The First Fully 3D-Printed Gun Has Been Successfully Test-Fired

On Friday, we mentioned that Defense Distributed had created a (near-enough-to) fully 3-D printed pistol. Sparrowvsrevolution now writes that "Last week, the Liberator was fired for the first time at a firing range and successfully shot a .380 caliber bullet using a remote firing setup. Over the weekend, Defense Distributed's founder, the anarchist and radical libertarian Cody Wilson, was bold enough to try firing it by hand. The results of that test, witnessed by a reporter, indicate that the era of the 3D-printed firearm may be upon us, for better or for worse." Predictably, certain politicians are — so to speak — up in arms about it.

Comments

BBC has video - look like quite a recoil

[Bearhouse]

Video here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22421185

From the video, looks like despite the modest cartridge used, there's quite a kick. Guess the plastic is rather light.
So, no need to get excited folks; a one-shot weapon with really poor accuracy, which needs a 3D printer.
Thus more difficult and costly to produce, yet no more effective, than a 'saturday night special', 'zip gun' or 'bang stick', plans for which have been freely available for a long time.
Probably equally as likely to blow up in your face, too...

Re:Not really

[mrchew1982]

um, you could already make a pretty scary shotgun out of a piece of iron pipe, a cap and a nail. google "zip guns" sometime.

really it's a non issue, most of these homemade guns are pretty useless, including this 3d printed one. With a lifetime measured in tens of rounds, it really isn't all that special.

and as always, you still get the same time in the federal pokey if you get caught doing something naughty with it.

Re:OT: Slashdot encoding problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. Somebody obviously copied and pasted, and in their rush to get that "oooh ooh, I got first post, now maybe the boys will admire me!!!" rush, they did not preview.

Re:Printing a gun is a crime....

[Trepidity]

It's actually not a crime to print a gun (or otherwise manufacture one for personal use), which is why this guy did so openly and was not arrested.

Re:That's nice

[oreaq]

Try to legalize drugs and killing and see if the number of occurrences go up or down.

It has been tried with drugs in a couple of European countries. Hard drug (Cocaine, Heroin) use has decreased in all cases I know of (Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands). It has also been tried locally in a couple of European cities with the same effect. The results for soft drugs are inconclusive. What is your point?

Re: That's nice

[Salgak1]

Which is an amusing thought: the shop tools required to build, for example, an AK rifle from a de-milled parts kit and a 20-dollar flat are cheaper than buying a 3-D printer. And printer filament isn't cheap either: I would wager that you could purchase everything you need to build an AK-format rifle, **including tooling**, for less than many 3D printers. And that's buying NEW tools. . .

Re:Ultimately we do need more government intervent

[LynnwoodRooster]

You should check out DC v. Heller where the Supreme Court found that the right to bear arms for self-defense was Constitutionally protected by the 2nd Amendment. And McDonald v. Chicago where the Surpreme Court found the 2nd Amendment is incorporated to the people - meaning States cannot infringe on the right. The right to keep and bear arms is for individuals, and also covers their own personal self-defense uses.