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Some, but not all. For instance, the gun manufacturing lobby would probably like more restrictions on private gun sales, though they're very leery of pissing off their customers.

I see absolutely no evidence of that, and I follow the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the actual lobby for the nation's "merchants of death" pretty closely. As you note, the reputational damage they would take would be severe (see what we do to "smart gun" companies and anyone who does business with them due to NJ and CA's laws). Only a small fraction of their membership is effected, the retail end which looses some increment of processing money by Federal and almost all state laws not required private sales to do through them, they still get their cut for the original sale after all.

Plus isn't 3D printing still not quite ready for prime time unless you're a pretty serious hobbyist? Not unaffordable, but putzy and technically challenging to produce good output.

Not ready yet, but as the previous poster said give it 10-20 years and it will change. In won't take long before 3d printing metal goes mainstream, and eventually consumer-grade printers will be able to turn out a fairly decent gun. How it eats into gun sales really depends on how mainstream the printers get.

I can't image how long it will take before the quality control of J Random consumer running a metal 3D printer will come anywhere near the professionals, who use less finicky and we can safely assume much cheaper mass manufacturing processes. Right now this is more about sticking it to the man, and in theory having options if the government gets (more) totalitarian.

The ammo is another question, but if you can make gunpowder I don't see why you couldn't print bullet casings too.

Making consistently good smokeless powder is not a trivial thing, there's fewer companies doing that any any other part of the gun industry, except probably primers, which use primary explosives after all and have worse industrial safety records (see the latest Lake City blowup). Note also it's only so consistent, the bulk of their sales are to mass ammo manufacturers who test and adjust the loadings for each lot of powder, consumer reloading powder is from carefully selected, sometimes blended lots that come out "just right". Note also that smokeless powder and primer manufacturers are delighted to sell their products straight to consumers. Making bullet casings by 3D brass printing ... that strikes me as very iffy, the brass is very thin in the walls, the consistency must be very high, and there's literal tons of once fired brass out there for cheap prices. Reasonably high quality bullets can be easily made at home with inexpensive swagging presses and lead plus jacket material, this has been true for decades. Or you can just cast lead bullets.

I use mine for 3-gun competitions but I also do Civilian Marksmanship Program competitions...trying to get on a Navy shooting team to go to the national competition in Camp Perry, Ohio.

Clueless! Read up on range design. You don't design for the general, you design for the exception.

http://www.nssf.org/ranges/ran...

"We also must gauge the maximum range of typical small-arms ammunition. The .22 long rifle is going about 4,590 feet. That is just under a mile. The .223 travels about two miles. The .30-caliber is going about 15,000 feet or three miles. Those are considerable distances."

Nice straw man fallacy!

Nope. Not a straw man at all:

Americans Skeptical of 'Smart Guns'; Oppose Their Legislative Mandate, National Poll Finds

By a wide majority, Americans are skeptical of the reliability of technology intended to prevent all but authorized users of a firearm from being able to fire it. They also say overwhelmingly that they would not be likely to buy such a so-called “smart gun” and overwhelmingly oppose any government mandate requiring the use of this technology should it become available.

...

Asked “How familiar are you with efforts to develop a firearm that will only fire for a specific authorized person(s)?”, only 20 percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat familiar with the concept of “smart gun” technology.

...

In other words - the Johns Hopkins study in TFA is a BULLSHIT study since most people questioned had no idea what they were really being asked.

I guess you could call TFA's study a "strawman poll".

I should probably mention as well, that the tax revenue from the firearms industry is another reason for congress not wanting to change the rules. See: http://www.nssf.org/impact/

The NRA has its deep pockets and resultant clout not (necessarily) from numerous individual private members but from effectively being an arms industry trade group, the USCoC of arms manufacturers and dealers.

The NSSF is the arms industry trade group. The private arms industry in the US is relatively small compared to, say, the oil, tobacco, alcohol, etc. industry and doesn't have anywhere near the same political clout as those industries. The largest source of income for the NRA is membership dues, and it's from their 5+ million members that they derive their political clout.

Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?

California says marijuana is legal for medical purposes, and they have something called a medical marijuana card that authorizes certain individuals to use it legally. However, the federal government says marijuana use is illegal. Period. So I get at least one person a month who tries to pull out their medical marijuana card to claim that they are a lawful user, and I have to automatically stop the sale because while they may not be violating state law, they're violating federal law, and I'm accountable to both. I get audited, inspected and investigated by both the state DOJ and federal BATFE. Either one can pull my license, fine and jail me for non-compliance.

The best part is that in their marijuana high, they very slowly try to argue the point with me, asking me if I think it's right that a person on marijuana is prohibited from purchasing a firearm. They don't get violent, like the straw purchasers and felons do. They just sort of ramble on in an unfocused sort of way until they forget what they were talking about. And then I ask them if they think they should have a weapon in their current state. After a long pause, they usually answer "no" and amble out the door.

In the United States roughly three times as many people are killed in gun accidents per year than 9/11.

As a potential solution to rising gun fatalities, maybe we could use it to coat bullets.

"Gun Fatalities" are decreasing.

Thank you. I'll be here all week.