First 3-D-printed gun fired, but its digital blueprints make bigger bang

[Barrister]

You know, there is an interesting analogy here - porn.

Today, how do you police and manage access to pornography by your kids?

When I was a kid, of course we were not allowed to have porn, and my parents would certainly punish us if they ever found any (not that it stopped us, but there was risk involved, etc., etc.)

Today, I feel kind of silly telling my son he is not allowed to look at porn - he isn't, but we cannot really control it *at all* via any kind of attempt to control their access to it. It is too easy to get if they want to get at it, with the internet just a click away.

So we don't even bother trying to control it's impacy by simply trying to control the physical object of pornography any more. Rather you have to try to

1) Teach them some self control and appropriate/responsible behavior, and more importantly
2) Teach what porn actually means, what it doesn't mean, and how to keep it from negatively shaping their views towards sex and sexuality.

You simply cannot, in any meaningful way, hope to deal with the issue via restricting exposure anymore, so you are forced to deal with the consequences of the exposure instead.

If guns become so easy to make, then bitching about it won't change anything - rather it will simply become more imperative that as a society we deal with what that means, the dangers they present, and how to handle them.

If nothing else, maybe it would cause the gun nuts to stop masturbating all the time over their penis symbols?

But we do in fact have a variety of restrictions on possessing certain types of porn.  Child porn.

Despite the fact it is ridiculously easy to find, possess and distribute child porn if you are so inclined, we make it a criminal offence to do so.

[MadImmortalMan]

If you could print replica children whenever you want it would be different. 

[The Larch]

And then there's another angle: what about those countries where guns are rare?

In fact the guy himself said today that the country from where he's getting more downloads by far is Spain. The next anti eviction protest can get messy...

[Razgovory]

I don't see why a very hard plastic bullet would not be deadly, albeit not as deadly as a metal one. Again, it doesn't have to be. 

I'm not saying it couldn't kill, just that it wouldn't be nearly as lethal as a metal bullet.  And that it may not be lethal enough to use over other alternatives.

This is sorta saying that it's not a lethal as a 120mm cannon.  True, but lethal enough.

Not at all. Another swing & a miss for Raz.

You are talking like these are BBs.  They aren't.  A high grade plastic bullet would likely go through a person as well as as a steel one.  I mean, they have a pretty good tensile strength.  They don't deform as well, but would still cut through someone.  Or if you don't like plastic, why not ceramics?

[crazy canuck]

And then there's another angle: what about those countries where guns are rare?

In fact the guy himself said today that the country from where he's getting more downloads by far is Spain. The next anti eviction protest can get messy...

Lovely, yet another gift of American gun culture to the world

[derspiess]

You are talking like these are BBs.  They aren't.  A high grade plastic bullet would likely go through a person as well as as a steel one.

No it wouldn't.  There is no plastic that will penetrate as well as steel. Also, keep in mind we're talking severely limited velocities here, at least with this dude's current design/materials.  He's using a .380 round which isn't the best self-defense round to begin with.  Replace the projectile with a "high grade" plastic one, and you're going to get even less lethality (bound to be lighter, meaning less kinetic energy) than the lead/copper bullet. 

And that's not to even mention the lack of accuracy, coming out of a short plastic smoothbore barrel.  You'd probably need to be within a couple yards to even score a hit, and if you're that close anyway you might as well use a knife or something that you can attack with repeatedly.

Maybe someday there will be a proof of concept for an all-plastic weapon that can rapidly fire multiple accurate shots with predictable lethality, but we're not there yet.

But if you guys want to panic, go ahead.

I mean, they have a pretty good tensile strength.  They don't deform as well, but would still cut through someone.  Or if you don't like plastic, why not ceramics?

I think ceramic would be more effective than plastic.  You still have the accuracy and single shot issues to deal with.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm in agreement with Berkut's reaction. 
What 3D printer guy is doing is like picking up a bull horn in the middle of a street and shouting out all sort of horribly offensive things.  There is absolutely no point in doing such a thing other than to make some kind of point about one's abstract right to do that.
There is a word for people who do things like that.
Asshole.

