The Wrongologist

What’s
Wrong Today:

Designing gadgets
with 3D printers is nothing new. But prior to August, 2012, no one had ever
used an at-home printer to help build an assault rifle:

The firearm in
question was a .22-caliber rifle developed last year by amateur
gunsmith Michael Guslick. Using his Stratasys 3D printer and blueprints
downloaded from the internet, Guslick
successfully printed the lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle. The rest of
his rifle was assembled from commercial off-the-shelf (mostly metal) parts.

Legally, Guslick printed
a firearm. Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, the receiver is what determines
whether a gun is a gun. No receiver, no gun. Guslick didn’t violate any laws
surrounding the manufacturing of the gun without a license, since he made it for
personal use. If he attempted to sell it, or opened up a factory producing the
weapons, he’d need authorization from the government.

Now, 9
months later, Defense Distributed has produced the world’s first fully 3-D
printed gun. It’s been tested, and it works.

According
to Danger Room, Defense Distributed’s
founder, Cody Wilson, fired one round from the weapon, which Wilson calls the
Liberator. In a video, after pulling the trigger, the printable handgun recoils
backwards as a single bullet blasts out. Blueprints of the gun were made available for download.

Wilson
used an $8,000 Stratasys 3-D printer to produce the gun. He told Danger Room:

Next, Wilson
plans to release barrels capable of firing nine-millimeter and .22 caliber
bullets. At one point during testing in recent weeks, one of the barrels
exploded, but the design works.

(Defense Distributed’s 3-D printed gun. Source: Wired)

Questions
continue regarding whether Wilson’s gun is legal. On Sunday, Sen. Charles
Schumer (D-NY) became the most prominent lawmaker to call for banning 3-D printed
handguns.
Schumer said:

Schumer proposes
updating the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which bans guns that can defeat
airport security metal detectors, to include printable gun magazines. The law exempts
licensed manufacturers to produce plastic guns for use as models and
prototypes.

According
to Wikipedia, Cody Wilson espouses crypto-anarchist
views. He was named one of the 15 most dangerous people by Wired Magazine. It’s a shame he doesn’t
use his skills to help mankind. And who does a 3D printed gun help? How is it a
positive contribution to society? What good can come of this invention?

Finally, did
someone say plastic bullets?

There you
have it, plastic training bullets every bit as deadly as the real thing, as
long as you are within approximately 50 ft of your target.

The primary
use of these untraceable devices is likely to be by terrorists and criminals.

Think
about the current legal loopholes:  It is
legal to make your own firearms in the US. It is legal to purchase plastic
bullets for “training”. It is legal to shoot a plastic weapon.

The real
question is why would you?

In any
city, you can buy a gun on the block. You get a throw away weapon. It happens
every day all across America. That is the niche the 3D printed plastic weapon is competing with,
the untraceable weapon for crime.

In
the case of an all-plastic gun that you could make at home, the government has
a vital interest in trying to control the product. Gun owners will dismiss it
as a toy, since they already own real guns.

But
there is also a vital and growing sub-culture that really, really wants America to
have untraceable weapons. On Monday, we said connect the dots. This is another in a growing, troubling group of anti-American sub-cultures.

BTW,
the Undetectable Firearms Act expires on December 9, 2013.

Want
to bet it is renewed?