The Terrifying Reality of 3-D Printers

The idea of a 3-D Printer is nothing new in today’s society. In 3D printing, additive processes are used, in which successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. 3-D printers have unlimited capabilities, including building houses and producing food. Although we tend to think of the big picture, other day-to-day objects can be made with a 3-D printer. About 2 years ago in May 2013 the world’s first gun made with a 3-D printer was unveiled.

Ever since the first 3-D printed gun was created, advancements have been successful. I attached a video below of the man, Cody Wilson, who has received much attention for his innovation. About two years ago, Cody Wilson published his blueprints of the Liberator pistol, for others to create their own guns. The major controversy surrounding the subject is the commonality of shootings in the United States and if this innovation will supplement to the already high numbers.

This controversy has become monumental, already becoming a landmark lawsuit making it to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Wilson was ordered to remove the blueprints from the Internet, due to the international export of unapproved firearms. Later, Wilson filed a lawsuit claiming that the State Department’s order was a violation of his First Amendment rights. Although many see this as a Second Amendment issue, this case will make precedent for the 3-D Printing industry as a whole. Do you think it should be legal to 3-D print firearms at home? Will 3-D printers have to block certain blueprints from being used? Do you agree that this is a First or Second Amendment issue?

 

4 thoughts on “The Terrifying Reality of 3-D Printers

  1. The risks to legal systems posed by 3D printing depend on the degree of democratization of manufacturing. For products that are unlikely to be 3D printed away form control, the law will probably continue to work effectively, much as it does today for traditional manufacturing methods.

    The democratization of manufacturing may threaten applicable law in any industry where 3D printing can be used to make parts and products, including consumer products, aerospace, automotive, and health care etc. Especially, 3D printing has important impact in health care, domestic and offshore black markets and other types of 3D printing away from control could result from democratized manufacturing, and therefore threaten the potency of laws related the healthcare products.

    I think 3D printing should be lightly regulated, because it enables precisely the kind of creation and progress of the useful arts and sciences that intellectual property is supposed to foster.

  2. I’d have to also say that printing 3D guns should not be legal, at least as of now. There are too many problems that can arise from this, despite the benefits. The fact that you can print them without registering it gives the wrong type of people too much power for something bad to happen. However, since the design has already been released, it seems hard for it to come off the internet completely. With saying all of this, I found a quote from Michael Weinberg with a good point, “3D printers are a general-purpose technology—these machines allow you to make anything. So it is inevitable that, just as people use things they can buy in a hardware store to do bad things, or use a computer and a phone to commit all sorts of crimes, it’s likely that someone will use a 3D printer to do something illegal.” It”ll be impossible to keep everyone from doing something bad, but I still think making it legal will only increase gun violence.

  3. I agree with the previous comment that guns should not allowed to be printed. The only way that I could see 3-D guns becoming something legal is if there was some way of registering them before you printed them so that the state or federal government has a record of who printed off the gun. In the event that that gun was used for a crime it could be treated just as a normal gun with records and all.

  4. I believe it should not be legal to print 3D firearms at home. As it is, the United States already has many issues with their gun control. By being able to print guns at home using 3D printers, this would drastically increase the amount of firearms in the United States. As long as you had the proper blueprints to create a firearms, you could create as many as you wanted without having to go through a series of background checks and other safety precautions. There’s also a chance that people wouldn’t register these guns which would make them untraceable if a shooting were to occur.As far as I see it, this will only lead to more gun violence in the United States.

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