Australian State Bans Possession of Blueprints For 3D Printing Firearms (computerworld.com.au)

angry tapir writes: Possessing files that can be used to 3D print firearms will soon be illegal in the Australian state of New South Wales after new legislation, passed last week by state parliament, comes into effect. Possessing files for 3D printing guns will be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The provisions "are targeted at criminals who think they can steal or modify firearms or manufacture firearms from 3D blueprints," NSW's justice minister, Troy Grant, said when introducing the bill in the state's lower house on 27 October. "Those who think they can skirt the law will find themselves facing some of the toughest penalties for firearms offences in this country," Grant said.

Comments

Torrent

[rfengr]

Man, what a nanny state. Need to put that defense distributed torrent back up.

Re:Torrent

[Z00L00K]

Just mail some 3D blueprints to every .au address you can find. That would spice up things a bit.

"From: primeminister@gov.au" of course.

Re:Torrent

[Lumpy]

The funny part is it's a LOT easier to make an AK47 (full automatic) in a garage with some cheap easy to get tools than it is to print a plastic pistol with a single high cost hard to get tool. I can go to any tool store and buy everything I need to make an AK47 for less than 1/3rd the price of the 3d printer that is capable of doing it. Yes my cheapie china metal lathe will be of crap quality and probably fail after making only a a few guns, but it's still possible.

Yet these drooling morons in charge of most governments are so poorly educated that they prefer to freak out about a plastic toy that only rich people are able to actually make and the usability of the "gun" is very very low. Every time there is a new "outrage" or "law" passed on this thing it tells me that the leaders of that country have IQ's that are so close to 80 (functioning moron level) that it's scares me a bit.

If people are electing very low IQ people to leadership positions does that mean the collective IQ of the general population is so low that they think these people are smart?

Re: Torrent

[Lumpy]

I should be able to easily buy a silencer. In fact most gun owners should be REQUIRED to own silencers to reduce the amount of hearing loss and noise pollution around gun ranges.

Yet most people freak the hell out about anyone owning a silencer... (Tip: silencers dont silence anything... it reduces the 160db crack down to 102db so I'm not popping ear drums and making you hear the crack at your home from the gun range)

Re: Torrent

[MachineShedFred]

It's not so much about people freaking out, it's about them being banned by the National Firearms Act of 1934 - the same legislation that bans full-auto / burst fire machineguns, grenades, bombs, missiles, poison gas.

In October, 2015 Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon introduced the Hearing Protection Act to remove suppressors from the NFA. So at least one Congress critter agrees with you. I'm not really sure where a sound suppressor fits in with machine guns and grenades, but apparently Congress thought so 80 years ago when they were still reeling from the crime associated with prohibition...

Re:Torrent

[TheCastro1689]

Studies show that the larger the group the worse the decision they make is.

Re: Torrent

[U2xhc2hkb3QgU3Vja3M]

If it came in after the fact and you didn't let your wishes be known, it's on you at that point.

Mr Prosser: But, Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.
Arthur: Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anybody or anything.
Mr Prosser: But the plans were on display
Arthur: On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.
Mr Prosser: That’s the display department.
Arthur: With a torch.
Mr Prosser: The lights had probably gone out.
Arthur: So had the stairs.
Mr Prosser: But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?
Arthur: Yes yes I did. It was on display at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying beware of the leopard.

Re:When guns are outlawed

[FooAtWFU]

Only outlaws will have guns.

And as everyone knows, Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me.

Which is worse in AU?

[JeffOwl]

The penalty for having a digital file that can be used in conjunction with a 3D printer to create a gun, or the penalty for not turning over your encryption keys?

And how many have been made or used

[Izuzan]

In the commission or a crime ?

Yeah tjhats what i thought. Kneejerk reactions to a non issue.

Next step is the book.

[bill_mcgonigle]

We've been here before with crypto. The next step is to write the book and publish a gun source in the appendix. Let them start trying to ban the books. It reveals their true nature.

What idiocy

[MikeRT]

Those who think they can skirt the law will find themselves facing some of the toughest penalties for firearms offences in this country," Grant said.

Indonesia executes people for simple drug trafficking.

Criminals don't really care about the law because there are two main types of criminals who commit serious crimes: the stupid ones who don't think about the consequences and the smart ones who are willing to take more extreme measures to stop people from holding them accountable.

