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US Government shuts down 3D gun manufacturer

A highly inaccurate weapon that basically self-destructs and has serious risk of injury to the user or innocent bystanders? Yeah, why would anyone want to stop that from being sold?
Cars should have seatbelts. Guns shouldn't explode in the hands of the shooter.

First, it's not sold. Second, the overreaction is not from the threat of malfunction to users.

They don't make sense yet. Will that still be true 5 years from now?

It's not going to make sense until they pair it with other machines or come up with some revolutionary printing material. Photopolymers are really weak stuff.
 
I can think of several uses for a disposable gun, even assuming the technology doesn't progress. And like I said, some printers can already work with steel.

Computer controlled lathing machines are entirely different animals. And they are horribly expensive compared to the MakerBot. You can buy a lot of firearms for the price of one steel computer controlled lathing machine. And that is before you buy blocks of steel to lathe into firearms.
 
I can think of several uses for a disposable gun, even assuming the technology doesn't progress. And like I said, some printers can already work with steel.

Such as, and keep it to legal uses please.
 
So much for the 1st Amendment, now. Where will it end?

Which part of the 1st amendment covers gun manufacturing?
 
About one to two shots. And it's apparently very inaccurate. Also, apparently it's not the barrel though, the inherent stress that discharge forces upon the receivers is what is causing plastic firearms, even ABS ones to fail.

Honestly, firing a gun where its upper receiver is made of ABS plastic scares me. And given their early tests, it scared them too.

As long as the chamber is solid, the receiver could be made out of carboard.
 
This going to get interesting. We can expect to also see attempts to ban other 3D blueprints for patented and trademark products. The government will have to ban 3D printers or filter the internet Chinese style to keep people from making objects that others don't want them to have
 
It's already out there on the web. That means it will be available forever, you just have to know where to look.


Trying to restrict information in the Information Age is like trying to compress clay by squeezing it in your hand... it just oozes out between your fingers.

Oh, but how the government will try...
 
Which part of the 1st amendment covers gun manufacturing?

The banned site wasn't giving away guns, they were giving away information that can be used to print a gun.
 
Which part of the 1st amendment covers gun manufacturing?
It isn't "gun manufacturing" if no guns are being made. The electronic file is 1st Amendment territory. I'd be fine if they had just shut down the company but making them take down the file? I think they've overstepped their bounds at that point. But I'm the kind of person who thinks bomb information should be open access, too, along with all those nasty novels people seem to want to ban. I'm extremely pro-1st.
 
Rumor has it that the plastic gun can fire only one round, and then it is useless. If this is true, I don't see the big hulaballoo over this thing. :confused:
 
The start up cost is expensive, but the materials are fairly cheap. Seems like a great way to produce one-off weapons for criminals.

You seem to know as much about criminals as you do about weapons, which is very little. :lamo
 
Computer controlled lathing machines are entirely different animals. And they are horribly expensive compared to the MakerBot. You can buy a lot of firearms for the price of one steel computer controlled lathing machine. And that is before you buy blocks of steel to lathe into firearms.

You don't "lathe" blocks of metal, you mill them. Lathes turn and work with round pieces.
 
I bet it wasn't even a "gun control" issue even though that's what they will say it was. I bet its more like established gun manufacturer/lobbyists didn't want to loose money. But thats me just being snide.
 
This going to get interesting. We can expect to also see attempts to ban other 3D blueprints for patented and trademark products. The government will have to ban 3D printers or filter the internet Chinese style to keep people from making objects that others don't want them to have
That would be such a fallback for humanity and technology. The future as I see it should have "create it all" booths and centers which are more efficient than huge corporate stockpiles of half frivolous goods. It would be a shame to see such huge progress get absolutely curbed by profiteering.
 
I wonder what the barrel life is for this thing?

that was my first thought. what, maybe three shots before the thing warps, if that?

after having an old gun blow up on me when i was ten, i'm pretty careful about firing anything that isn't up to highest specs. a plastic gun is not high on the list of stuff i want to try.
 
that was my first thought. what, maybe three shots before the thing warps, if that?

after having an old gun blow up on me when i was ten, i'm pretty careful about firing anything that isn't up to highest specs. a plastic gun is not high on the list of stuff i want to try.

1 shot, that's it. You can make it withstand 10 shots boiling it for 30 seconds in a specific chemical. That would be pushing it though. To be safe one shot, one barrel. I would also not fire anything bigger than a .380, period.
 
1 shot, that's it. You can make it withstand 10 shots boiling it for 30 seconds in a specific chemical. That would be pushing it though. To be safe one shot, one barrel. I would also not fire anything bigger than a .380, period.

that seems about as useless as the wooden gun from In the Line of Fire.
 
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