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Clearly impossible to stop the spread of this information, and any attempts to make it possible would be extremely objectionable, but anyone found actually prod

Clearly impossible to stop the spread of this information, and any attempts to make it possible would be extremely objectionable, but anyone found actually producing or using these weapons should face extreme prison terms. Mass proliferation of handguns is responsible for thousands of deaths each year in this country alone, and we should be taking all feasible steps to reign it in.

egeozcan 13y ago
If people want to kill each other, I guess, a 3d model of a gun being available on the internet would make no difference.
- onemorepassword 13y ago
  All evidence to the contrary. Unless you seriously want to claim that the number of murders and easy access to firearms are merely a matter of accidental correlation. You're correct if you're talking premeditated killing. But most killings aren't.
  - jff 13y ago
    "You bastard! Just you wait, in 8 hours I'll be done printing my zip-gun and THEN you'll be sorry!"
  - joshontheweb 13y ago
    Care to mention this evidence. Just yesterday there was an article on HN showing that gun violence is down 50% since 1993. That is in the face of guns being more available than ever.
Zikes 13y ago
Not 24 hours ago the #1 post on HN was that gun crime has been downright plummeting for the past 20 years, despite the fact that more and more guns are being manufactured and sold. I know it's a tired old saying, but the honest truth is that guns do not kill people, people kill people. Once you realize that, you realize that 3D printable guns are not a danger justifying "extreme prison terms".
- rollo_tommasi 13y ago
  That gun crime has been falling does not mean that proliferation of guns is a neutral proposition, it only means that other trends have been stronger. More handguns = more dead people, period. The only people rooting for a society awash in easily obtainable handguns are criminals and delusional libertarians with adolescent Minute Man fantasies.
  - Zikes 13y ago
    More handguns = more handguns, period. Like I said before, violent crime has been falling steadily for the past 20 years despite the rise in availability of handguns. This is in direct conflict with your assertion that more handguns = more dead people. It is a more delusional viewpoint in my opinion to think that simply reducing the availability of weapons would eliminate the criminal impulses to use them.
    - rollo_tommasi 13y ago
      Zikes, let's do a simple observational experiment. Compare the rates of violent death in countries with few guns to those in countries with lots of guns. Get back to me with your next keen insight on how the number of guns in a society is a just a meaningless number that doesn't really affect anything at all.
      - koenigdavidmj 13y ago
        Look at knife crime rates in the UK.
        mikeyouse 13y ago
        The murder rate in the UK is 1.2 / 100k, it's literally 4x higher in the US. You've probably read that the UK is significantly more violent than the US, but the difference comes entirely from different categorizations of crime. For instance, UK violent crime stats as typically reported include such things as harassment, 'causing public fear, alarm, or distress', or 'possession of an article with a blade or point'. Depending on how judicious you are with the categories, the UK is either safer than the US or slightly more violent, but it's very close. Combine that with 1/4 the murder rate, and I think it's clear which is performing better.
jabbernotty 13y ago
> extreme prison terms How about reasonable prison terms? That could end up being no time at all.

egeozcan 13y ago

If people want to kill each other, I guess, a 3d model of a gun being available on the internet would make no difference.

onemorepassword 13y ago
All evidence to the contrary. Unless you seriously want to claim that the number of murders and easy access to firearms are merely a matter of accidental correlation. You're correct if you're talking premeditated killing. But most killings aren't.
- jff 13y ago
  "You bastard! Just you wait, in 8 hours I'll be done printing my zip-gun and THEN you'll be sorry!"
- joshontheweb 13y ago
  Care to mention this evidence. Just yesterday there was an article on HN showing that gun violence is down 50% since 1993. That is in the face of guns being more available than ever.

Zikes 13y ago

Not 24 hours ago the #1 post on HN was that gun crime has been downright plummeting for the past 20 years, despite the fact that more and more guns are being manufactured and sold. I know it's a tired old saying, but the honest truth is that guns do not kill people, people kill people. Once you realize that, you realize that 3D printable guns are not a danger justifying "extreme prison terms".

rollo_tommasi 13y ago
That gun crime has been falling does not mean that proliferation of guns is a neutral proposition, it only means that other trends have been stronger. More handguns = more dead people, period. The only people rooting for a society awash in easily obtainable handguns are criminals and delusional libertarians with adolescent Minute Man fantasies.
- Zikes 13y ago
  More handguns = more handguns, period. Like I said before, violent crime has been falling steadily for the past 20 years despite the rise in availability of handguns. This is in direct conflict with your assertion that more handguns = more dead people. It is a more delusional viewpoint in my opinion to think that simply reducing the availability of weapons would eliminate the criminal impulses to use them.
  - rollo_tommasi 13y ago
    Zikes, let's do a simple observational experiment. Compare the rates of violent death in countries with few guns to those in countries with lots of guns. Get back to me with your next keen insight on how the number of guns in a society is a just a meaningless number that doesn't really affect anything at all.
    - koenigdavidmj 13y ago
      Look at knife crime rates in the UK.
      - mikeyouse 13y ago
        The murder rate in the UK is 1.2 / 100k, it's literally 4x higher in the US. You've probably read that the UK is significantly more violent than the US, but the difference comes entirely from different categorizations of crime. For instance, UK violent crime stats as typically reported include such things as harassment, 'causing public fear, alarm, or distress', or 'possession of an article with a blade or point'. Depending on how judicious you are with the categories, the UK is either safer than the US or slightly more violent, but it's very close. Combine that with 1/4 the murder rate, and I think it's clear which is performing better.

jabbernotty 13y ago

> extreme prison terms How about reasonable prison terms? That could end up being no time at all.