US Government shuts down 3-D printed gun maker. [Archive]

CitizenBBN

05-09-2013, 07:26 PM

ITAR is a little known example of the power of international treaties and their impact on issues like gun ownership in the US. It's being cited here as the reason this information is somehow under the control of the Federal government, it has been used by State to control the importation of guns like WWII era Garands, and is a blueprint for the fears many of us have about the UN Small Arms Treaty.

To be a gun manufacturer, even a small guy just making custom pieces for people, you have to be licensed under ITAR and pay them some pretty hefty fees (start at $2,500 a year IIRC), and it's nothing more than a foreign treaty that is reaching back into US civilian activities. Rapid prototyping/3D printing is only going to get more affordable and widespread, and if anyone thinks they can prevent someone from making a gun with one they're deluding themselves. Any more than they can prevent making knives or anything else.

The internet tries to disseminate power and knowledge to the widest group possible, and governments try to reign it back in under their control.

Wilson is like my crazy half brother in a lot of ways. I stopped short of the anarcho-capitalism he embraces, but he's basically a radical libertarian who wants to push the limits of government control. He's now setting up to disseminate 3D plans for medical devices the FDA hasn't approved or requires physicians etc. to approve for use, so it's not just about guns, it's about using information to undermine government control.

Best article I've found on it is from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/05/meet-the-liberator-test-firing-the-worlds-first-fully-3d-printed-gun/

From a gun standpoint it's interesting, but a long way from a major advance in the ability to smuggle a gun on a plane, etc. If anyone saw the Clint Eastwood movie "In the Line of Fire" they saw a homemade ceramic gun that is completely plausible to build and has been for decades. This is the same version of that, just done with computer skills instead of making molds and doing the drilling yourself in the garage. In fact, anyone with a little effort has been able to do this since ceramics and two part polymers have been available. The gun in The Line of Fire was in fact superior in many ways.

This one is all ABS plastic, and the barrel/chamber held up to firing a 380, but blew up on a rifle round. Per the Forbes article he got about 10 rounds of .380 out of one before it was damaged beyond use. To help it survived they reduced friction by slightly melting the inside with acetone fumes, which I assume means it had no lans or grooves which means it's horribly, and I mean HORRIBLY, inaccurate. I'm talking about being off inches in just a few feet if there's no spin being put on the bullet. No more deadly than the homemade ones you seen being done even in prisons.

The point being there are a LOT easier ways to have a gun of this capability, which means the chance of a terrorist taking advantage of such a thing is slim and the chance of a street felon is almost nil. Now someone could make them illegally and sell them to said felons, but they are almost one time use right now and it's not like there is any shortage of stolen real guns for them to buy. A setup to do that wouldn't be very profitable and such guns recovered at a crime scene would stand out pretty clearly and be easily investigated. Somewhere there would be a refrigerator sized 3D printer, a high end machine running CAD, buckets of polymer components, etc. A lot of work when you can just break into people's homes and steal them.

it's like the gun show thing. More fear than reality.

ITAR however is very real, and very scary. Not only is it a law with lots of authority very few know about, it's a foreign treaty that allows other nations to influence how we treat privacy, gun ownership, intellectual property, etc. FWIW Wilson got his manufacturers license and complied with all the laws in making the gun. DoD is shutting down the site based on his designs being obtainable by foreigners without ITAR approved export licensing. Since that's the nature of the net, they're arguing ITAR would prohibit any gun designs from being uploaded on the net, even if they dont' quite know it.