Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun

Excuse me for one moment. by serviscope_minor · 2014-04-20 04:49 · Score: 5, Funny

3D printing, gun control and bitcoin in one thread.

Please excuse me for one moment. I'll be back with popcorn shortly.

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SJW n. One who posts facts.

Re:Excuse me for one moment. by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2014-04-20 05:19 · Score: 1

I'd like to super-size that with side orders of Tesla, Google Glasses and Global Warming . . .
"I'm driving my Tesla, which I bought with bitcoins, wearing Google Glasses, wielding a 3D printed gun, and polluting the atmosphere by using coal produced electricity . . ."
Can anyone beat that . . . ?

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Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by plopez · 2014-04-20 05:28 · Score: 1, Funny

Someone needs to activate Godwin's Law.

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putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by plopez · 2014-04-20 05:47 · Score: 1

So Cody is a Nazi?
(OK, I did it)

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putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by rasmusbr · 2014-04-20 06:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Someone needs to activate Godwin's Law.
Do you know who else drove cars on coal-derived fuel, during the holocaust? That's right. The Nazis. Because Hitler told them to.
(True story, google "Bergius process".)
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by stms · 2014-04-20 06:09 · Score: 1, Funny

You know who activated Godwin's Law? Hitler, you are just like Hitler.
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by Dragon+Bait · 2014-04-20 08:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Now just get the NSA, Al Gore, and Porn involved.
Please, no! I do not want to see Al Gore Porn. <shudder, puke, wretch>
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by jafac · 2014-04-20 17:45 · Score: 1

How about a FED conspiracy theory, and plea for return to the gold standard?

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These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by Ginger+Unicorn · 2014-04-20 23:56 · Score: 1

When Hitler does it, it's intended as a compliment.

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(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · 2014-04-21 01:05 · Score: 1

Well how about some Raspberry Pi for dessert and we can call it good.

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Time to offend someone
Re:Excuse me for one moment. by Dabido · 2014-04-21 22:06 · Score: 1

Someone needs to activate Godwin's Law.
Ptttth! That's exactly the sort of thing Hitler would say!!!!!

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Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)

Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by dbIII · 2014-04-20 04:59 · Score: 1, Insightful

I wish this clown would shut up instead of trying to get 3D printing regulated just so that he can be famous.
So yes, big deal, something that is made from a material weaker than most kinds of wood can maybe fire off a shot if you are very lucky or maybe be a small gun shaped grenade without a timer (whoops!). There's plenty of other more useful things that can be done with 3D printing and there's plenty of other ways to make guns at home that will not blow up in your face.

Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 05:21 · Score: 3, Funny

> get 3D printing regulated
This concept is even more of a joke than gun control.
"Let me check the serial on that stepper motor, gotta make sure it's pre-ban."
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by graphius · 2014-04-20 05:23 · Score: 3, Interesting

I wish I had not just spent my last mod points. If someone is stupid enough to try and make a 3d printed gun (a opposed to machining one out of metal, as suggested below) let them blow themselves up. A gun is simple to make, Kirk made one from some bamboo, rocks and minerals...
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by im_thatoneguy · 2014-04-20 05:31 · Score: 2

3D printers printing weak plastic is only temporary. It's only a matter of time before we have ceramics or plastics as strong as milled steel billets.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by AmiMoJo · 2014-04-20 05:32 · Score: 1

You can already get 3D printers that use metal instead of plastic. Prices are coming down, quality is going up. It won't be long before more practical weapons are available by pushing ctrl-P.
Some people point out that anyone with basic metalworking tools can make a gun. Sure, but metalworking tools aren't that cheap and they require skill and knowledge to operate.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by just_a_monkey · 2014-04-20 05:32 · Score: 4, Funny

Now imagine what McGywer could do with that.

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How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 05:50 · Score: 1

> Sure, but metalworking tools aren't that cheap and they require skill and knowledge to operate.
You can make an AK receiver with a shovel and $200 of harbor freight tooling. Much cheaper than 3D printing, and probably easier in the grand scheme of things since you get a legit AK at the end rather than a dodgy piece of plastic. Google "shovel AK"; given decent drawings a competent high school shop class kid could make one in a few weekends.
SLS has the potential to make it easy eventually, but the SLS process needs expensive optics and raw materials. Cheap may never come.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by ColdWetDog · 2014-04-20 05:59 · Score: 2

While you're correct, I just want to make it clear to the folks here that Star Trek was NOT an historical documentary.
Besides, he made a cannon.

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by ColdWetDog · 2014-04-20 06:02 · Score: 1

Look at the forums devoted to 3D printing. To print anything more complex than a spoon, you have to get a significant degree of expertise with the systems. Using a lathe and mill isn't all that hard - we have taught it to high school students for decades and the newer, computer controlled ones are even easier.
In any town large enough to have an auto mechanic, there is probably somebody familiar enough with standard metalworking tools to make a gun. And a far better one that the 3D printers are making.
Is there a future for 3D printing - sure, as an evolution to what we are doing, not a revolution.

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Animats · 2014-04-20 06:08 · Score: 1

I wish this clown would shut up instead of trying to get 3D printing regulated just so that he can be famous.
Agreed. 3D printing is a lousy way to make a gun. This guy is doing this to get attention.
(Google result for "gun dealers": "About 44,300,000 results.")
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by i.r.id10t · 2014-04-20 06:17 · Score: 5, Interesting

Like the original Liberator pistol that the US dropped all over France, etc., the idea behind the new production 3d printed one is to allow you one or two shots, so you can aquire a "real" gun from someone else....

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Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by AmiMoJo · 2014-04-20 06:34 · Score: 2

To print anything more complex than a spoon, you have to get a significant degree of expertise with the systems.
For now, but high end 3D printers can already produce complex moving machines that don't even need assembly at the push of a button. As the technology improves and prices come down it won't be long until even entry level models can do that.

--
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Aighearach · 2014-04-20 06:52 · Score: 4, Funny

McGywer, that's the Russian version of MacGyver, right?
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by dbIII · 2014-04-20 08:03 · Score: 1, Informative

Like the original Liberator pistol that the US dropped all over France
The Liberator pistol was rubbish and it would have been an insult to drop it all over France so that never happened. Real guns were supplied instead.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by mellon · 2014-04-20 09:09 · Score: 1

Slashdot trifecta!
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by lgw · 2014-04-20 09:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

This happens regularly. Across America there are regular meetings of people at machine shops, to turn the gun kits they bought online into working guns. Perfectly legal in most places (incredibly illegal to sell the finished product). And these are zip guns, these are perfectly fine AR15s.

