They’re 3D Printing Guns and Everybody Is Panicking (Here’s What You Need to Know)

I’ve been watching this debate over 3D printed guns with some interest.

I’ll admit I’m just beginning to learn, myself, and the more I learn, the more ridiculous some of the arguments out there sound.

To begin, let’s get a basic understanding of what a 3D printed gun actually is.

Ostensibly, these guns, printed by 3D printers, were intended to be working, plastic guns. Defense Distributed announced in 2012 that their plans for this plastic gun would be made available for download by anyone with a working 3D printer.

The State Department panicked and demanded those plans be taken down from the Defense Distributed website, after the blueprint went up in 2013.

Cody Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed brought a free speech lawsuit against the United States in 2015, and in 2018, the Department of Justice settled, recognizing Wilson’s right to publish those instructions for the 3D printable gun.

The first thing to remember in all of this is that you’re not going to be printing these guns off on your $60 HP Deskjet printer, at home.

The mewling simps of the anti-gun set would have us believe that for every ream of printer paper, there’s a veritable battalion waiting to happen.

Housewives and felonious thugs, alike, will be stocking up an arsenal of unparalleled lethality.

No. 3D printers can cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousands of dollars, and the materials used for operation are not found in the office supplies aisle of Walmart.

The fear from gun control advocates is also that these “guns” are untraceable. As I said, they have an image of a flood of guns on the streets with no way of stemming the flow or tracking them down.

That’s just not a concern based in anything that could be deemed reality.

Yes, the technology is out there, but so is the technology for pressure cookers and baseball bats – both proven to have the potential to harm – and nobody is looking to regulate them or whipping up this level of frenzied hand-wringing.

On Tuesday morning, President Trump waded into the fray, displaying a fundamental misunderstanding about the tech that rivals that of the anti-gun crowd.

“I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public,” he tweeted. “Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!”

I’m sure some brightly colored flash cards could help with that.

I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018

Some of those comments from the left are equally cringe-inducing:

“These downloadable guns are unregistered and very difficult to detect, even with metal detectors, and will be available to anyone regardless of age, mental health or criminal history. If the Trump Administration won’t keep us safe, we will,” said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D), who represents one of the eight states suing the Trump administration.

Indeed, some who are crafting these items are adding nails to them, simply because federal laws require guns be crafted in a way that they would be detectable by a metal detector, so there’s that.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also had a moment of posturing over the issue. In response to Trump’s tweet:

“Your administration approved this,” Schumer tweeted. “What kind of incompetence and dangerous governing is this? And to check with the NRA? Holy moly.”

So here is where I point out to Trump, Bob Ferguson, Chuck Schumer, Alyssa Milano, and all the handwringers out there – Functionality.

Just focus on that word and consider it, for a bit.

With any firearm, the threat is in its function, not its fashion. These 3D printed guns are no different.

The website, All3DP tackled the issue of 3D printed guns for those wrestling with their impotent fear of firearms:

It’s quite easy to produce a plastic firearm with the proper 3D files and desktop printer. But this homemade 3D printed gun is far from reliable when it comes to functionality. In fact, police testing has proven that a 3D printed gun could endanger the shooter as much as anyone else.

A firearm produced with ABS material could break apart or even potentially explode in the hands of the user when fired. Softer PLA will likely cause the parts to bend or deform after firing.

Realistically, neither ABS or PLA is ideal for producing firearms. While most 3D printed guns are made using ABS, chances are only a single shot will be able to be fired before it either breaks or fails. The reason for this is because the act of firing a bullet simply exerts too much power for most thermoplastics to withstand.

The site goes on to point out that there is the potential for metal 3D printing. It has been done, but the parts and material, as well as the type of 3D printer required is so costly, that it makes no sense for someone to throw the amount of expense required into this, when they could  get a gun from some back alley dealer with the serial numbers filed off, if they wanted, and for much cheaper.

So is this a lot of fuss over nothing?

It doesn’t hurt to be concerned. It doesn’t hurt to study up and be aware, but yes. For the time being and the current level of the technology, it really is a lot of unnecessary fuss.