What will the effect of additive manufacturing be upon gun laws?

[TupperHappy]

I've seen a number of DU threads in the Science forum concerning additive manufacturing. While the technology is still in its infancy, I think within a generation we could see the technology progress to the point where a person could download the design specs for a handgun and print one out. In fact, given enough raw materials, you could print out any number you wanted.

So, how would you see gun laws changing in the future because of this? Would we start to see a push to restrict access to additive manufacturing technology? How would that even be possible, when we already have systems that can replicate many of their own parts?

How would you restrict access to firearms when anyone with enough raw materials and a 3-D printer can just print one?

Related threads:

3-D Printing Titanium - Democratic Underground

The Star Trek replicator will be yours... in about 20 years

Urbee 3D printed car goes on display in Canada (BBC)

[TheWraith]

1. We're almost already there.

It's not 3D printing exactly, but with a CNC milling machine you can produce a virtually unlimited number of pistol frames and slides as long as you've got aluminum blocks to start with. Of course, there's still the issue of a barrel, sundry parts, springs, etcetera, but the frame is what's considered the "firearm" and controlled by law--everything else can be bought over the counter. Same for AR-15 receivers. It's more expensive, slower, and more wasteful than 3D printing would be, but it's going to the same basic place.

[pipoman]

3. Yep..CNC has changed the machine/tool

business forever. there are many machines in my area in small manufacturing companies and in residential garages..raw materials are very available in scrap form. The aircraft industry in Wichita produces tons of scrap, very high quality aluminum (and other metals) stock for a fraction the cost of new. The industry also employs hundreds (maybe thousands) of pro machinists and engineers, some who are hobbyists in their off time.

[SteveW]

15. And there is the Briggo coffee robot...

Robot out of Austin. It will take your order by voice in front of it, cell phone, text, on-line; personalize your order, grind blends, press the way you want it, inform you as you park the car that it's ready, and serve it up -- after it has ground the coffee you will get. Big as an old IBM punch-card affair, but consumer tests seem favorable.

http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/02-01-12-13-10-briggo-the-future-of-coffee-at-the-ut-campus/

[mvccd1000]

2. I'd be too busy making car parts...

...for the old cars I love to find in out-of-the way desert junkyards or back yards.

The technology will certainly open up incredible new opportunities for anyone who enjoys fiddling with machines, though, whether those machines burn gasoline, steam, or gunpowder.

[BiggJawn]

4. Possibly just simple possession?

The way they now control NFA items, illegal to possess.

[pipoman]

5. There are constitutional issues, IIRC,

which make it perfectly legal to make non-serialized guns for personal use.

[Callisto32]

7. Possession laws are some of the most inane.

We know you weren't actually DOING anything to hurt anybody....

Punishing someone for something they MIGHT do is pretty crazy, eh?

[BiggJawn]

9. True.

Possession of selective fire PARTS comes to mind.

[Callisto32]

6. The issue with firearms as always been that they are nothing but a fancy pressure vessel...

albeit one with a predetermined path of least resistance.

They are too damn easy to make to ever be put back in the box.

It's like the folks that want us to forget we ever learned how to manipulate the atom. Once again, the problem is not the technology, but the people using it.

I for one think that "3-d Printing" will do such great things for ease and volume of manufacture that we would currently have a hard time imagining just what the economy will be like once the technology is mature.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. There's a nice...

...available at sears
Shipping and tax look a bit high.

You'll need a lathe and drill press as well but those are cheaper. I would imagine that for a about $20,000 investment you could produce your first revolver.

Is possession of a CNC program to produce the parts subject to firearms regulation? Umm, no.



So here is my question:
A felon on parole, for example, is not allowed to own, possess, buy... a firearm. (Sorry Martha Stewart no Glocks in designer colors for you.) However, can a felon own stock... (a majority say) in a company that manufactures firearms? Suppose Martha decided to buy 10,000,000 shares of RGR.

[Hoyt]

10. You better worry about robots packing . . . . .rather than being able to make all the guns you could

ever caress.

[TupperHappy]

11. What is it about you hoplophobes...

...and your sexualization of firearms? Seriously, that's like the first argument most of the antis around here trot out. Projection, much?

[Hoyt]

12. "Phobic?" You can't walk out your door without a gun, yet you call us phobic. LMAO

[oneshooter]

13. Once again you read with no understanding, he said, and I tend to agree

that you are a hoplophobe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophobia

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoplophobe

http://www.urbandictionary.com/thesaurus.php?term=hoplophobe

Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas

[SteveW]

16. H-h-h-h-heh-heh-heh. You said "projection"...

...he said "caress."

[Remmah2]

14. Who lobbied for equal rights for robots?

The National Robot Association?

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[mvccd1000]

17. This is how I see 3D printers being used in the near term:

3D printer builds new jaw bone for transplant:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9066721/3D-printer-builds-new-jaw-bone-for-transplant.html

The artificial jaw was made from titanium powder, heated and built-up in layers in a 3D printer to create a working lower jaw which was then finished with a bioceramic coating.

The implant, which was designed and built by LayerWise, a Belgian metal parts manufacturer, was fitted in an operation in the Netherlands in June last year.

Dr Jules Pokens, of Hasselt University, led the team of surgeons. He said: "The new treatment method is a world premiere because it concerns the first patient-specific implant in replacement of the entire lower jaw."

He added: "Shortly after waking up from the anesthetics the patient spoke a few words, and the day after the patient was able to speak and swallow normally again."

Of course, the shape of a jawbone bears vague resemblance to a slingshot, so the BATF will probably classify it as an automatic weapon.