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Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by lgw · 2014-04-20 09:56 · Score: 1

You can already get 3D printers that use metal instead of plastic.

Soft plastic is all you need to make stuff out of ceramic or any cast metal, by the same process as lost-wax casting. You need to print a somewhat different blank, as you need to print the channels to fill the mold (I forget what they're called), but my fellow /.ers tell me this is common enough.
However, cast metal is a really poor choice for a gun, as is any sort of additively printed metal. For safety you need quality steel of the right kind for barrel pressures. However, that's just the barrel and key bits of the receiver, and people routinely buy kits and mill them into working guns.

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Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Culture20 · 2014-04-20 11:23 · Score: 1

Yeah, but we never heard of him because his ak from the pilot episode was 3d printed and it blew up on him.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by westlake · 2014-04-20 13:47 · Score: 1

Like the original Liberator pistol that the US dropped all over France, etc.,

The FP-45 was a crude, single-shot pistol designed to be cheaply and quickly mass-produced. It had just 23 largely stamped and turned steel parts that were cheap and easy to manufacture. It fired a .45 caliber pistol cartridge from an unrifled barrel. Due to this limitation, it was intended for very close-in use, 1--4 yards (0--5 m). Its maximum effective range was only about 25 feet (7.6 m). At longer range, the bullet would begin to tumble and stray off course. As a result of its low quality, it was nicknamed the "Woolworth gun."
General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff never saw the practicality in mass dropping the Liberator over occupied Europe, and authorized distribution of fewer than 25,000 of the half million FP-45 pistols shipped to Great Britain for the French resistance. Generals Joseph Stillwell and Douglas MacArthur were similarly unenthusiastic about the other half of the pistols scheduled for shipment to the Pacific. The Army then turned 450,000 Liberators over to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which preferred to supply Resistance fighters in both theatres with more effective weapons whenever possible.
FP-45 Liberator
The Liberator shipped with a wooden dowel to remove the empty cartridge case. Fail to hit your mark with your first shot and you were as good as dead.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by rtb61 · 2014-04-20 14:22 · Score: 1

Far more logically. Let's ask the question, what if you could grow guns on trees, surely they would not try to regulate plants, er, yeah right. So regulating weapons, how about a little question and answers time from the South Australian Police Force http://www.police.sa.gov.au/sa.... They seem to have no problem regulating all sorts of weapons, even ones that do grow on trees.

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Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by blindseer · 2014-04-20 16:16 · Score: 1

Then carry more than one. Worked for people in the days of black powder.

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I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Tom · 2014-04-20 21:17 · Score: 2

So if I'm the bad guy with the gun I just need to wait until my panicked, untrained victim with his low-precision gun has wasted its two bullets somewhere into the landscape and then put a bullet into his head?
The WW2 Liberator pistols were mostly designed to create fear. Germans at checkpoints could no longer largely assume the citizens were unarmed. It works in a war setting because you're already beyond the point where you are accepting friendly casualties as part of the plan.
In a peace setting, more guns == more gun deaths. Not just due to accidents, but also because people on either side (both criminals and law enforcement) are much more likely to shoot in uncertain situations because they have to assume the other guy is armed. In most european countries, when you get robbed you are likely to lose your wallet and highly unlikely to lose your life. In countries with lots of guns, the robbers shoot more often because when the guy makes a sudden move, it could be him drawing a gun, not just panic.

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Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by ultranova · 2014-04-20 23:51 · Score: 1

So if I'm the bad guy with the gun I just need to wait until my panicked, untrained victim with his low-precision gun has wasted its two bullets somewhere into the landscape and then put a bullet into his head?

No, you just need to shoot him. It's a murder, not a duel. You're the bad guy, you get to shoot first, since you initiated the conflict.

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Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by jafiwam · 2014-04-21 00:36 · Score: 1

This happens regularly. Across America there are regular meetings of people at machine shops, to turn the gun kits they bought online into working guns. Perfectly legal in most places (incredibly illegal to sell the finished product). And these are zip guns, these are perfectly fine AR15s.
Selling the finished product is only illegal if the INTENT at the TIME OF CREATION was to sell. (WIthout a manufacturing FFL license that is.)
Use it a few months, then sell it? Totally legal.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by oodaloop · 2014-04-21 01:05 · Score: 1

You do know someone's already printed a metal gun, right?

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Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Mikkeles · 2014-04-21 01:24 · Score: 1

...only illegal if the INTENT at the TIME OF CREATION...
You mean, like, 6000 years ago?

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Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by FatLittleMonkey · 2014-04-21 01:29 · Score: 1

Sure, but metalworking tools aren't that cheap and they require skill and knowledge to operate.
Only if you want to make a useful gun. To make a zip-gun you only need a barrel and a firing pin.
For example, find some steel pipe with an internal diameter capable of snugly holding a shotgun shell of your choosing. Call this our barrel. Find another, larger pipe with a threaded end, which has an internal diameter to slip over the outside of the smaller pipe/barrel. This becomes our trigger (and is also a reinforcing for the "firing chamber" end of the barrel, just-in-case.) Find a steel end-cap that fits the larger pipe.
Note that these are off-the-shelf parts. Other than cutting them to your preferred length, you haven't "made" anything. Now here comes the entire modification...
Drill a hole in the end-cap. Take a metal screw, round the tip and then screw it firmly into the hole you've drilled in the end cap.
Phew! You're done. Treat yourself to another beer.
Now load a shell into the "barrel", slide the larger pipe over the back, aim the "barrel" at your intended target, then pump it once, hard, like a bike-pump. The screw is the firing pin. Weirdly, because you're slamming the larger pipe forwards as the shell fires, you barely notice the recoil. Pull the "trigger" pipe off, flick the spent shell out of the "barrel", load another, repeat until it's too hot to hold or you've run out of beer.
Now you've got the basic concept, you can easily imagine making something similar out of very thick walled plastic pipe. (Or plastic rod, say 2.5-inch diam, drilling a hole down the centre sized for the .22 bullet.) This time, thread the back of the barrel-pipe itself and fit an end-cap. Add a firing-pin (say a nail) on a spring to a hole drilled in the end-cap. Unlike our zip-shotgun, you'll need to unscrew the end-cap every time you reload, but with plastic we want a bit of extra security.
If you want to get fancy, you can set up guards and grips, and mechanical-lever triggers, and style it all to look like a pistol. But essentially this is all Cody Wilson made. A thick plastic pipe, a threaded end-cap, and a pin on a spring.
So, you ask, why don't you see these all over the place in the hands of crimnils and tairists? Because they are zip guns. One shot and then you are unarmed until you can unscrew it, eject the spent cartridge, load a new one, re-screw the back, cock aim and fire. (About ten seconds, judging by Cody's videos.) During this time, there's a fair chance someone will jump up and down on your stupid head. Also, smooth-bore, so no accuracy beyond ten feet.
Don't get me wrong, if you are in a Sth American prison and this is your only means of over-powering a guard and escaping, I recommend it highly. But if you want to be a criminal, I suggest you steal a real gun.

