Gun control

[zyxt9]

what about this:

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/12/20/n-3d-printers-make-guns.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=GM

going to be pretty damn difficult to make it impossible for 3-D printers to print up gun parts. granted one cannot make one completely out of plastic, but what parts have to be metal? the barrel and the pin, and the ammunition...i'm struggling to think of what else absolutely has to be made out of something stronger than the plastics these printers are able to use.

i get that we don't want people bringing a plastic gun on a plane. i get the restrictions they are trying to put in place. i get all of that, i just don't think they will be able to successfully stop it.

furthermore, are the new ceramic knives able to be detected by airport screening? i doubt it, and would not be surprised if terrorists haven't already tested the possibility of using them in ways similar to what they did on 9/11. only thing likely preventing that so far is they are still working on how to bring something on board to breach the cabin door.

 

[Michchamp]

I'll leave the metallurgy and science to Red, but from what I've read it's extremely difficult to make certain parts of the mechanism from plastics - especially the plastics they use in 3-D printers which melt at very low temperatures.

 

[mhughes0021]

If you give every kid in school a gun...then they would have something to protect themselves with when the Joker decides to show up one day.

 

[Michchamp]

If you give every kid in school a gun...then they would have something to protect themselves with when the Joker decides to show up one day.

sure but it would be hard to get kids to be quiet, sit still, and do their homework, unless the teacher was quicker on the draw.

 

[schles192]

Would put a new twist on the game tag.

 

[redandguilty]

I'll leave the metallurgy and science to Red, but from what I've read it's extremely difficult to make certain parts of the mechanism from plastics - especially the plastics they use in 3-D printers which melt at very low temperatures.

I'm not sure exactly what it would take, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's possible to build something that would fire once, but wouldn't be capable of firing twice. Cheap 3D printing can be about as tough as PVC.

 

[Michchamp]

I'm not sure exactly what it would take, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's possible to build something that would fire once, but wouldn't be capable of firing twice. Cheap 3D printing can be about as tough as PVC.

some of the comments to the article about printing firing mechanisms state that the article is misleading in the first place as only a few parts were even printed, and that printed materials alone would not be strong enough to contain the force from a cartridge and direct the velocity... i.e. they'd just explode in your hand.

the people proclaiming the gun control debate "over" because of printing seem to be really stretching.

 

[redandguilty]

some of the comments to the article about printing firing mechanisms state that the article is misleading in the first place as only a few parts were even printed, and that printed materials alone would not be strong enough to contain the force from a cartridge and direct the velocity... i.e. they'd just explode in your hand.

the people proclaiming the gun control debate "over" because of printing seem to be really stretching.

Without clicking the link, I wasn't really thinking of something that would look like a gun. I was thinking of a solid block with a barrel sized hole in it. Could that be strong enough to contain and direct the pressure? Pretty sure that even if it could, the firing mechanism wouldn't survive.

 

[redandguilty]

Plastic aside...metal and ceramic 3D printing is only cost prohibitive to individuals, not impossible. Researchers and companies are already doing it so this is a topic that deserves attention.