power to print a thousand guns? If printing is cheaper, how much more likely does this make the creation of militias?

mbillie1 13y ago
I would much rather there be no 3D-gun-printing situation... but I'm not sure that I'm too concerned about militias, albeit only given the current state of 3D printers. There's a weird race between the capacity to manufacture anything at any time, and the ability to harvest sufficient energy to make the former not-so-important... and the former is in front right now. That is for sure a kind of scary thought. Plastic-gun-toting militias are probably not a big deal right now, but yeah... what if 3D metal printers become as prevalent as mobile phones? Hopefully some balancing technology will have also become so prevalent. If not, there are companies that make amazing tents, and there are lots of mountains and woods... :)
toomuchtodo 13y ago
If you're a militia, you're going to purchase a laser sintering printer. What then? Restrict the purchase of metal powder?