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Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by dbIII · 2014-04-21 01:57 · Score: 1

Except it did not happen that way because the sheet metal pistols were not deployed. A more serious effort was put into training and equipping the resistance in France and other places. There's biographies of Nancy Wake and others that describe what really happened (eg. getting supplied items up to and including bazookas instead of toy guns).
I really don't know if the liberator was a serious but misguided effort by an ignorant new player or wasteful war profiteering.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by jeffmeden · 2014-04-21 02:06 · Score: 1

So if I'm the bad guy with the gun I just need to wait until my panicked, untrained victim with his low-precision gun has wasted its two bullets somewhere into the landscape and then put a bullet into his head?
No, you just need to shoot him. It's a murder, not a duel. You're the bad guy, you get to shoot first, since you initiated the conflict.
The "Bad guys" that any subversive gun is intended to defend against is not some random assailant on the street, it's a totalitarian regime in which the occupiers are not going to be as blunt as to simply try to murder all the locals (maybe some of them) rather it's for a guerrilla style resistance to allow bands of "minutemen" to have some chance at putting up a fight with particular tactics. With that, any gun that is not effective at least at 100+ yards (typical duck/shoot situations) is really not going to help, hence why this whole charade was (in the case of WWII) and still is a bad idea.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Tom · 2014-04-21 03:56 · Score: 1

And if we're talking about 21st century oppressive regimes, I'd go so far to say that any weapon that doesn't penetrate an APC or at least kevlar armour is pretty much pointless.
Never forget that the 2nd amendment was written in a time when tanks were a crazy idea that an italien painter had drafted a few schematics of.

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Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by ravenshrike · 2014-04-21 04:07 · Score: 1

Not really, they tried to get that fanfare. Since it's much easier with that amount of money to merely CNC a score of 1911s out of solid steel and have much better guns, they were ignored.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by lgw · 2014-04-21 05:20 · Score: 1

Well, I sure wouldn't sell a firearm with no serial number unless I was behind seven lawyers.

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Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Mike+Van+Pelt · 2014-04-21 06:59 · Score: 1

Besides, speaking as someone who made quite a bit of that particular mixture ... oh, 40 something years ago ... I can state as a fact that James Tomcat Kirk's formula could not possibly have worked. Sure, he probably had the proportions right. But getting a kaboom? That requires extensive grinding to get the mixture really thorougly incorporated together at a small scale before you get anything that's possible to light at all. Then, for any kind of projectile device, there's the korning process...
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing by Tom · 2014-04-22 09:31 · Score: 2

Whatever you say, cowboy. The simple fact is that the USA has about 10k gun-related deaths per year, while almost every other industrialised country has less than 100.
That is a two orders of magnitude difference. So yeah, maybe your rates are at the lowest right now, but that's like saying it's especially warm in Antarctica today. It doesn't change basic facts, such as that warm clothes would still be a pretty decent idea.

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Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org

Don't be ridiculous by russotto · 2014-04-20 05:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.

If you're an enthusiast, they're already unenforceable in the sense they won't stop you from making one; if John Browning could build a machine gun with 19th century technology, and third world armorers can build them in primitive conditions, then someone mechanically adept with the benefit of all those past designs and 21st century tooling can build a gun, even a machine gun, without purchasing any restricted or even suspicious items. Modern ammunition is hard to make but easy to legally obtain, so the only thing stopping an enthusiast is the desire not to get caught and subject to the harsh penalties.

Re:Don't be ridiculous by Intrepid+imaginaut · 2014-04-20 05:38 · Score: 1

I'm surprised we haven't already started to see reasonably large scale sten gun manufacture by criminal groups - easy to make and powerful. Especially in places like the UK where it's much more difficult to get firearms.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by iggymanz · 2014-04-20 05:38 · Score: 2

why do you mention "if you're an enthusiast"? If you are an enthusiast, you can legally build a gun, and moreover make on that is much safer and robust than 3D printed flimsy rubbish. If one wants to 3D sculpt plastic for frame of gun, Injection molding of a polymer into handmade mold is much faster, cheaper and cost effective. 3D printing only raises the issue of stupid people trying to make a gun that is not safe.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by plopez · 2014-04-20 05:40 · Score: 1

So that's a good solution It's unenforceable, by which you mean not everyone who does it is caught though some are caught, so let's just not try to stop it. That's like saying "rape is going to happen anyway we might as well make it legal" Great logic there.

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putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Re:Don't be ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 06:02 · Score: 1

> A knife works almost as well, or better still just going undetected.
So me with a potential gun vs thug with a gun is worse than me almost certainly unarmed and thug with a knife how? This really only seems better for the thug.
> Grenades, C4, RPGs etc. Those things exist in the US, but are not widely stolen or imported by criminals for some reason.
Because they're generally worthless to criminals. Guns used in crime are largely cheap, small caliber pistols. The scary black semiauto rifles antigunners love to freak out about and try to ban are used in something like 1.5% of crimes involving a firearm.
> The reason gun control is impossible in the US is that it's an arms race.
That and the porous border, massive trade volume, gun-friendly culture and overall track record of no success prohibiting *anything* in the US.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by RsG · 2014-04-20 06:41 · Score: 2

Limited demand. They'd be selling a product that's both low quality and illegal to own. The target market for that would be criminals with money to spend, who don't already have access to equal or better guns. And it's not like you can set up shop on a street corner; secrecy is expensive.
Basically, a black market Sten Gun factory has all the drawbacks of illegal arms dealing AND startup costs to boot. I'm not surprised it isn't a thing yet. Oh, and I doubt 3D printing will make it a reality any time soon - the startup costs would be lower, but the 3D printed guns would be even worse than cheap locally manufactured metal guns.
There are places in the world where the locals make cheap metal guns en masse, but they tend to be places like Chechnya rather than the UK.