The one consequence they do tend to fear is a swift death at the hands of a potential victim. That's why increasing the capacity of self-defense for the law-abiding is always a good thing. If an unarmed 6ft tall man gets gunned down trying to rob a 5"2 woman, who cares? He shouldn't have been trying to commit a violent felony. It's not that his life is worth less than her purse, but that when he chose to put her in fear of her life over her purse, he forfeited his right to live in that moment.

Re:What idiocy

[Anonymous Coward]

It's always interesting to see one's own country through the lens of another.

A specific event caused the clampdown on gun ownership in Australia. Following Port Arthur and the ensuing confiscation of weaponry, incidents of gun violence basically dropped to zero. Violent crime in general has decreased - individual categories (robberies, assaults, kidnappings, sexual assaults, etc) are either trending downwards or not increased at all.

I've owned guns, I know people who still own and use guns for recreation and/or work. The rules aren't particularly harsh. It's a deadly weapon, if you want one, they just want to know why. You like shooting things and playing with guns? Cool. Here's licenses for target shooting, and we'll check in with your gun club occasionally to make sure you're still a member. You're culling pest animals because you're on acreage? No worries. Different license.

What I don't understand is the attitude of entitlement that just anyone can arm themselves with a deadly weapon because they just might have to pull it on someone after their wallet. Without the training or knowledge of how to handle it - and yourself in that situation - it's about as useful as a lump of wood. Statistically, you're twice as likely to damage yourself rather than your target. That's the idea of target practice and defence courses. Lets not forget you may've just shot and maimed/killed someone because "who cares?", it's just a thief. Since when is that up to you?

The problem our laws, and these new laws, are trying to solve is not criminals or terr'ists running around with plastic AKs. It's to prevent idiots from harming themselves and others, going off half-cocked (literally) or putting deadly weapons into the hands of people with poor judgement who would otherwise have a bit of time to calm down.

Re:What idiocy

[KGIII]

To which I ask, what's your point? I accept that risk in the name of freedom. You can have freedom or the illusion of safety, which would you prefer? If someone wants to kill you, they'll do so with or without a firearm. Bad things happen. Oh well. You get freedom or the illusion of safety. Numerically, it's a trivial amount of difference. Thoughts like your thoughts are what gave us Homeland Security and the TSA. I would rather die free than live a coward, as pithy as that sounds - it is entirely true.

You are not going to get a completely safe world. The problem is not firearms, the problem is culture, crime, risks and rewards, and poverty. Taking the guns away attempts to cure the symptom and not the disease. I am not a coward and I don't think we should amend the constitution because you're afraid. I don't think that people who live in constant fear make good decisions. Just because you're afraid of some gun violence does not mean that the problem is the guns themselves. You should know the causation and correlation adage well enough by now.

There are countries with a higher per capita gun ownership rate than the US that have far fewer violent crimes or shootings. (See Sweden for one example.) The problem is not now, nor has it ever been, the tool. The problem is cultural, economic, educational, and the risks of being caught being so great that they're willing to die to avoid the punishment - which means they're willing to kill.

For a bunch of supposedly logical people who love to trot out statistics and numbers and assume they've made a case, you've continually failed to actually make that case. No, we're not changing the Constitution because you're afraid and unwilling to accept accountability. It's the lack of accountability that has us in this position. It's not the guns, it's the people behind them. This has been explained to you, time and time again. You're peers and yourself are reaching the point where you're starting to act like children. Stop being a coward and trying to base policy on fear rather than actually addressing the problems that you helped to create.

Re:When guns are outlawed

[Chrisq]

When guns are outlawed

Only outlaws will have guns.

Worse. When technology is outlawed, only outlaws will have technology. It will probably be illegal to develop an injection rifle for a wildlife doctor as well.

I can't help wondering .... if laws were outlawed would only outlaws have laws?

Re:Typical Liberal Thinking

[pla]

First it was real guns. Then it was plans for guns. Next it will be thoughts about guns.

You left out "PB&J chewed into the shape of a gun".

For the chil'ens, of course.

TPP

[xdor]

So are they going to attempt to enforce this in the United States via the Trans-Pacific Partnership?