I\u2019ve been watching this debate over 3D printed guns with some interest.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll admit I\u2019m just beginning to learn, myself, and the more I learn, the more ridiculous some of the arguments out there sound.<\/p>\n
To begin, let\u2019s get a basic understanding of what a 3D printed gun actually is.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The State Department panicked and demanded those plans be taken down from the Defense Distributed website, after the blueprint went up in 2013.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s right to publish those instructions for the 3D printable gun.<\/p>\n
The first thing to remember in all of this is that you\u2019re not going to be printing these guns off on your $60 HP Deskjet printer, at home.<\/p>\n
The mewling simps of the anti-gun set would have us believe that for every ream of printer paper, there\u2019s a veritable battalion waiting to happen.<\/p>\n
Housewives and felonious thugs, alike, will be stocking up an arsenal of unparalleled lethality.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The fear from gun control advocates is also that these \u201cguns\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just not a concern based in anything that could be deemed reality.<\/p>\n
Yes, the technology is out there, but so is the technology for pressure cookers and baseball bats \u2013 both proven to have the potential to harm \u2013 and nobody is looking to regulate them or whipping up this level of frenzied hand-wringing.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday morning,<\/a> President Trump waded into the fray, displaying a fundamental misunderstanding about the tech that rivals that of the anti-gun crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cAlready spoke to NRA, doesn\u2019t seem to make much sense!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m sure some brightly colored flash cards could help with that.<\/p>\n I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn\u2019t seem to make much sense!<\/p>\n \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n