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California Lawmaker Wants 3-D Printers To Be Regulated
New submitter phrackthat writes with news that California State Senator Leland Yee (D-S.F.) says he wants regulations to track who owns and uses 3-D printers. Yee's comments come in response to the recent news of Defense Distributed's successful test-firing of a 3-D printed gun.
"He's concerned that just about anyone with access to those cutting-edge printers can arm themselves. 'Terrorists can make these guns and do some horrible things to an individual and then walk away scott-free, and that is something that is really dangerous,' said Yee. He said while this new technology is impressive, it must be regulated when it comes to making guns. He says background checks, requiring serial numbers and even registering them could be part of new legislation that he says will protect the public. Yee added, 'This particular gun has no trace whatsoever.'"
I'll bet you get a free gun when you buy one of those 3-D printers in some states.
I don't think doing something horrible to an individual qualifies as terrorism. In my day we call those people criminals.
You can have your god back when you are old enough to handle the responsibility.
Wouldn't most "horrible things" that you would do with a gun be illegal? Meaning you wouldn't be able to walk away scott-free.
Unless there is some crazy loophole that says if you kill someone with an unregistered homemade gun it's 100% legal. Which if that's the case I don't think it's the 3D printer that is the problem.
Also, I guess this means it's time to start regulating CNC machines as well.
Before 3d printers, people that wanted a cheap and lousy gun without buying a real one would just assemble one from some metal pipes and other junk, the old Saturday Night Special, Zip Gun, or Junk Gun.
As to passing through metal detectors, who really cares, after all anyone that can't afford a real gun from illegal sources isn't going to be going into the areas 'protected' by metal detectors.
Guns and explosives are easy to get thanks to America's right to bear arms. The representative would have 3d printer regulation before gun regulation? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Since 3d printers can be made by hobbyists at home, effective regulation is impossible. Not to mention that firing a 3d printed gun as a proof of concept and having an effective weapon are two very different things. A car is a far more dangerous weapon than a 3D printer. Are you afraid to drive?
Why not regulate lathes? They can be used to make a barrel of a high powered rifle.
Why not regulate mills? They can be used to make land mines.
Why not regulate sheet metal? They can be used to make the skin of missiles.
Why not regulate screwdrivers? They can be used to make bombs.
Why not just regulate and put a serial number in each and every bullet manufactured? I doubt that anyone would be able to 3D-print a bullet and its charge for many years to come.
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
It's the same guy that proposed a ban on videogames to minors.
Leland Yee: using the government to protect you from bogeymen that don't exist.
I've recently been musing on the idea that the reason for the Fermi Paradox and a huge point against Kurweilz's optimism that we'll reach the Singularity in a just couple of decades, is that a civilization's regulatory agencies are so slow to react to technological advances. If lawmakers don't allow 3D printers to flourish, then there won't be the consumer demand that motivates the next generation of printer, and the one after that, etc. Eventually the environment will be too fucked and the natural resources exhausted before humanity can develop the technology to transcend its limitations.
California and New York are engaged in an all out conflict to see which state can erode its citizens' rights the quickest. They'll try anything to regulate what you can and cannot do as an individual. They want to police your every movement, thought, and activity.
Want to smoke cigarettes? Then get ready to pay the government $5 in taxes per pack just for the privilege. They'll throw out regressive and punitive taxes on smoking to create their own vision for America. You can't even open a private club or restaurant that allows smoking without going through extreme legal battles for the permit.
Want a 20oz soda? Well that's against the law. At least that's how they wanted it in NYC. And no more delivery of 2 liter bottles of soda with pizza takeout. That's another law that they want to pass. Banning pizza companies from delivering a 2 liter soda with your order.
Want to practice the 2nd Amendment? You need fingerprints, background checks, additional invasive background checks, registration to a permanent database, tons of money, and expensive lawyers. And if you get a gun or a concealed carry permit they'll illegally give your information over to the newspapers and blogs to reveal your personal information to everyone. Try getting a concealed carry permit for a pistol in certain cities in CA or NY. You need at least $5,000 for the fees and lawyers. It's prohibitive and costs people right out of their constitutional rights. You need to be wealthy to protect yourself.
3D printers? Why not try to regulate them? Everything else needs to be regulated anyways in our new utopian liberal fantasy. After all we need to protect the children from terrorism and school shootings and violent video games.
The blame lies with the politicians. And nobody else.
Corporate need a way to limit peoples ability to cheaply manufacture their own products and replacement parts vs buying new plastic crap with high profit margins.
This excuse will work fine thanks.
While I agree with the Senator, I believe we must act with comprehensive reform. Laser printers are being used to print counterfeit money. Those too should be regulated and tracked just as strictly as 3d printers. All printer owners should be tracked, registered, and of course, pay a government tax to cover all this tracking.
We are already halfway there: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Printer_steganography&oldid=554087510
Don't do that, whatever he has might be contagious. I wouldn't even trust a full-body condom.
