Comments on: The world’s first 3D-printed gun is a terrifying thing

By: Gallery 31

Gallery 31 — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:56:52 +0000

We just put together a show at Corcoran’s Gallery 31 in Washington DC that really relates to this topic. The exhibit’s titled “Manifest: Armed”, and a lot of the work deals with issues surrounding American gun culture. The artists involved are Sarah Frost, the collective SmithBeatty, and Julian Oliver.

Check it out if you’re interested! It runs August 8-September 2. http://www.corcoran.org/exhibitions/manifest-armed

By: Brad

Brad — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:39:33 +0000

Then why do they cost $400 plus here? I want a $50 AK.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:57:49 +0000

…..U.S. gun laws may already be useless (at least to criminals) before anything changed with 3d printing…

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:55:49 +0000

….maybe they can print the zombies with 3d printers… (print the biological viruses needed for zombies).

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 18:53:42 +0000

…reply to peter… I think you could print out the parts to make a bike with your 3d printer… that video you shared was really cool…but was made with cardboard, so I think the idea was to not need a printer… just some hard work and left over boxes… I am guessing there is a lot of time to make one, even if you have the plans and could follow them well. A very cool parent/child project for sure! This kid is amazing with cardboard for example http://www.facebook.com/cainesarcade

By: Mr.x

Mr.x — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 13:46:55 +0000

@ Cybernettr: Conservatives don’t?Btw generalizations have their use, too-For example, there are some things one better abstains from saying to certain groups.

@topic: Maybe sometime people can download the stuff they need, e.g tools.That will properly lead to new attempts to regulate the internet more strictly because of “hard warez”.

By: Face

Face — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:10:07 +0000

A prediction is something that occurs BEFORE something else exists. For example, the Marc Goodmin video is dated July 12th, whereas the blogpost is dated July 1st.

By: Cybernettr

Cybernettr — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:43:43 +0000

Japan is also very restrictive about who it allows into the country and has an immigration policy that many would consider “racist.”

By: Cybernettr

Cybernettr — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:39:49 +0000

Why are liberal always making sweeping generalizations?

By: Peter Simmons

Peter Simmons — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:23:16 +0000

So useful, the world needs more guns! Better to use the technology to print something useful like this http://www.eta.co.uk/2012/07/20/thief-proof-cardboard-bicycle-too-cheap-steal

By: dirk bruere

dirk bruere — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:15:57 +0000

I would be more impressed if it had printed the barrel and receiver – those are the hard bits.

By: gaoptimize

gaoptimize — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:02:20 +0000

The number of comments in response to this article is astounding. You feel it in your hearts. It is time to arm up if you hope to survive the coming economic collapse. Half the population is completelly dependent on infrastructure that will quickly cease functioning when the .gov money stops. Prepare for unforeseen consequences.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 05:53:39 +0000

Wicked cool, now if the zombie apocalypse comes I can just build myself an arsenal :)

By: Chazzz

Chazzz — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:57:01 +0000

What a bunch of f*cking morons. Same bunch of morons thought Glocks could pass through metal detectors without setting them off. You all demonstrate just as much ignornce of the law. Those of you poking at eachothers political parties are the dumbest of the lot if you actually believe one or the other is going to save our country.

By: Bri

Bri — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:43:55 +0000

Crime has taken advantage of every tech development, science Cain slew Able. It’s not leading to this, they are intertwined paths. Polarized as opposites. It’s the motivating or energizing forces that drive it. The war on crime, the war on drugs, etc. Saw a documentary on tattoos. They interviewed a prison warden. He said, we have the keys, they’re under constant survalence. If they get caught with a new tattoo, it’s solitary confinment. If they get caught with the equipment, it’s solitaire. If they give a tattoo it’s solitaire. We can’t stop them from doing it. What’s the driving force for tattoos? A sense of belonging, a group, an us that’s against them. Polarization! Strange game the only way to win is not to play. Don’t play opposites. Play another game. See the other side. Understand the driving forces. Seek common ground and build bridges, not a better means of gloating over your advasaries demise.

By: egore

egore — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:25:10 +0000

Since most of the parts used are plastic at this time, probably the worst situation would be smuggling them through airports and such. That is not to say that in the future they will come up with a more substantual material to use.

By: Sean Brazell

Sean Brazell — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:20:19 +0000

Considering the global population figures, I doubt we will be wiping each other out of existence any time soon.

