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NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

nysenate.gov

31–40 of 138 posts

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#31

What next, they'll ban transporting 3D printers across state borders and have the cops go around knocking down doors hunting for unlicensed 3D printers? Otherwise people would just buy them interstate.

Ban stepper motors as the precursor to 3d printers. Shit, ban copper wire.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#32
post #26
post #23

I should buy a 3D printer. At university I knew a man who said any time the government wanted to make something illegal to buy he felt a compulsion to buy it. I think I see what he means now.

It's definitely not a bad time to join 3d printing industry. Much more mature than what it was even 5+ yrs ago

What is a good 3D printer?

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#33

Are there any documented cases of people actually committing crimes with a 3D printed firearm?

Ghost gun use in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1,000% since 2017, federal report says : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghost-gun-use-crimes-1000-perce... Number of 3D-printed ghost guns soaring in New York : https://abc7ny.com/nyc-ghost-guns-3d-printed-printer/1334500... 3D Printed Gun Arrests Tripled in Less Than Two Years – 3DPrint.com Investigates : https://3dprint.com/291684/3d-printed-gun-arrests-tripled-in...

That does not count. Those are all from parts kits. 3D printing of firearms outside of superficial accessories is a fraction of a fraction. And newsflash to the world -- Americans have been making "ghost guns" for hundreds of years. Hardly the worth the attention of Law Enforcement. Maybe focus on real crime and not propaganda tuned to scare the average burbanite.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#34
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely not a bad time to join 3d printing industry. Much more mature than what it was even 5+ yrs ago

What is a good 3D printer?

Depends on what you want to do with it. For small hobby projects, I like my Ender 3 Pro. There are some better ones with more features, but this one is cheap.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#36
You don't have to buy a 3D printer, you can build one using off-the-shelf components and printed parts.

The VORON printers for example, and they're beastly printers. They should appeal to the HN audience as they're completely open source and moddable.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#37

The proposal is for 3D printers that are capable of printing a firearm, or firearm component. Which is actually really broad. From what I can find, NY law doesn't define "firearm component", but it does define "major firearm component" to include "barrel, slide, cylinder, frame or receiver". And I imagine pretty much any decent 3d printer can print a receiver for a gun designed to be 3d printed...

At that point it seems simpler to turn a couple of sticks and some string into a bow and arrow.

No, I'm just going to go down to Lowes and buy a couple pieces of pipe, a nail, and then go find some shotgun shells.

It's time that New York bans hardware stores, obviously.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#38
post #36

You don't have to buy a 3D printer, you can build one using off-the-shelf components and printed parts. The VORON printers for example, and they're beastly printers. They should appeal to the HN audience as they're completely open source and moddable.

And not to mention absolutely insane in terms of price to performance. Used Voron kit builds aren't that hard to find stateside either.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#39

That amendment is so overly broad the author should be forced to re-take some sort of how to draft bills class. It would require fingerprinting for purchases of "certain 3D printers". What does that even mean? I guess the existing law defined what "firearm" means in the context of that law, but if I was a retailer selling 3D printers, I would have some serious questions about it. My 5-year-old entry level 3D printer…

I also think the law is bad.

I do want to point out that if you want to make durable parts with a 3D printer, the easiest thing to do would be to create the part with the printer, then use it to form a mold for casting the part out of metal. Then case harden. That's the cheap and fairly easy way. I just want to point that out because I think that use case of 3D printers gets overlooked. Or you buy a fairly expensive lathe/mill.

Re: NY bill would require a criminal history check for the purchase of a 3D printer

#40

Are there any documented cases of people actually committing crimes with a 3D printed firearm?

This is almost certainly a reaction to the "Glock auto switch"[0].

They are used to convert semi-automatic Glock handguns to fully automatic (which is illegal without a tax stamp).

They are very popular with criminals (typically gangs) in the US[1].

[0] - https://www.yeggi.com/q/glock+auto+switch/

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glock_switch

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