Wait until he sees one of the 3D Lego Printers, then he'll want to regulate Legos too. 8 year old kids will have to pass a security check to purchase a set of Legos.
"Protection" is a disease. The government is not obliged to protect you. Congress has upheld that police are not required to protect you. Protecting yourself and your family is your responsibility. Life is dangerous. Be prepared. More folks die in car crashes, we don't ban cars or streets. Zip-Guns made of junk can kill you, hell, a plastic knife can kill you if sharpened properly, a broken window tied to a stick is a lethal weapon of opportunity. Limiting freedom should never be the answer to fear. The answer is to simply be aware of the danger you face in every day life, and protect yourself. Regulations like these are cancerous leaches of tax-payer money.
We really need to change the 2nd amendment, or create a new one clarifying that we have the right to bear technology, cryptography, photography, computers, and firearms included.
"but when you think about it, you can turn most every day objects into weapons."
You've been watching Jackie Chan movies, haven't you?
I was amazed what he can do with a common stepladder.
This is the same person that wants:
Senate Bill 47 (Yee) expands the definition of “assault weapons” to BAN the future sale of rifles that have been designed/sold and are equipped to use the “bullet button” or similar device, requires NEW “assault weapon” registration of ALL those semi-auto rifles that are currently possessed to retain legal possession in the future, and subjects these firearms to all other “assault weapons” restrictions.
http://legiscan.com/CA/bill/SB47/2013
Senate Bill 108 (Yee) requires mandatory locked storage of firearms within a locked house regardless of whether anyone is present.
http://legiscan.com/CA/bill/SB108/2013
My impression of him is that he is a reactionary that responds to any situation in the most forceful way possible to please the pundits who are calling for action that the constituency doesn't actually want. He doesn't actually understand what he's legislating against in many situations, like as mentioned below the ban on video games for minors but because the pundits call for it something needs to be done.
The 3d printer is no different. Damn all the useful things that can be done with it he doesn't understand it and it can do one bad thing so ban it.
I think having morons as elected officials is more harmful than having kids.
"He's concerned that just about anyone with access to those products can arm themselves by tearing out sharp edges as makeshift knives. 'Terrorists can make these knives and do some horrible things to an individual and then walk away scott-free, and that is something that is really dangerous ... it must be regulated when it comes to making knives. He says background checks, requiring serial numbers and even registering them could be part of new legislation that he says will protect the public. Yee added, 'This particular knife has no trace whatsoever.'"
Look, honorable dumbass, just because it's technological doesn't give you a free pass to enforce your own personal brand of oppression.
Just because it's not (easily) traceable doesn't automatically mean they'll get away with it, it just means that police might have to do some actual detective work rather than having the techno-nanny hold their hand. Shocking, I know.
We cannot expel these xenophobes from office soon enough.
Quick someone build a zip gun and film firing it, I want to see this senator try to ban plumbing. Unfortunately it seems law makers seem to think the only way to justify their jobs is to make more laws, rather than improve existing and remove old unnecessary ones.
just relax and stop thinking everything is a tool of the terrorist. AMERICANS RELAX ITS OK NOT EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS OUT TO DESTROY YOU even though you probably deserve it
Already banned in California.
Have gnu, will travel.
Not necessary to sign a post here with your real name. 'zedtwitz' is doing fine as nick.
you will be able to print your own lego pieces
A democracy stops working for the benefit for all as soon as people stop ignoring the constitution.
When the laws are working for the benefit of all, some people will not be happy and some people will not get what they want. I know some of you believe that guns are evil but criminals will always find a way to procure guns. The majority of gun related violence is perpetrated by criminals. When I say gun violence, I am not just talking about deaths but also non-lethal injuries and use of guns for intimidation. The anti-gun people are too focused on individual stats and do not stop to consider armed robberies where nobody gets shot during the robbery. That is still a use of guns as a weapon to intimidate/coerce others into doing something against their will.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
Does Leland Lee really not realize you can use a 3D printer to build a 3D printer?!?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Take a deep breath and relax ;) This guy isn't in Washington, just Sacramento. He's the same idiot - I mean CA state senator - who sponsored a law to regulate video games until the Federal court told him to piss off (ie ruled it unconstitutional). This legislation isn't going anywhere, and hopefully will just piss off enough people in SF that they finally vote the moron out of office...
The blame lies with the apathetic idiots who elect the politicians (or sit by idly as freedom and prosperity erode). FTFY
Silence is a state of mime.
Practically ALL rapists have male genitalia... let's outlaw having male genitalia!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Unlike the (beautiful troll as was intended) 3D printed weapon, here and elsewhere you can find plans for the real deal.
http://www.cncguns.com/downloads.html
Note that paper prints are more than sufficient to machine modern firearms. About 2000 bucks gets you a used manual milling machine. About the same gets you a lathe. You can use those to build a machine to cut a rifled bore if you wish. It's very old technology.