[crazy canuck]

There is a word for people who do things like that.
Asshole.

You are being too kind

[derspiess]

It's not impossible to imagine that in 5-10 years someone would be able to reproduce a fully functional AR-15 in a 3D printer, either out of advanced polymers, or out of metal (they're working on that as well).

You're gonna need some high grade steel, for the barrel & bolt carrier group, but those are (mostly) unregulated parts here in the US.  The only thing restricted is the lower receiver, and they're already making those out of polymer.  So you could theoretically print a polymer lower and finish it with parts you order through the mail.

[Malthus]

You are talking like these are BBs.  They aren't.  A high grade plastic bullet would likely go through a person as well as as a steel one.

No it wouldn't.  There is no plastic that will penetrate as well as steel. Also, keep in mind we're talking severely limited velocities here, at least with this dude's current design/materials.  He's using a .380 round which isn't the best self-defense round to begin with.  Replace the projectile with a "high grade" plastic one, and you're going to get even less lethality (bound to be lighter, meaning less kinetic energy) than the lead/copper bullet. 

And that's not to even mention the lack of accuracy, coming out of a short plastic smoothbore barrel.  You'd probably need to be within a couple yards to even score a hit, and if you're that close anyway you might as well use a knife or something that you can attack with repeatedly.

Maybe someday there will be a proof of concept for an all-plastic weapon that can rapidly fire multiple accurate shots with predictable lethality, but we're not there yet.

But if you guys want to panic, go ahead.

I mean, they have a pretty good tensile strength.  They don't deform as well, but would still cut through someone.  Or if you don't like plastic, why not ceramics?

I think ceramic would be more effective than plastic.  You still have the accuracy and single shot issues to deal with.

You are unnecessarily cincerned about the performance of this weapon.

Think of it this way: who, exactly, would want an all-plastic gun, and for what purpose?

They aren't likely to want it for Olympic target shooting. More like to shove in someone's face after sneaking it through a metal detector. Accuracy and other performance characteristics are strictly secondary, as long as it could actually, you know, kill someone.

[Barrister]

It's not impossible to imagine that in 5-10 years someone would be able to reproduce a fully functional AR-15 in a 3D printer, either out of advanced polymers, or out of metal (they're working on that as well).

You're gonna need some high grade steel, for the barrel & bolt carrier group, but those are (mostly) unregulated parts here in the US.  The only thing restricted is the lower receiver, and they're already making those out of polymer.  So you could theoretically print a polymer lower and finish it with parts you order through the mail.

I think someone already did that, but it got far less attention than an all plastic gun.

[derspiess]

It's not impossible to imagine that in 5-10 years someone would be able to reproduce a fully functional AR-15 in a 3D printer, either out of advanced polymers, or out of metal (they're working on that as well).

You're gonna need some high grade steel, for the barrel & bolt carrier group, but those are (mostly) unregulated parts here in the US.  The only thing restricted is the lower receiver, and they're already making those out of polymer.  So you could theoretically print a polymer lower and finish it with parts you order through the mail.

I think someone already did that, but it got far less attention than an all plastic gun.

IIRC it was made from whatever the current material is was only strong enough to shoot a few .22 rounds and then it broke.  A high quality polymer would be a lot stronger, though probably not as strong as the ones that are simply molded.

[CountDeMoney]

No doubt an all-plastic gun will not have the same lethality as an all-metal gun, or have bullets that travel as far - but it doesn't have to. The only reason to have an all-plastic gun in the first place is to avoid detection. All it has to do is to be able to intimidate or kill people, presumably at short range, like a hostage-taker sticking the thing in a person's face.

It can have the same lethality;  and so what if it breaks after the 1st shot.  That may be all that is needed.

http://youtu.be/tff_EEQt79s


When the first President gets whacked with one of these things, maybe derfetus will change his tune.  Unless it's the present one, of course.

[derspiess]

When the first President gets whacked with one of these things, maybe derfetus will change his tune.  Unless it's the present one, of course.

Stay classy.

[CountDeMoney]

Save it, Cooter.