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US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

on3dprinting.com

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Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#51

Post by vidarh »

hoi wrote: post #44
redthrowaway wrote: post #27

Meanwhile, I grabbed it off TPB and, judging by the number of seeds, was hardly the first to think of doing so. Why the USG thinks it can put the cat back in the bag is beyond me.

they're adding hurdles, the more friction involved in the process the lower the conversion rate for the amount of people who will have the template.

Except that's not how it works with this. They've now incentivised a lot of people who'd never, ever care to download it just because it's been taken down, and brought massively more attention to it.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#52

Post by vidarh »

kamkazemoose wrote: post #11

This makes me wonder what kind of regulations the 3d printing industry will face. It makes me wonder if 3d printer software might be forced to not print pieces it recognizes as a gun similar to how ink printers won't print images of money. Or some other restrictions on printing It seems unlikely that the government will be happy with people printing anything they want.

The problem is the range of projects aimed at making 3D-printers that can replicate the parts for itself. Any restrictions will see people designing plans for innocent looking components that can be used to assemble a restriction-free 3D-printer. It's a losing proposition to try to restrict this. They may succeed at delaying widescale adoption for a while, but not much more.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#53

Post by huhtenberg »

nostromo wrote: post #13

"While I am as impressed as anyone with 3-D printing technology and I believe it has amazing possibilities," said California state senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), "we must ensure that it is not used for the wrong purpose with potentially deadly consequences. I plan to introduce legislation that will ensure public safety and stop the manufacturing of guns that are invisible to metal detectors and that…

What would be a better way to handle this situation?

(edit) I'm not saying that this is the best option. The government is tasked with ensuring public safety and this is an issue with major public safety repercussions. They cannot just sit and watch this unfold, and what this guy said is basically the most obvious way of dealing with the situation.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#54

Post by Schlaefer »

shitlord wrote: post #48
Schlaefer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is nothing new, only the newly digitized weapon de jour is changing. Remember back in the nineties when exporting encryption was the hot topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy#Criminal_in...

The only actual difference being that cryptography never killed anyone...

You don't have to kill someone in line of sight with it to argue that a technology is a vital military asset. Nor has it to be its sole purpose.

PS: Obligatory Enigma reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra

PPS: I'm not saying encryption should regulated by the government.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#55

Post by jayrobin »

msgilligan wrote: post #21

$100 to the first person that can encode the plans on a t-shirt (but you have to send me a shirt)

A QR code can store 2,953 bytes. If you were just encoding compressed vertex data it might be enough (depending on the complexity of the model - I haven't seen it myself).

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#56

Post by michaelfeathers »

huhtenberg wrote: post #53
nostromo wrote: post #13

"While I am as impressed as anyone with 3-D printing technology and I believe it has amazing possibilities," said California state senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), "we must ensure that it is not used for the wrong purpose with potentially deadly consequences. I plan to introduce legislation that will ensure public safety and stop the manufacturing of guns that are invisible to metal detectors and that…

What would be a better way to handle this situation? (edit) I'm not saying that this is the best option. The government is tasked with ensuring public safety and this is an issue with major public safety repercussions. They cannot just sit and watch this unfold, and what this guy said is basically the most obvious way of dealing with the situation.

Reconciling themselves to the inevitable, perhaps? That is too much to expect from any government, however.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#57

Post by gjulianm »

confluence wrote: post #29

People do realise that improvised firearms are actually nothing new right? They've been around for ages - indeed 3D printed versions are vastly inferior to their machine shop counter parts which have been used quite effectively in the past for various political and gang related assassinations. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm They should probably ban flash lights as well.

But that's not the same. Printing a 3D gun is relatively easy: download the design, print it, and that's it (more or less). With an improvised firearm, you have to search the design, get the materials, build it, and unless you're experienced the gun probably won't work.

For me, it's like saying "we should not control gunpowder sales because you can make gunpowder at home". Silly example, I know, but you get my point.

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#58

Post by andyjohnson0 »

nostromo wrote: post #13

"While I am as impressed as anyone with 3-D printing technology and I believe it has amazing possibilities," said California state senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), "we must ensure that it is not used for the wrong purpose with potentially deadly consequences. I plan to introduce legislation that will ensure public safety and stop the manufacturing of guns that are invisible to metal detectors and that…

Are you saying he's dumb for wanting to restrict gun fabrication , or dumb for thinking that legislation will work when the information is already on the net?

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#59

Post by huhtenberg »

michaelfeathers wrote: post #56
huhtenberg wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be a better way to handle this situation? (edit) I'm not saying that this is the best option. The government is tasked with ensuring public safety and this is an issue with major public safety repercussions. They cannot just sit and watch this unfold, and what this guy said is basically the most obvious way of dealing with the situation.

Reconciling themselves to the inevitable, perhaps? That is too much to expect from any government, however.

Elaborate, please. In practical terms.

  A month from now here are the measures in place to 
  reduce the public safety risk of this development: 

  *write here*

Re: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

#60

Post by lucian1900 »

duncan_bayne wrote: post #46
ck2 wrote: post #32

What's going to be hilarious is when the NRA works against homemade guns because they don't actually represent gun owners but gun manufacturers and people finally start getting the point of lobbyists. Going to get some popcorn and watch y'all fight each other over who gets to have the most toys to accidentally kill their friends and family with.

Can I just upvote the first line of your reply?

Surely you can appreciate that most of the world considers the American obsession with guns absurd :)

Most countries have strict gun laws and the people are fine with that. Banning 3D gun models is still stupid though, especially in a country with such high gun availability.

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