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Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by CrimsonAvenger · 2014-04-20 07:37 · Score: 1

So that's a good solution It's unenforceable, by which you mean not everyone who does it is caught though some are caught, so let's just not try to stop it. That's like saying "rape is going to happen anyway we might as well make it legal"
No, it's more like saying "rape is going to happen anyway, so we might as well make penises legal".
If someone 3-D prints a gun, and takes it to the range, I have no problem (well, other than wanting to be at a different range that day).
I DO have a problem if he uses it to rob a store or kill someone. The same problem I have if he buys a gun at a gun shop and then uses it to rob a store or kill someone.
In other words, punish criminal use of the weapon, not the existence of the weapon.

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"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
Re:Don't be ridiculous by CAIMLAS · 2014-04-20 08:23 · Score: 1

They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.
... or from police weapon lockers.
They also make them. See the case recently in Australia of motorcycle gangs making some (very) effective subguns (automatic pistols and the like).
It's pretty trivial to make a firearm capable of being used to perpetuate crimes against people: they just have to be better than not having a firearm, so looks, and impression of effectiveness, are more important than actually being well made firearms. Someone with crude hand tools can make an AK in a day or two, and that's a fairly capable firearm. The net result of regulation and elimination of privately owned firearms is that only criminals and cops will have guns, and military (and militarized police) will be the main ones with firearms suitable for any sort of tyrannical resistance and/or hunting.
There are already efforts well underway to prohibit any firearm with a rifled bore - you know, something that was invented to the point of being effective in the 15th century, and have been in common military as well as domestic use for 200 years. Still, you can't regulate ingenuity.
This is why they're also trying to control/eliminate consumer ammunition production (by making it prohibitively expensive through the banning of things like smelting lead, making it illegal to import lead, and things like that) - at least in the US.

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~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Re:Don't be ridiculous by ganjadude · 2014-04-20 08:40 · Score: 1

how is this modded insightful? All you have to do is look at detroit and chicago as examples of gun control not working. Almost all murders in those 2 cities are done with guns obtained by the murderer illegally. I was just reading something today that says if detroit was its own country, it would be number 4 on the list of murder committed by gun (i dont like breaking down how a murder is committed as the end result is the same with a gun a knife or a car)

Very rarely do you see a legal gun owner out there murdering people, but I hear stories a few times a month of a legal gun owner using their gun to defend themselves from criminals

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have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Re:Don't be ridiculous by khallow · 2014-04-20 08:58 · Score: 2

By the NRA fundamentalists' logic, we shouldn't have laws because criminals ignore laws anyway.
Keep in mind that these are laws which constrain the actions of the law abiding while doing nothing to change the behavior of those already committing crimes.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by Idarubicin · 2014-04-20 09:09 · Score: 1

They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.
I have to admit that I am always surprised by people who confuse and conflate the notion that something is possible with the notion that laws against that possible-to-do thing are thereby rendered unenforceable.
It is extraordinarily easy to acquire an automobile with a top speed exceeding 75 miles per hour. They can be found readily on our city streets, in the garages of our homes, all across America. Millions of such vehicles exchange hands, legally, every year. Shockingly, that doesn't actually render laws against speeding unenforceable--even though every driver has access to technology with which they can speed, available at the twitch of a foot.

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~Idarubicin
Re:Don't be ridiculous by sploxx · 2014-04-20 09:34 · Score: 1

sorry mismoderated. replying to revoke moderation.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by kqs · 2014-04-20 09:35 · Score: 2

these are laws which constrain the actions of the law abiding
The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.
You're right. For example, laws against polluting only stop those who are not polluting. But so what? Do you think the laws against polluting should be repealed? Do you think that when the laws were passed that polluting did not decrease?
Are you claiming that gun control laws are useless if one person ignores them? Australia passed laws in 1996 to greatly limit firearms. The number of firearms and the number of violent deaths in Australia both suffered major declines in the years since then.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by russotto · 2014-04-20 13:00 · Score: 1

I'm using "unenforceable" in the same sense that Wilson is; that anyone who cares to break the law can, and in nearly all cases won't get caught.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by blindseer · 2014-04-20 15:45 · Score: 1

I believe the grandparent post was referring to the manufacture of a machine gun. Any enthusiast can build a semi-auto firearm with little legal hassle, building a full-auto firearm is beyond "enthusiast".

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I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by Idarubicin · 2014-04-21 00:41 · Score: 1

I'm using "unenforceable" in the same sense that Wilson is; that anyone who cares to break the law can, and in nearly all cases won't get caught.
The same is true for speeding. But even if you want to narrow the scope to "things I can do in my own home, where I won't get caught except if something goes terribly wrong, or by happenstance" there is still a pretty big field.
Suppose I live in a high-rise apartment tower. It would be trivially easy for me to buy a couple of dozen propane cylinders from local retailers, and slip them into my hypothetical apartment. (Put each one in a suitcase or cardboard box to carry it upstairs, and spread the purchases out over a few different stores, across several weeks of summer barbecue season. Pay cash.) No one knows my apartment is now a giant bomb. Totally illegal under an assortment of fire codes and municipal bylaws. Probably runs into state and/or federal rules about the transportation and storage of dangerous goods. To be honest, I can't be bothered to look up all the different ways in which it is illegal.
Anyone could do it. No one who does it would get caught (unless they talk about it). Should it therefore be legal to store a quarter ton of compressed, flammable gas inside a residential apartment building?

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~Idarubicin
Re:Don't be ridiculous by FatLittleMonkey · 2014-04-21 01:39 · Score: 1

Australia passed laws in 1996 to greatly limit firearms. The number of firearms and the number of violent deaths in Australia both suffered major declines in the years since then.
Actually, the number of guns returned to pre-ban levels. Only the composition of the national armoury changed. It's that which eliminated mass shootings and reduced fire-arm deaths.
This should be reassuring for Americans. It's not "gummin tuk ur guns", it just a restriction on gun types. You can still hunt, sport-shoot, home defend, etc.

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Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by khallow · 2014-04-21 08:33 · Score: 1

The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.
A truism isn't a tautology. In the US, there exists those who are law abiding, complying with regulations and common sense with respect to fire arms, whether they own them or not. They make up the vast majority of the population. And there's a fair sized group of people who commit crimes with hand guns most which are already illegally obtained.

