3D Printing is the Future
I don’t know much about guns but this article from the register has stuff to say. He seems to know his stuff when he compares a normal gun with the 3D printed gun.
Some quotes include:
When the nail hits the cap in the cartridge base in a Liberator, the expanding gas likewise pushes the lead bullet off the end of the cartridge and down the “barrel” pipe. Much of the gas leaks past due to the loose fit and soft material of the “barrel”. The lump of plastic with the nail (probably) stops the cartridge case spitting out of the back, which is pretty easy as the bullet pops out of the extremely short, basically smooth* “barrel” almost immediately with very little push from the gas required. Most of the cartridge’s hot gas spills out of the muzzle without getting a chance to do any work on the bullet, which is the main reason the cruddy “barrel” doesn’t (always) come to bits on the first shot and the cartridge case (probably) doesn’t just spit backward into the user’s face.
The Liberator’s bullet emerges going very slowly and wobbling or tumbling due to lack of spin. It might go almost anywhere, though not very far, and is unlikely to do much damage to anything it manages to hit.
It’s a bit better than holding up a cartridge in a pair of pliers and banging the cap with a centrepunch or similar, but not much. (If you do that, by the way, the bullet or more likely bits of the cartridge might on an unlucky day have someone’s eye out, probably yours – but that’s about the only way it could really hurt anyone. Don’t for goodness’ sake confine the cartridge inside your hand, or you will lose it. The bullet will travel a few yards, at best.)
PS I love this 3D printed gun story – there is so much emotion around it!
A number of sites are reporting that the design for the 3D Printed gun design has been taken down by US authorities.
FRom the Liberator website: http://defcad.org/liberator/
On Thursday, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson received a letter from the State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance demanding that he take down the online blueprints for the 3D-printable “Liberator” handgun that his group released Monday, along with nine other 3D-printable firearms components hosted on the group’s website Defcad.org. The government says it wants to review the files for compliance with arms export control laws known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR. By uploading the weapons files to the Internet and allowing them to be downloaded abroad, the letter implies Wilson’s high-tech gun group may have violated those export controls.
“Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with final [commodity jurisdiction] determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled,” reads the letter, referring to a list of ten CAD files hosted on Defcad that include the 3D-printable gun, silencers, sights and other pieces. “This means that all data should be removed from public acces immediately. Defense Distributed should review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any other data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.”
Can you say ‘Streisand Effect’?
Well first off, the design of the gun is readily available via torrent. If anything, internet pundits feel that the take down notice will cause a Streisand Effect (the act of restricting info on the internet causes more to be aware of the info so more folks try to access the info). One user of the site Reddit named Rock Runner has said:
I’v (sic) been a 24/7 seeder for Defcad for months. I’v never seed seed/peer levels anywhere NEAR what they are now.
May other internet users are downloading the design of the gun to ‘stick it to the man’ – most readily admit that they don’t even have a 3D Printer.
What does this mean for an Aussie?
Well the same as I’ve always said – if you are silly enough to print out / make in your shed a gun without the right license, and the cops find out, you will have a bad time. I’m not sure on the law regarding having the design of a gun on your person however.
I hope you like popcorn
I’m not sure what the US Govt will do now – but it is certainly time to pull out the popcorn and watch the show!
Sources:
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-takes-over-distribution-of-censored-3d-printable-gun-130510/
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1e0pgg/the_us_department_of_defense_trade_controls_has/
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/05/state-department-cody-wilson-defense-distributed
There has been quite a bit of media attention lately towards some guys in the US who have created a 3D Printed gun.
Here is is being test fired (I assume under controlled conditions):
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My thoughts on the matter:
1. If you have a unlicensed firearm in your possession and the cops find out, you are going to have a bad time.
This is for Australia of course, last time I said the above some gun-freedom guys commented that it is their God given right to have guns. Well maybe that is true, but if they are unlicensed and you are in Australia you are in for a rough trot. So my humble advice is – and IANAL – don’t 3D Print a gun.
2. Forget about 3D printing making a gun – any reasonably well equipped shed can make a gun
Any person with decent skills in fitting and turning can find a design on the internet and make a gun. The new technology of 3D printing just makes it slightly easier. Of course, a lathe made making a barrel slightly easier and we haven’t banned lathe’s yet.
3. Most tools can be used for ‘evil’
My angle grinder in my shed can grind a piece of metal to make a knife. That knife could be used as a weapon, or it could be used in surgery. The one who wields the weapon decides if they are going Light Side or Dark side. Either choice does not make the angle grinder intrinsically evil. The same with 3D Printing, a 3D printer can print a gun but it can also print a car.
4. Conclusion
So yeah, printing weapons is another use for 3D printing – great – but can we move onto the more exciting stuff like printing cars and body organs?