Remember the DeCESS T-shirt? Weapon prints can be protected speech too. They can also be incorporated into fiction as an illustration.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Take Mexico, a country with a 100% ban on guns...
We all agree that government restrictions are to be avoided whenever possible but in the case of gun control there is a clear trade off: either you have strict controls (with strict enforcement) or you have an exceedingly high rate of deaths due to guns. If the US is happy with one of the highest rate of gun deaths in the world then that's its choice: it knows one reliable way to reduce it if it so chooses.
That being said controlling 3D printers because of this is just daft. You can almost certainly make a gun with a CNC machine (in fact a quick Google search turned up this video). They have not controlled these so why should a 3D printer be any different? They can machine plastic just as easily if the sole concern is detectability.
"Terrorists can make these guns and do some horrible things to an individual and then walk away scott-free [...]"
Now I'm not an expert on American law and I'm not an American and English is not my native language, but it sounds just a little bit implausible to me that there would be a law that said that it is not illegal to murder people if you make the gun yourself...
Or I guess maybe scott-free means something completely different than scot-free, like you're free like a character in a Scott movie, or something.
Or maybe the senator's best friend owns a gun factory.
Or I guess maybe the senator has a wildly inaccurate idea of what a 3-d printer is. I mean, it's probably easier to get fingerprints and DNA off of a metal gun than a plastic gun. A metal gun is really hard to destroy, but it would not exactly be trivial to destroy a plastic gun without the neighbors noticing.
Unless you have a good quality file and a lot of time...
Mr. Yee, what about banning pressure cookers? We've just proved even morons can make effective explosive devices out of pressure cookers!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
You need to go to the source of the problem and ban women.
Banning children is as pointless as banning ammunition. Because an industrious person can always make more at home.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Dismantling Utopia: How Information Ended the Soviet Union
Synopsis from Google Books, emphasis added:
Would you prefer to be raped or dead ?
Not having suffered as a victim of violent crime I cannot say for sure, but having known a victim ov violent sexual assult, I would say that many of them feel they would rather have been murdered, especally quickly with a gun, because the pain and suffering would be over much sooner.
Furthermore, if a rapist is fatally shot then not only could the victim have aat least a chance to avoid the rape itself, they could also avoid the prospect of facing their attacker in court during trial, appeals, victim impact statements, parole hearings, release from prison, being stalked via phone and email, etc.
So, the answer to the question is not so obvious.
This is just a opening salvo in the war against replicators. After all, 3D printers are the path to eventual full-scale replication. Better nip it in the bud now, with a hot-button topic like guns.
...
Seems to me a 3D printer has more in common with a printing press. What you do with it is whatever, and I could see the same issues with government wanting to control printing presses. Which is more dangerous, the pen or the sword? The written word has proven capable of changing and steering countries and civilizations, not to mention inciting people to violence (though spoken seems more likely to do that).
Should we ban those as well? Oh... some countries already do ban free speech and publishing.. and most forms of media are already state controlled...
People need to stop looking at the printing of a gun as being some sort of big deal. It's like building a gun. Period. Is it really a big deal? It's been done millions of times throughout history. The fact that a 3d printers lower the costs for home production of anything, is likely what is more at issue. If you can produce a gun, why not a bicycle or a car? Sure, you might have to go down to the 3d-printer center to borrow some time on a large-printer for some parts, but the idea that manufacturing wouldn't be locked away from home users or the masses? Why isn't that as radical an idea as the home printer -- or the home computer? Couldn't those easily have societal altering effects far beyond the ability to make weapons?
I disagree with the premise. I strongly believe that suicide is a fundamental human right. It's the one decision that is fundamentally yours.
Who should have the right to force me to keep living if I don't want to?
********* sig: If you don't like the law, get filthy stinking rich, and buy a better one.
The guy is an uninformed clown who constantly makes ignorant statements about firearms. Needs to be voted out of office.
Leland Yee has never met a gun law that he doesn't like and has made himself a reputation among gun-hating Californians as a dependable source of irritation for liberty-loving Americans. The printable gun is his worst nightmare; therefore he must control the means of producing it. It's a good thing the weather is so nice in California. Otherwise, I would never be able to stand living here.
This one of the most ridiculous, knee-jerk reactions to new technology I have ever heard of. He must have never heard of "zip guns," that any punk on the street can build from less than a dollar's worth of parts without needing a $3000+ 3D printer, knowledge of 3D modeling, and the principals of gun smithy. I suppose he will want background checks and registration for buying PVC plumbing parts and potatoes least someone fashion a potato gun. At the time of the American Revolution, authors, publishers, and printers were regularly imprisoned for seditious speech. The framers of our constitution apparently felt so strongly about freedom of expression and the press that it became the subject of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. If every "disruptive" technology were so highly regulated we would not have cameras, phonographs, radio, television, audio recording, photocopiers, VCRs, personal computers, let alone the Internet itself.
/steve