Are you claiming that gun control laws are useless if one person ignores them? Australia passed laws in 1996 to greatly limit firearms. The number of firearms and the number of violent deaths in Australia both suffered major declines in the years since then.
Of course, I am. The US experienced a similar decline in violent deaths from firearms and for the most part, didn't tighten gun control laws.
Re:Don't be ridiculous by FatLittleMonkey · 2014-04-21 19:21 · Score: 1

However, in Australia, the rate of mass shootings went from 1 every 18 months to not one in 18 years. (There was one campus shooting which almost counted.) That's a fairly sharp drop, from an expected 12 to not quite 1.
It's pretty amazing to think that merely restricting weapons types virtually eliminates the ability of these kinds of nut-jobs from being able to carry out their attacks. I certainly wasn't expecting it, it's too easy from criminals to get their hands on illegal weapon types, the black market can only expand as unsurrendered weapons leak onto the market, and yet... 100% reduction. Surprised me, I was predicting no effect.

And there's a fair sized group of people who commit crimes with hand guns most which are already illegally obtained.
Illegally obtained... from where? How many US gun crimes are committed with home-made or illegally-imported weapons? Versus how many are committed with otherwise perfectly legal guns stolen off of legal gun owners, or illegally resold second-hand, or illegally transported across state-lines. Calling them "illegal" is pretty disingenuous.

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Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.

Unregulatable! by Jane+Q.+Public · 2014-04-20 05:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

In practice, 3D printing is unregulatable.

Practically unenforceable laws are worse than no law at all, because people get prosecuted at the whim of politicians.

Re:Unregulatable! by wisnoskij · 2014-04-20 05:52 · Score: 1

How is it unregulated? Making a gun is actually quite easy, therefore guns are somewhat unregulatable.
As far as I am aware you pretty much have no chance of making a working 3D printer/3D toner in your garage. So if you are forced to buy them from one of the 12 factories in the world who make them then they are easily regrettable.

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Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Re:Unregulatable! by The123king · 2014-04-20 06:12 · Score: 1

No it's not. Just require people who own a 3d printer to have a license for it. If you don't have a license, you go to jail. Simple.

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If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
Re:Unregulatable! by blindseer · 2014-04-20 16:11 · Score: 1

Tell me how many people are driving in the USA without a license? We all know the number is not zero. Nobody knows what the true number is, and estimates vary widely. Why is this? Because driver licensing requirements are effectively unenforceable.
There are millions of cars and millions of drivers. To enforce a requirement to have a license to drive would mean putting up checkpoints all over. To avoid falsified papers getting through all licenses would have to be checked against a database. Even then you'd have duplicated licenses, bribed officials, and all manner of corruption. You'd also have a police state.
That is what would happen if you try to license 3D printers. Homes and businesses would have to be searched at random. Police would have to be everywhere to keep 3D printers from being moved or manufactured. Even then people would find ways to avoid the police, bribe the police, or otherwise evade the law.
Another example, opiates. If you don't have a license to possess opiates (such as a prescription) then you go to jail, right? Wrong. The heroin trade is a booming business in the USA.

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I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.

Yawn by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 05:10 · Score: 1, Insightful

Keep your shitty gun printers, people in the *real* world aren't interested.

3D Printing - Anachy ? by pjrc · 2014-04-20 05:27 · Score: 4, Insightful

I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.

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PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools

Re:3D Printing - Anachy ? by Arker · 2014-04-20 06:20 · Score: 3, Interesting

"I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society." Errr, why?

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Re:3D Printing - Anachy ? by cold+fjord · 2014-04-20 06:59 · Score: 1

I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.
Nobody said that 3D printing was going to be a sustainable technology.

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much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Re:3D Printing - Anachy ? by feedayeen · 2014-04-20 23:27 · Score: 1

I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.
There can be order without a ruler. P2P technologies is a human made prof of that. I am sure there are many others and many more example in nature. Fuck off.
The ruler within technology is the standards committee. These groups designed every layer required for P2P software from the physical connections inside and between computers to the software protocols that permit packet transfer to the P2P protocol itself. They're not legally binding regulations, but realistically driving the wrong way on a freeway isn't going to result in a ticket either. Selling software or hardware which can't interact with existing products would be suicide too.
Re:3D Printing - Anachy ? by Arker · 2014-04-21 12:56 · Score: 1

Except it is nothing like that, at all, at all. Chaos is the mother, not the daughter, of Order.

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Dark-Wallet is not a currency. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 05:28 · Score: 1

From the summery: "Dark Wallet, his new crypto-currency, is much more subversive than Bitcoin"

Dark wallet is a wallet application that uses bitcoin. There are tons of new crypto-currencies, but dark wallet is not one of them. Thank you anonymous reader: we all really needed this story about something you don't at all understand. Either: you didn't watch the interview or its total crap and won't inform you in a useful way, so why post it here? (And the printing guns part of it is irrelevant: 50 years ago you could make guns easily out of plumbing supplies: being able to make guns is not news)

I think we all already know Cody Wilson anyway; he is to back-markets and guns what Stallman is to free software: A fantastic reference point for his extreme views. I'm glad both of them are around to help our discussions of the issues, but if we are gonna discuss this stuff, can we get the facts somewhat close to right?

Don't forget the sten by NotSoHeavyD3 · 2014-04-20 05:29 · Score: 1

Just to add to your point that even under limited conditions you can build a gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

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Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.

Re:Don't forget the sten by Nidi62 · 2014-04-20 06:38 · Score: 1

Just to add to your point that even under limited conditions you can build a gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

Or even Russian assault shovels

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The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil

Matrix quote by gmuslera · 2014-04-20 05:29 · Score: 1

Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?

Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

The freedom that could gives 3d printers, virtual currency, and internet is not about printing bullets or guns, but about not needing them. Is a extreme proof of concept to be able to do even that, the key part is being able to do anything.

Consider it done... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 05:33 · Score: 1

You know who else used the Nazis to futher their agenda? Hitler.

You're welcome!

Re:Not the right tool for the job by plopez · 2014-04-20 05:45 · Score: 1

A skilled machinist? I haven't kept up with gun manufacturing per se, but I thought due to high end robot milling machines the skill machinist had pretty much gone the way of the skilled buggy whip maker Most guns have the look and feel of stamped metal, plastic extruded, robot milled crap. Otherwise they wouldn't be so cheap.

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putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by ColdWetDog · 2014-04-20 05:46 · Score: 5, Insightful

Cody is a gun nut, a pothead, and an anarchist. He is pro-crime, anti-police, anti-government. He wants everyone armed with every manner of illegal weaponry possible.

What's not to like?

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!

Re:Idiot by ColdWetDog · 2014-04-20 05:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

They were. There were definite concerns about letting computing resources out to the hoi polloi.