By: Bri

Bri — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:58:07 +0000

Life is a bowl of cherries. You can’t just dig in. They all have pits!!

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:18:45 +0000

Why are “conservatives” (ha!) always so nasty? But the question answers itself.

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:12:46 +0000

Turing and Godel proved that even a “non-ultra” intelligence is uncontainable. There is no tech fix for human nastiness. It appears that, as in the past, we face nothing but pain and danger ahead, punctuated by moments of beauty and joy. That is human life, take it or leave it… no, just kidding, you can’t leave it. Suicide is too cruel to others. Life is mostly pretty sickening, but take comfort: in a short time we will all be gone.

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:56:47 +0000

Insightful.

By: Ralph Dratman

Ralph Dratman — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:54:26 +0000

In the U.S., one can legally manufacture all the other gun parts without any controls. Only the lower receiver is regulated. The assumption is that without a precision-machined firing chamber, the rest of the gun might as well be a toy, a work of art or just a useless collection of materials. Accurate home manufacturing of tiny parts might make all current U.S. gun laws useless. However, I doubt that would matter much, since there are so many loopholes in today’s laws that any person determined to lay hands on a projectile weapon can quickly procure whatever he/she desires.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:22:25 +0000

….how about reset it for 5 minutes every time I need it…..instead of count down to zero….. or if I am still in edit mode, don’t kill my last edit as happens now. Why have a 5 min. limit?

By: MatthewQ

MatthewQ — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:21:13 +0000

Could have also read:

Done. Thanks. Sorry.

By: MatthewQ

MatthewQ — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:08:12 +0000

Very good link- thanks for posting that.

By: melajara

melajara — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:40:39 +0000

Your logic is twisted too, as MASS killing with a knife or even with an axe is almost impossible. With a set of guns, it’s all TOO EASY.

Granted, those mass killing “incidents” are a tiny proportion of all crimes, nevertheless they make a terrible impression.

By: CaptCaveman

CaptCaveman — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:25:09 +0000

Looking at the remains of various digs, we’ve been killing at other since we were chipping flint, we’re just getting a lot more efficient about it. Now we are at the point where it’s a competition to see if we can stop killing each other before we wipe ourselves out.

By: Patrick H

Patrick H — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 21:23:10 +0000

More control will never solve it. Providing people the tools to be healthy will address this issue, and threats will certainly not have the desired effect. To fix this issue, you have to help people heal from the damages we all inevitably receive by functioning in a very flawed world, unhealthiness and ignorance are the only things that generate thoughts and emotions leading to the use of weapons against another, this is an idea that has been around for thousands of years in wisdom traditions, and is confirmed by modern neurochemistry. Spending any amount of scarce public funding perpetuating control and surveillance instead of on health, energy, education, medical research, and basic necessities is the real psychotic behavior.

By: Rance Mohanitz

Rance Mohanitz — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:53:28 +0000

You sleep a lot, DeBee.

By: Locke

Locke — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 20:26:59 +0000

Take a look at gun ownership vs. violent gun crime in Switzerland.

Then look at trends over time for gun violence in northern Europe (very strict gun control) vs. the same trends in the US (semi-relaxed gun control.)

If you are not exhausted googling at this point, look up gun violence, gun legislation and legal gun ownership statistics for various US states and compare them to each other. You will be surprised at what you find.

The numbers and countries you pulled up are at the extremes of either end and a snapshot in time.

This remains a cultural issue rather than a legislative issue.

By: Bri

Bri — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:34:37 +0000

Honduras and El Savadore fought a war over a soccer match once. Weapons of destruction abound. The problem is man’s violent nature. Everything is so polarized and charged.

By: Jordan Viray

Jordan Viray — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:22:24 +0000

That’s hardly “the world’s first 3D-printed gun” if he didn’t print the barrel, chamber and bolt. It’s like printing a car chassis without printing the engine and calling it a car.

By: egore

egore — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:37:59 +0000

Homemade atomic weapons………………………….

By: Eric Smith

Eric Smith — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:23:47 +0000

“there are more things you can build with 3d printers”

There are both more and fewer things. 3D printers are good for some things and lousy for others. Same with CNC. If I could only have one or the other, I think a CNC mill is actually more broadly useful. However, it takes more training to use.

By: Eric Smith

Eric Smith — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:21:40 +0000

“The slightest sign of dangerous behavior will get you locked up and treated until you’re a safe and good person again.”

