Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), Gun Control, and Patent Law

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday July 31, 2012 @05:01AM from the if-we-outlaw-printers-then-only-outlaws-will-have-printers dept.

retroworks writes "J.D. Tuccille of the conservative think tank Reason Foundation discusses last week's news about the first working 3D-printed gun. According to the original article, the partly plastic '.22-caliber pistol, formed from a 3D-printed AR-15 (M16) lower receiver, and a normal, commercial upper' fired 200 rounds without any sign of wear and tear. Tuccille takes the discovery in the direction of politically topical gun control. '...the development makes it clear that a wide range of bans, restrictions and prohibitions are becoming increasingly unenforcable.' But in my mind, this example of additive-manufacturing technology raises even more questions about patent law enforcement. Will 3D printing be to the Anti-gray-market-alliance what online porn became to neighborhood blue laws?"

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Re:Why like that? by EdgePenguin · 2012-07-31 05:17 · Score: 0, Redundant

A large % of Americans are impulsive, stupid, feel the world owes them and are inclined to get very angry when things don't work out for them. A likely identical proportion of Britons are like this too - the only difference is, my lot can't lay their hands on automatic weapons so easily. So yeah, I like gun control laws.
I have no problems with guns themselves - I was taught to shoot as a child - but every idiot walking around with them just seems to be a recipe for Badness.