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There's a community that builds 3d printed guns, and those don't last very long either. They're not printing barrels, they're just printing the trigger housing and grip. They go out and buy the dangerous bits.
This is all a bit pointless.
Even more pointless when you consider that once you have a 3d printer, you can make a lot of the components for a second 3d printer, and go out and buy the other parts, without ever buying a 3d printer. Now you have two ghost gun machines!! Oh the horror.
This is the reason why I need education. CNc machines are the only tools you need. Fast food is probably just CNC assembled.
It's all CNC. All the way down. Always was.
Seriously, 3d printers are just CNC machines, they use the same code the mill I use that was built in 1989 uses.
Not to mention the ammo. 3d printed guns are useless without real ammo.
Tbh, you print em right they'll last a good 2k rnds and you can rifle the barrel with ECM at home these days, they'd get "the job" done, save an extended firefight, and then "NY reload."
That said I agree this is pointless.
Do I need a background check to buy a CNC? Or a lathe?
I mean, kind of, yes. CNCs have been one of the big items for export controls. Especially if they can be used to build weapons, parts for nuclear subs, etc.
Generally speaking, lathes and milling machines must be licensed for export if their accuracy exceeds six microns. Grinding machines are controlled at four microns. The Wassenaar Arrangement controls all machine tools capable of simultaneous, five-axis motion, regardless of machining accuracy.
In the US you don't need a license to purchase a CNC. Even items with export restrictions like night vision goggles (Under ITAR) can be bought by anyone and shipped to your door. The export controls would only come into effect upon you exporting them.
Besides not needing a license for export controlled items within the country, you don't need a 6 micron precision lathe
Just export controls though?
Will they require a background check for CNC machines and lathes as well?
They're eventually just going to demand you're under AI monitored video surveillance at all times, even while bathing.
Routers and lathes, both CNC and manual ... and calipers! The name sounds like something to do with bullets and they look like tiny machine guns.
Is this a real problem? How many crimes are being committed with 3D printed guns?
It's a rounding error... basically just politicians virtue signalling that they're doing something.
I'm reminded of Leland Yee. California politician who was in favor of gun control all while doing gun running stuff himself. Guess he felt gun control was good for business.
In other news: virtue signaling politicians are considering banning [scary items that their core voters know nothing about] in order to appear tough on crime, while avoiding doing the logical things experts recommend, because that would look bad in the eyes of the voters. Instead the only consequence is extending the stigma related to excons resulting in greater recidivism
Googling 3d printed gun homicide returns a story from Rhode Island in 2020 (where the police can't figure out if the gun was actually printed), an attempted murder in Reykjavík in 2022, and this story from 2022 that claims a total of 44 arrests were made related to 3d printed guns... world wide https://3dprint.com/291684/3d-printed-gun-arrests-tripled-in-less-than-two-years-3dprint-com-investigates/amp/
In contrast there were 48117 firearms related deaths in the US during the same period.
Maybe statistics and proportions should be a core part of math from an early age?
What the fuck? You dont even need that for buying a fucking knife
I think some people would say the ability to print a gun is more deadly then a knife.
But I kind of agree with you.
If we start licensing people to own stuff that has the potential to do harm, then eventually you are going to run into a never ending list of household items and laws of natural physics:
Zip guns have existed for a long, long time, but nobody's going to legislate serious controls for buying building supplies. I could walk into any hardware store and come out with the materials to build a gun that fires real bullets.
Don’t you just need a pipe of the right size capped at one end, and a nail?
By that logic, they should ban water pipes to stop people from making water pipe shotguns
Hey congress, so uhhh... you can 3d print a 3d printer
Or just buy parts. What are they gonna do? Regulate stepper motors and heater cartridges, and generic microcontrollers?
The cat is already out the bag.
You wouldn't download a gun
I don’t have a use for one. A car though? I’d download the fuck out of a car.
And if I download a parts list, buy the components, and make the printer myself I guess I can just cruise new york "printing guns" for people without any hassle from the man.
Printing ghost guns, so far, is just a boogyman politicians trot out when one of their corporate sponsors thinks one of their revenue streams might be threatened by DIYers.
You can make a gun with anything
Well, not anything (if you actually think that's possible, then I have a challenge for you: make a functioning gun out of cheese), but an average hardware store should have everything you need to produce something capable of firing a shot.
“Three-dimensionally printed firearms, a type of untraceable ghost gun, can be built by anyone using a $150 three-dimensional printer,” Rajkumar wrote in a memorandum explaining the bill. “This bill will require a background check so that three-dimensional printed firearms do not get in the wrong hands.”
.... No way an ender 3 is going to produce something that doesn't blow up in your hand.
so. i suggest people get that 150 dollar lol-printer. Should take care of itself.
If you think people aren't printing firearms with an Ender 3, you are a fool.
You don't print the explody bits; you have to purchase things like the barrel and the trigger assembly.
However, I know an engineer at Sig Sauer who printed his own gun and he's never fired it while holding it...so, still prone to eventual catastrophic failure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This isn’t even low hanging fruit. This is fruit that’s been on the ground rotting for a few months that no one is going to pick up and eat anyway. Let’s throw ineffective solutions at the problem and when they fail go, “weeeeell, since you can buy a 3d printer and a gun online, let’s just do background checks for internet access”
Holy shit, it would be so funny if this started an 80% 3D printer market.
No need. You can buy ALL of the parts off the shelf for a 3D printer and assemble it yourself. None are regulated (Aluminum rails, motors, arduino controllers, LCD panels, Power supplies, heating elements, thermistors, wiring). Strictly speaking there's nothing about a non-resin 3d Printer you can't procure and build yourself. And you can even 3d Print the housings to make it look nice once you've assembled it. Oh... and the designs and parts are largely open source.
Whats next? Criminal background check to buy cutlery for your kitchen?
Anything to regulate and restrict the people/end users but not address any real problems in society.
Go after the gun companies, gun lobbies, NRA? No, never. Address housing, income, and educational inequality? That sounds complicated, tough, and expensive.
This has similar vibes to shaming/regulating people for using too much water in their showers and for washing their cars, but when a multi-billion dollar oil company spills millions of gallons of crude into the sea causing years of environmental damage due to negligence, fine them a few million dollars and tell them they've been very naughty...
So tired of politicians being in the pocket of Capitalist scumbags.
You know what would be even more effective than regulating 3D printers like this? Regulating all guns better.