Makerbot Cracks Down On 3D-Printable Gun Parts

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Makerbot Cracks Down On 3D-Printable Gun Parts

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 20, 2012 @01:03AM from the right-to-print-arms dept.

Sparrowvsrevolution writes in with a story at Forbes about Makerbot deleting gun component blueprints on Thingiverse. "In the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings, the 3D-printing firm Makerbot has deleted a collection of blueprints for gun components from Thingiverse, its popular user-generated content website that hosts 3D-printable files. Though Thingiverse has long banned designs for weapons and their components in its terms of service, it rarely enforced the rule until the last few days, when the company's lawyer sent notices to users that their software models for gun parts were being purged from the site. Gun control advocates were especially concerned about the appearance of lower receivers for semi-automatic weapons that have appeared on Thingiverse. The lower receiver is the the 'body' of a gun, and its most regulated component. So 3D-printing that piece at home and attaching other parts ordered by mail might allow a lethal weapon to be obtained without any legal barriers or identification. Makerbot's move to delete those files may have been inspired in part by a group calling itself Defense Distributed, which announced its intention to create an entirely 3D-printable gun in August and planned to potentially upload it to Thingiverse. Defense Distributed says it's not deterred by Makerbot's move and will host the plans on its own site."

6 of 528 comments (clear)

One does not simply by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-20 01:08 · Score: 5, Insightful

remove something from the internet.
Re:Defense by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-20 01:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

"Assault weapons" is a nonsense term. It's an appeal to emotion, not reason. "Ban the scaaaary guns!" You want tighter gun controls? Fine by me. But banning "assault weapons" is just cheap theater by politicians so that they can appear to be doing something instead of doing their best to not even think about causes or symptoms.
Re:Except that it is a felony by Anonymous Coward · 2012-12-20 01:30 · Score: 5, Informative

Not true. You are allowed to make the serialized part (the lower receiver, in the case of an AR-15) so long as it's not for sale. I've milled several out of aluminum for custom target & hunting rifles with the full blessing of local law enforcement and BATFE offices.
Re:Defense by Nidi62 · 2012-12-20 02:04 · Score: 5, Informative

My girlfriend's father's Zastava M48 (a post-war Eastern European copy of the Mauser 98K) and my family's Lorenz rifled musket were both designed for military use. In fact, both are more powerful than an AR-15 (the first shoots 8mm Mauser, the second is .54 caliber). The only difference is, these guns don't look "scary"; wood furniture instead of plastic, no pistol grip (they both have bayonet lugs; in fact many mid-century military firearms such as Mosin Nagants are actually sold WITH the bayonet, and only cost about $100 depending on the market). Hell, a decent marksman with a bolt-action rifle could do a lot more damage than this kid did. This is all a knee-jerk reaction based solely upon looks, not capability.
And actually, yes, there are numerous hunting variants of AR-15s. Most come with 5 round mags, have no front sight, and have a different barrel and furniture and don't look at all "tactical"

--
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re:That is a stupid sentence by thomasw_lrd · 2012-12-20 02:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's been a part of the USians culture since the beginning of our time. Our ability to own guns stems from our fight with England for independence. Yes, it is largely symbolic. No we can't really fight the government and win. But we have the option to do so, if we so choose. It would be going down in a blaze of glory. We would probably be utterly annihilated. But maybe not. I know a lot of soldiers. They wouldn't fire on the American people.
You're right that you have more "freedoms" than we do. If we really wanted those freedoms, though, we would fight for them, and get them. You have to remember that a lot of the voting population in the US consider themselves a part of the Christian right. It is changing, and in a few more decades, I think that we will see more and more places legalize the use of recreational drugs. I'm not sure on the legalization of prostitution, it'll take longer, but I think it might eventually happen. Maybe in the next century.

--
21st Century Renaissance Man
Re:Sudden outbreak of common sense by 0xdeadbeef · 2012-12-20 02:16 · Score: 5, Insightful

Seriously, how could it possibly be a good idea to let *anyone* smith their own sword.
Seriously, how could it possibly be a good idea to let *anyone* carve their own spear.
Seriously, how could it possibly be a good idea to let *anyone* sharpen their own rock.
Seriously, how could it possibly be a good idea to let *anyone* defend themselves from attack.
The stupidity of the gun grabbers simply astounds me. They're all the moral panic of the drug war with all the security theater of the Patriot Act, and yet they would likely be against both. "Ooh, but guns are scary! Thank God some kids were murdered so we have a new excuse to bitch about them!"