As predicted in Ray Bradbury’s 1951 short story “The Pedestrian”.

By: Hudi124

Hudi124 — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:09:13 +0000

Just terrible logic, and misinterpretation of statistics. The crime rate as a WHOLE is much higher in the US than in Japan, and would be even if you were to remove gun-related crimes. To compare such numbers without proper context is ignorant at best, at worst downright deceptive.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 17:03:21 +0000

…. and that as the worlds quality of daily living goes up the need to hurt others will go down.

That’s our onlly hope, GatorAllin

By: rob falgiano

rob falgiano — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:40:36 +0000

Weapon proliferation or even home manufacture is easy. Our security will depend upon effective intelligence that roots out potential militias from organizing around homemade weapons manufacture.

By: rob falgiano

rob falgiano — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:39:18 +0000

I’ll have to say good luck on ‘containable.’ I already feel it is inevitable that an ultra-intelligence is going to make some of our future decisions for us. Should be interesting…

By: Marc Johnson

Marc Johnson — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:17:48 +0000

Sure…but with a metal stamping device and a few templates you can mass produce guns at a cost much less than 3d printing….just ask the east Europeans who have been doing so for the mid-east and Africa since WWII…

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:15:08 +0000

…this was funny…. but it does open up new “what-if’s” Obviously 3d printers will get better… easier to use… so a guy figures out how to sneak bullets past airport security and somehow assembles bullets inside an airport. His other buddy sneaks in components to almost make a gun…. the parts seen separately are not seen as any possible threat…. they 3d print the remaining parts inside the airport and assemble the guns there…. I am sure there are stronger “what if” scenarios scarier or more realistic than this (remember they took over those planes with only box cutters, that were legal at that time!)

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:11:00 +0000

….Japan has never had guns…so assuming you could just make a law and get to where the Japanese are with gun control ….is about as foolish an idea as comparing their number of suicides to ours…. and suggesting they intact laws to change their idea of Shame and dishonor.

By: GatorALLin

GatorALLin — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:06:23 +0000

…. I agree CNC mills around for a long time… but I think the cool factor for 3d printing will get in more hands…. and there are more things you can build with 3d printers…. and cost of 3d printers is in the $500-$900 range when just a few years ago they were 10K and up. We have not seen the drop in high quality CNC machine prices for home use like has happened for 3d printers. I wonder if 3d printers will have combo kits available soon, so you add metal pins or metal pieces you can build into any future design… kinda like legos for 3d printers so you add metal where you need it…? I agree that the genetic lab fear is even more serious… I think as a society we have been lucky that there has not been more creative/smart terrorists that are active in the USA and as the knowledge to do more advances things gets to be available for almost free…. it will be interesting to watch what happens with that info. My only hope on this matter is that the extreme religious groups are easier to spot and monitor…. and that as the worlds quality of daily living goes up the need to hurt others will go down.

By: John

John — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:03:37 +0000

I want to print anything from the videogame Grand Theft Auto. Heh heh.

By: Chrispium

Chrispium — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:57:59 +0000

2008 numbers: Japan vs. USA
Killed by guns:……. 11 … 12000
Population in mio: 127 …… 306
Gun restriction works… lots!

By: Hieronymus

Hieronymus — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:55:39 +0000

The 3D printing of guns, organs and drugs; a 3D black market? A creative idea [novelty] is at times accompanied with the possibility of falling into the phenomenon of habit, i.e. mankind’s habit to take something creative and turn it into something destructive. The theory is that as human beings progress at, well, being more human, novelty increases and habit decreases. Without the pursuit of creativity, mankind becomes stagnant and that could become habit forming.

By: DeBee Corley

DeBee Corley — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:52:58 +0000

Gee, a man made a weapon.
Wake me when he builds a robot army with a Swiss Army Knife.

By: Chrispium

Chrispium — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:51:15 +0000

Kalashnikovs in Afghanistan can be gotten for about $50

By: Chrispium

Chrispium — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:49:32 +0000

With the right kinds of plastics or ceramics you wont need steel

By: Brock

Brock — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:18:06 +0000

The future will have lots of threats – 3D printed guns, designer bio-viruses, “chemputer” sarin gas, etc. There’s no way to control them all.

Which is why I predict that future societies will have VERY strict laws on emotional health and psychological stability. The slightest sign of dangerous behavior will get you locked up and treated until you’re a safe and good person again.