Remember when encryption was considered 'military armaments?

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!

Re:Idiot by Immerman · 2014-04-20 05:54 · Score: 2

>Remember when encryption was considered 'military armaments?

Did they finally abandon that? Last I heard we'd simply had a work-around by distributing all the high-end encryption software from jurisdictions that didn't try to restrict the export of military grade encryption.

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--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.

Yeah, that'll bring Utopia by rbrander · 2014-04-20 05:59 · Score: 1

Pretty funny to have this article right after the one about two large new corporations as "unelected superpowers". All the guns you can print won't materialize a factory for you to work in if unelected superpowers in our society decide to outsource your job. Waving a gun around your ISP offices won't make the oligopoly they're part of cut your Internet rates.

Threatening violence in the 30's didn't get poor people anything but far more violence used against them. (Turns out the Powers That Be have guns too, and way more of them.) Peaceful organizing of protests, labour unions, and voting blocs, on the other hand, shifted power (and money) from the old-millionaires-club of the 19th century to the new unfamiliar concept of the middle class. Granted, successful war against it has been waged for over 30 years, but it sure as hell won't be turned around because somebody starts handing out cheap guns.

Don't. Be ridiculous. by VortexCortex · 2014-04-20 06:08 · Score: 1

I agree, but you don't even need a machine shop, lathe, etc. to build a gun. You can build a pretty sturdy zip gun with some pipe and fittings from your local hardware store. They even sell 22 caliber rounds for driving in nails so you can build the whole gun, projectiles and all, right there in the store. Get some real bullets at Walmart later. Look, we're all "nerds" here, home made guns should be part of any contingency scenario for your zombie plan; Help a geek out.

Makeshift "zip" guns are even studier than a 3D printed gun is right now. Eventually 3D printed materials will be even better than subtraction technologies, since we can influence fine structural detail. But right now, 3D printed guns are WAY down the list on essential zombie preparedness kit items (it's like a hurricane or earthquake kit, but with more shotguns).

If you're in the US, today is a great day for a zombie attack. There are folks gathering away from their homes in large quantities, and running around collecting and eating food off the ground. Even if you don't get visited by the Easter Zombunny, today is a great opportunity to teach kids foraging skills. Remember, in the event of an outbreak: Always hunt responsibly, steer clear of tasty traffic bottlenecks, and she is not your mother-in-law anymore.

He's just an idiot by Sycraft-fu · 2014-04-20 06:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

There are all kinds of people, you can see them here on Slashdot, that know fuck-all about materials science and think 3D printers are magic. They think they are universal constructors, replicators, or whatever other sci-fi tech than can make anything and everything, just in a primitive form. So they think they can advance from playing with plastic to making metal parts that are as strong as forged metals and electronics and so on.

This is, of course, absurd. Anyone with basic MSE knowledge knows that there's a big difference between what you can potentially extrude using a process like a 3D printer does and how you have to make other various materials. It isn't as simple as just printing metal (which I've no doubt we'll see soon), not all metal processes are created equal.

So he doesn't know what he's talking about with regards to materials, which is why he thinks he's such a visionary, and he also knows fuck-all about anarchy. He's one of those loons that thinks an anarchy with no government control would be some kind of utopia instead of what it actually is, a place like Somalia run by warlords.

It all makes me laugh anyhow since he's in the US and could just go buy better parts over the counter anyhow. Oh wow, you can 3D print a lower receiver for an AR-15 that breaks after a little bit. Neat. Or you could just go and buy an AR-15 lower milled from an aluminium billet that will last several lifetimes.

Re:He's just an idiot by rasmusbr · 2014-04-20 06:40 · Score: 4, Interesting

He's one of those loons that thinks an anarchy with no government control would be some kind of utopia instead of what it actually is, a place like Somalia run by warlords.
The warlords and their bands of warriors can and should be thought of as small, primitive and extremely violent governments.
The idea of no government is essentially impossible. Imagine two villages close to one another: one that has no government and one that has a government. Before too long the village without government will have a government, either its own government that it has created in order to command a police/militia to defend itself against the government of the other village, or the government of the other village after being conquered by that village's militia. Assuming a population density high enough that all (or most) human settlements can be reached by people from other settlements it follows that everyone (or most everyone) will eventually be under government.
Re:He's just an idiot by hsthompson69 · 2014-04-20 06:59 · Score: 3, Insightful

Mod parent up. The idea that Somalia has no government simply because the government isn't your typical democratic republic, is silly.
Not only are warlords a form of government, even our much more enlightened republic includes some of the taint of arbitrary violence against the people.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap
Re:He's just an idiot by Tokolosh · 2014-04-20 09:16 · Score: 1

Trurl and Klapaucius beg to differ...

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Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number
Re:He's just an idiot by kqs · 2014-04-20 09:19 · Score: 2

Somalia isn't actually used as an example of a place with no government. Somalia is used as an example of what would actually happen if you get rid of a central government the way that many libertarians want. Somalia is used by many (including me) to mock those idiots who actually want "anarchy". Sure, in the US we'd likely end up with some form of corporate oligarchy disaster rather than a Somalia-type disaster if the Ayn Rand worshipers ever get what they want (and if the Rand-worshiping politicians ever did what they claim to want rather than what they actually do).
But yes, Cody is an idiot.
Re:He's just an idiot by bames53 · 2014-04-20 10:31 · Score: 1

Ben Powell, "Somalia After State Collapse: Chaos or Improvement"
Re:He's just an idiot by Catiline · 2014-04-20 11:06 · Score: 1

So they think they can advance from playing with plastic to making metal parts that are as strong as forged metals and electronics and so on.
I'm pretty sure you're not working in the 3D printing field, because those who are, beg to differ.on what's currently possible.

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Do you like Japanese imports?
Re:He's just an idiot by hsthompson69 · 2014-04-20 19:26 · Score: 1

So the assertion is that local governments inevitably degrade into rival warlord factions without the firm and beneficent hand of a strong central government?
And do you truly believe that a strong central government isn't of more benefit to a corporate oligarchy which can extract favorable subsidies from other citizens who don't have the same lobbying power as they do, funding inefficient energy and other crony capitalists?
Re:He's just an idiot by hsthompson69 · 2014-04-21 08:53 · Score: 1

So the assertion is that no matter what one attempts, there is no way to limit government power (i.e., given more freedoms to the people, one will have a "vacuum" that will be filled by another government removing those freedoms).
I wonder if there is any rationale for what freedoms are inevitably taken away by government, and if there are indeed *any* freedoms that can survive this continual power grab given the "vacuum".

