Hasnt it always been legal down there to make yourself a gun through any means?

I mean, they say that the equipment for 3d printing is extremely expensive, and takes a lot of knowledge to make one, get the programming right, etc.

Kind of like operating a lathe right? A functional gun is somewhat simple to make with the right knowledge...Is this just a liberal scare tactic? A nonsensical bugaboo used as a talking point to try and ban more objects?

It is a scare tactic. Convievably the printer makes it capable for any idiot who knows how to plug in a machine to manufacture a firearm. Whoopity do.

so, what they are saying is skilled people can make guns, and less skilled ones cant.

Last time i checked the second applied to everyone

I think it’s a load of bull, I’ve never even seen a 3D printer. Let alone know how to use one.

Just my 2 cents.

I still remember the big Glock scare the MSM reported back then, plastic guns that metal detectors won't pick up on, it still has a steel barrel on it.

The 3d guns have springs to function also not sure how that reads on a walk threw detector. Gangs in Chicago back in the day made zip guns out of wood and car antenna many years ago. A .22 round, a hollow antenna, a piece of wood and a rubber band and nail!

yes it has always been legal in the US to make a 50 cal or smaller semi-auto or manually actuated gun for your personal use.

3-d printing is stupid easy the kids are doing it in school

designing the cad files is a little harder but not that bad , just cumbersome if your an old paper trained drafter.\

3-d printers are way down in price about 300-400 dollars for one that could turn out a half way decent AR lower as an example however if you have a jig and a router you could be completing 80% lowers tomorrow for a little less money

there are also mini cnc mills now available 1300 dollars , the cad file and a 80% lower and you can be turning out AR lowers at a rate of a few a day , so if you formed a co-op and everyone kicked in 50 dollars and bought a couple 40 dollar 80% castings you could take turns letting the little mill cut you finished lowers.


personally I have a bit more fear of a guy walking down the street with a gas can in one hand and the lighter in the other.

guns are a tool and if you know enough to build and use one you could have killed 50 people with a knife in the time it took you to build your gun.

the judgment was not about printing guns or making guns , the issue was that the FED was trying to say that cad files were guns and not speech and therefor prohibited from export and could not be shared publicly or openly on the internet . the judgment confirms that a cad file or firearms plans are speech and thus protected and free to share.

the media has very misrepresented what this was but hey if they told you it was not about guns but free speech they would look like the hypocrites they are

Kids in high school drafting class can pretty much print anything they can draw using CAD software with a 3d modeling capabilities. Bright kids can do some amazing things with a fairly simple 3d printer. If they can't draft well enough, they can buy canned programs and use somebody else's work.

CAD software, Cnc machines, and 3d printing can do amazing things.

I believe directed energy weapons will soon be on the civilian market (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon). These kinds of weapons are where 3d printers will shine (no pun intended). The quality of firearm coming from 3d printers is sub optimal to say the least. I believe the 2nd amendment applies to all arms, even ones not yet invented.

It's all a bunch of Democrat BS. It has been illegal since 1988 to manufacture a firearm that is "undetectable" .

Yah, and criminals would never do something illegal.

If or when the technology gets to a place where you or I can affordably make personal firearms, you can bet the first group to push for legislation banning that capability will be firearm manufacturers.

I see a ghost gun in more then a factory so one unless I become a hit man I'd stick with a regular gun!

My point was.....the round is still metallic and detectable. Why pass another law when we already have one that addresses the situation? We all know the answer to that.

Wonder how many just blow up and how accurate are they with no rifling?

Since they are made of ABS plastic I have looked into that and several designs just blow up, however one design manages to shoot reliably. Accuracy is likely only minute of watermelon at twenty feet, but the one design you see online at least functions and doesnt remove the operators hand.

Someone above said that untraceable guns were always illegal. So if you machine a barrel, chamber, firing pin and trigger mechanism, you are legal if you stamp a serial number on it? So why can 3d printed guns just have a serial number to make them "traceable"?

You would think a .22 would be easier to contain pressure wise then say a 9MM round.

And that is part of my concern. If they can't detect the gun will we have to have a background check to buy brass-loaded or empty?

Here Hutchy, this answers your question.....
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/does-individual-need-license-make-firearm-personal-use

Still going to show up on a X-ray machine (Airport) just the gun won't set off a metal detector but the ammo would you would think!