Print your own gun

[Gob]

A US project to create a printable gun has been derailed after the company supplying the 3D printer withdrew it.

In a letter published on the Wiki Weapon website, Stratasys said that it did not allow its printers "to be used for illegal purposes".

Defense Distributed, the group behind the project, had planned to share 3D weapon blueprints online.

Currently it is legal in the US to manufacture a gun at home without a licence.

Defense Distributed raised $20,000 (£12,400) online to get the Wiki Weapon project started.

It planned to develop a fully printable 3D gun, initially with no moving parts.

"This project could very well change the way we think about gun control and consumption," it said on its site.

"How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the internet?"

But the project hit a snag when the firm supplying the 3D printer got wind of what they were planning.

In a letter to Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, Stratasys said that it had taken the decision to withdraw the printer "based on your lack of a [firearms] licence and your public statements regarding your intentions in using our printer".

"It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes. Therefore please be advised that your lease of the Stratasys uPrint SE is cancelled at this time."

The firm collected the machine several days later.

Government laws on the manufacture of guns will need quick revision to catch up with the age of 3D printing, thinks Marc Goodman, head of the Future Crimes Institute.

"This appears to be a grey area under US law and the laws of other countries. The question is: how do you control technology that can do illegal things?" he said.

"In this case, this was being done very overtly and trying to prove a point. I am far more concerned about the people who aren't publicising it."

Mr Goodman predicts that 3D printing could be the next battleground in the fight against organised crime and terrorism. And it won't just be weapons that will be printed online.

"It will be the next frontier in IP [Intellectual Property] theft when you are able to manufacture a Rolex watch, Gucci handbags, Nike sneakers," he said.

[liberty]

Making a gun ever a repeating weapon is not rocket science. Anyone with mechanical ability and a home workshop could do it. The hardest part would be building some of the machines needed and I am not talking about a lathe either. A lathe would be useful but not essential.

[dales]

I just stumbled upon this site.

A UK gun rights enthusiast, no less!

http://thehomegunsmith.com/

[Jarlaxle]

Making a gun ever a repeating weapon is not rocket science. Anyone with mechanical ability and a home workshop could do it. The hardest part would be building some of the machines needed and I am not talking about a lathe either. A lathe would be useful but not essential.

My uncle's .22 rifle can be converted to full-auto with a toothpick...or just by holding the trigger a certain way.

[dales]

Defective sear?

Charter Arms A7?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Hey mine did that too! Just hadto keep opening the bolt and sticking a round in and then it would shoot when I squeezed the trigger. No wait. That's semi-automatic. I don't quite get how a printed gun works though - do they provide paper bullets?



M.G.M. Gumby

[oldr_n_wsr]

The machine itself that would produce the gun will cost many times the amount it takes any manufacturer to produce the same gun. Remington need not worry.

[Roo]

I was reading about the 3D printers and was thinking about what crims could do with it. I just can't work out how a plastic gun would work.
Now if it is lego people you want then the 3D printer is perfect

[Crackpot]

Depends on the material. I wonder about accuracy tho.

[dales]

Think zip gun.

[Sean]

Think

[oldr_n_wsr]

I thought, therefore I was

[Gob]

Think

[Jarlaxle]

Defective sear?

Charter Arms A7?

Winchester Model 63.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Think

No taste.