What does the size of the gun have to do with it? by daninaustin · 2014-04-20 06:19 · Score: 1

You have been watching too much TV.

everything that doesn't work by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 06:52 · Score: 1

... freedom of speech, thinking independently, and not kowtowing to the establishment

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 06:54 · Score: 1

Being anti-gun control and pro-caninbus is now "pro-crime"? Obama, is that you?

Re:Not the right tool for the job by cold+fjord · 2014-04-20 06:57 · Score: 1

CNC machines do a lot of it these days, but if you are looking for customization, repair of something old, rare, or otherwise out of production, a skilled machinist / gunsmith could very easily be involved.

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much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell

This will be a litmus test by paiute · 2014-04-20 07:00 · Score: 1, Interesting

When printable guns become more feasible, it will be revealing what the NRA has to say about it. One one hand, you would think they would support this in the name of the Second Amendment and so on. I predict that the NRA will not be able to spit out the teat of gun manufacturers corporate money and will find some convoluted way to oppose private citizens making their own arms.

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If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine

Re:This will be a litmus test by andydread · 2014-04-20 07:55 · Score: 5, Insightful

When printable guns become more feasible, it will be revealing what the NRA has to say about it. One one hand, you would think they would support this in the name of the Second Amendment and so on. I predict that the NRA will not be able to spit out the teat of gun manufacturers corporate money and will find some convoluted way to oppose private citizens making their own arms.
The problem with your theory is that there are more members of the NRA that are private citizens than those that are gun manufacturers. When you buy into the noise that the NRA are all about gun manufacturers you forget the millions of people that are gun owners many of which are members that contribute more money to the NRA than all manufacturers combined. The pundits on the left would have you brainwashed into thinking the NRA is all a front for gun manufacturers. Take a look at what happened in purple Colorado. Even liberal gun owners that previously supported the 2 democrats that were recalled over onerous anti-gun legislation voted them out on recall. So no, the NRA cannot tell millions of its own members that they should not have the right to exercise their first ammendment right in their home.
Re:This will be a litmus test by Anonymous Coward · 2014-04-20 08:04 · Score: 2, Insightful

The NRA does not support the Second Amendment. The NRA supports threatening the Second Amendment to generate revenue from unsuspecting dupes who give them money to try less hard to take away gun rights.
They don't call the NRA "negotiating rights away" for nothing. A prime example of their shenanigans was sending lobbyists to Pennsylvania in the wee hours before the vote on HB40 (SYG Bill) to KILL it because they didn't want Gov. Ed Rendell to get credit for signing it into Law - which he said he would if it came to his desk.
The NRA also lobbied to have provisions removed from HB40 that would have strengthened gun rights in PA by removing the "character and reputation" clause that allows Sheriffs to arbitrary and capriciously deny LTCF applications; making it a criminal offense to improperly deny or willfully delay an LTCF application (as Philadelphia routinely does), and so on. The NRA gutted the bill that was ultimately passed, when a much better bill could have been passed.
Fuck the NRA.
Re:This will be a litmus test by kqs · 2014-04-20 09:47 · Score: 2

The problem with your theory is that there are more members of the NRA that are private citizens than those that are gun manufacturers.
So your theory is that unlike every other religious organization, the NRA does what its members want rather than the members doing what the NRA wants. Nice theory. Every religious zealot believes that their religion is different; every non-zealot sees that they are largely identical.
Though the gun manufacturers are part of it, a much larger part is that the NRA only exists as long as they can whip people up into a frenzy to donate money. So even though gun control laws have been completely gutted in the USA, the NRA has to keep on whipping up the masses or else the organization will fade away. See also: Greenpeace.
Re:This will be a litmus test by misexistentialist · 2014-04-20 09:53 · Score: 2

Major donors will still shape policy on an issue as long as it doesn't antagonize the general membership too much. The "corporate gun lobby" itself is influenced by government connections more than the big government supporters can admit, since after all government is every big gun manufacturer's best customer.
Re:This will be a litmus test by andydread · 2014-04-20 10:05 · Score: 1, Informative

Dont need the NRA to whip people in a frenzy. People looking to ban certain types of guns and magazines are the ones that whip people up in a frenzy. Those same people refer to Japan and the UK as a shining example, places where guns are outrigt banned. So when you refer to places that ban guns as your example you are basically saying without admitting that we should outright ban guns. These are the type of statments that whip people up i a frenzy.
Re:This will be a litmus test by kqs · 2014-04-20 11:28 · Score: 1

Such religious ferver, attacking something I did not say and do not believe, while ignoring what I did say. You truly believe the Holy Gospel of the NRA, that all those who do not worship the NRA wish to destroy every last gun.
Again: the NRA is a religion and does not represent the desires of the majority of its adherents. It perpetuates itself by convincing gullible people that if they do not support the NRA then evil forces will throw them into Hell (a gunless society). You believe this in the absence of all evidence and against all evidence (blind faith).
Re:This will be a litmus test by Srin+Tuar · 2014-04-20 13:45 · Score: 1

>Again: the NRA is a religion and does not represent the desires of the majority of its adherents.
I agree - they dont really represent our interests very well. They are far too moderate and willing to compromise.
We need to eradiacate all gun laws of any kind form the books, and restore the 2A to its original intention, and the NRA
just isnt pushing hard enough. This is why we have additional groups such as GOA and the VCDL, because the NRA
is too goddamn liberal.
Re:This will be a litmus test by heefeneet · 2014-04-21 23:38 · Score: 1

Dont need the NRA to whip people in a frenzy. People looking to ban certain types of guns and magazines are the ones that whip people up in a frenzy. Those same people refer to Japan and the UK as a shining example, places where guns are outrigt banned. So when you refer to places that ban guns as your example you are basically saying without admitting that we should outright ban guns. These are the type of statments that whip people up i a frenzy.
Neither the UK or Japan have an outright ban on guns.

Oh fuck the what? by VortexCortex · 2014-04-20 07:04 · Score: 4, Insightful

That's one hell of a strawman you've got there. I'm not an anarchist myself, but I'm not sure you've ever actually met many anarchists before if that's what you think of them. Sounds like you've conflated anarchy with chaos -- that's just silly. There are many native peoples that live quite happily in anarchy. Self defense is an important aspect of anarchy. Note: The USA supreme court has ruled that it is not the duty of the police to protect anyone. They can't help you or your loved ones until they have already been victimized. The founding fathers of the USA also believed in a well armed militia. It is your duty to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your property -- Just like it is under anarchy... So, really, making weaponry more available is a good thing. Accidental shootings are rare, far more kids die in bathtubs or crossing the road than from accidental shootings, to say nothing of riding in cars themselves. Folks are OK with people building custom bathrooms and cars... right? Criminals don't care about gun control laws anyway.

