You Can't Print a Gun If You Have No 3D Printer

FatLittleMonkey writes "You may recall Cody Wilson's project to create a 3D printed gun, mentioned previously on Slashdot. Well, the Defense Distributed project has suffered a decidedly non-technical setback, with printer manufacturer Stratasys revoking the lease and repossessing the printer (presumably prying it from plastic models of Cory's cold dead hands). According to New Scientist, the manufacturer cited his lack of a federal firearms manufacturer's license as their reason for the repossession, adding that it does not knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes." Homemade firearms are not (in the U.S.) per se illegal on a federal basis, though states have varying degrees of regulation. It would be helpful if anyone more conversant with firearms law than me can point out what law or laws this project might be breaking.

Comments

Re:No Law Against Manufacture: PERIOD

[Baldrson]

So I presume that if the US Supreme Court gets packed with evangelical morons who rule that the old testament punishment of stoning for homosexuality is Constitutional, you would go along with them because, after all, they ARE the "Supreme" court.

This is somewhat reminiscent of the doctrine that only priests are qualified to read Holy Scripture and that laymen are just supposed to do whatever the priesthood tells them to do.

I'm perfectly willing to let people like you, who believe that you are incapable of understanding the Constitution, live among each other on your own territory as long as people like me can sit on our own territory, pull up a chair at the border with a big case of popcorn and see how well that works out for you.

On the other hand, if you, like the old theocrats, insist that we're incapable of understanding basic principles of law, choose to impose your quasi-theocracy on us, you'll have a real mess on your hands -- sort of like the 30 years war. Remember how that turned out?