I use a custom 3D printing rig for my robotics projects, and this gun project is AMAZING. Who doesn't want sturdier robots? Now, here's something interesting: How many technological advances can you think of that were not quickly militarized? Electricity? Nope. Uhm, radio? Nope. Cars? No -- hell, even horses were militarized. Computers? Nope, code makers and breakers. Telescopes? Immediately found their way to the battle field. Even our beloved RC cars, model airplanes and robots are becoming military drones. Did you know the US government reserves the right to option any patent for their exclusive secret (military) use? That's why patent applications are still secret even though first to file exists.

Making guns is human nature. We've been crafting weapons with unlikely materials for millions of years. Break this rock, and tie it to that stick and you can make a spear! However, this 3D printed gun is more of a proof of concept, and it's important because guns involve coping with extreme heat and pressure. It's sort of the same way that other than for boring entertainment or a very expensive hobby race cars are mostly pointless, except that many expensive impractical innovations from race cars do eventually make it into street cars for better safety, efficiency, speed, etc. I can hardly think of a better Olympics of 3D printing than gun making.

Also, "bits of plastic"... I can 3D print with metals using a simple welding rig. The resolution is shit, and requires lots of polishing afterwards, but the results are OK considering it's make-shift adaptation to a reprap, and they will only get better. If we can improve the durability of 3D printing, then you might order things at your computer and pick them up from the local hardware store in the "printware" section. Perhaps they'd have some thing-of-the week demo units of things to try out, printed while you wait, or delivered with your next pizza. Then we could drastically reduce our shipping infrastructure by producing products right in the stores, only shipping the raw materials to feed the printers. Other things like cars which you'd want certified MFGs to assemble could even be customized on demand -- Select a bigger cargo area, or narrower for tight spaces, get your logo crafted into the design.

Hell, we could even work our way up to custom designed 3D printed space craft, you'd have to bake the ceramic shields though. I've even made my own super capacitors by layering the ceramic clay and aluminum foil and baking it in the kiln (vertically, with the edges folded closed, only the lower 1/3rd retained its metal and became a huge capacitor. My welding rods deposit too thickly, but better metal and ceramic 3D printing could yield things with built in instant-charge inductive cells too one day. It's a ways off, esp. with entrenched market forces, but that's what refining 3D printing material science by making guns ca

Re:Naive anarchists by EmagGeek · 2014-04-20 08:06 · Score: 2

Do you even realize the irony of equating Anarchy with **ORGANIZED** crime?

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by ganjadude · 2014-04-20 08:13 · Score: 3, Informative

sarcastic??? troll??? funny?? I applaud you as I cant tell if you are a complete retard or a genius troll

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have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by spire3661 · 2014-04-20 08:36 · Score: 1, Insightful

As long as society keeps its veneer, its ok to trample anyone, amirite?

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Good-bye

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by Tokolosh · 2014-04-20 09:08 · Score: 1

Sad that Tories are still among us.

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Prove anything by multiplying Huge Number times Tiny Number

encourage people like this by bloodhawk · 2014-04-20 10:34 · Score: 1

People dumb enough to make a gun from 3D printed plastic should be encouraged not told they are idiots. The Gene pool is already polluted enough, let these morons make their toy gun grenades so that the rest of the human race can move forward without these anchors.

Re:Naive anarchists by Livius · 2014-04-20 10:44 · Score: 1

Without government, how would you stop them from organizing?

Re:Not the right tool for the job by drinkypoo · 2014-04-20 23:27 · Score: 1

The CNC milled guns tend to have parts that go in without smithing. I'll take that over pedigree.

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"

what is the legal basis for the harassment? by kimvette · 2014-04-21 01:03 · Score: 1

> A self-declared crypto-anarchist, the 26-year-old Wilson is fighting the situation in court—and relishing every minute of his battle with the government.

Why is he in court? What law was broken? Was he manufacturing arms and distributing them without a license? If not, I fail to see any basis to charge him with any crime or for the government to harass him in any way. Otherwise the Feds need to harass everybody distributing this information:

https://www.google.com/search?...

It's ridiculous at best.

Now, why don't they (government) stick to protecting the country by securing the border and using the info they're using from the blanket wiretapping to, oh, I dunno, prevent marathon bombings?

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The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · 2014-04-21 03:10 · Score: 1

He is correct -- the left and the right fight over power, and what to do with it. But they both operate under the principle almost unlimited power is good...as long as our side wields it for things we lioe.

Precious few stand up anymore and say the existence of that much power, as a prize no less, is the wrong thing in itself. This was the attitude of the founding fathers, and of modern libertarians, which your meme masters have programmed you to think of as childlike...in the service of getting you to behave in a manner that spreads that power-is-right meme.

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(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.

Re:Population density and the need for government by rasmusbr · 2014-04-21 03:13 · Score: 1

And to help ensure that he ducation happens, there should be a logical meetings place controlled by a central authority. Since travel is difficult, everyone should live close together to make the education easier. Since everyone lives close together, there should be a police force controlled by the central authority...

Yes, there would be city states with governments, but a lot of people would have countryside houses that they could travel to by sea or by air. The city state governments could easily come and tax your countryside home if they wanted to, but they would probably not consider it worth the effort since most economic activity would take place in and around the cities. (They certainly wouldn't care if some guy wants to make a clunky plastic gun that fires one shot.)

If someone managed to build a large factory out in the middle of nowhere and get it to be profitable then I'm sure that person could strike a favorable deal directly with one or several of the faraway city states.

Anyway, this is all fantasies on a planet that is on a trajectory towards ten billion people.

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by Robb+Swanson · 2014-04-21 04:45 · Score: 1

Cody is a gun nut, a pothead, and an anarchist. He is pro-crime, anti-police, anti-government. He wants everyone armed with every manner of illegal weaponry possible.

I'm not sure that I see your point.

Aren't 3D printed guns missing key ingredient? by Kubla+Kahhhn! · 2014-04-21 12:27 · Score: 1

The firing pin?

Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio by mrex · 2014-04-22 04:34 · Score: 1

Cody is a gun nut, a pothead, and an anarchist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun

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