6th May 2013, 7:58 AM
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/05/3...t-firings/
First let me state my position on gun control has shifted dramatically. I now favor Australia's approach to gun control, namely to control guns, as they proved it is effective. Digery doo.
However, technology may render ALL gun control laws impotent, forever. If people can freely "print" handguns, then gun control laws become toothless. Think about it. Copyright laws are powerless to stop piracy because anyone can do it, untraced, from inside their own homes. This is different than in the "before times" when you had to go outside to set up a bootleg "shop", which makes you instantly visible and shut down-able.
By the same token, I have recently become convinced that gun control laws in the CURRENT system ARE effective and SHOULD be implemented in America, but if 3D printing takes off, NO amount of law will EVER be able to prevent someone from just downloading the model and printing out their own handgun. You can make the model file illegal, and it won't matter at all, because it is the internet and it will still be available to everyone forever. You can make printing a home handgun illegal, and THAT won't matter, because there will be no purchase, no store, nothing but the inside of your own home, and thus NO way to EVER detect that someone has BROKEN the law, UNTIL they shoot someone, and at that point it's too late. Even that hasty law to require metal components so the gun is detectable is meaningless, as that hunk of metal can easily be omitted (and in fact will be cheaper and easier for users TO omit) and there would be NO way to tell that someone has done so, just as there would be NO possible way to detect that someone has printed a gun in the first place.
There is, however, a high note. These plastic guns currently still require real bullets, as plastic as of yet can't substitute for gunpowder or a projectile that can withstand the strain. If proposed laws are to keep their teeth in the face of this new tech threat, there are only two ways to do it. First, they could make 3D printing illegal except in monitored public spaces like a store. This would allow authorities to track WHAT is being printed, but sadly would drastically hinder the 3D printing revolution we previously thought so beneficial. The second method, which has been surprisingly absent from current proposals, is to put a much larger focus on restrictions to bullets. As prophet of our times Chris Rock has noted, guns don't kill people, it's just those dang bullets. Massive tax increase on bullet purchasing coupled with all the same proposed laws on gun sale tracking being applied to the AMMO as well would be a great step in slowing down this oncoming influx of fundamentally untraceable home made guns.
First let me state my position on gun control has shifted dramatically. I now favor Australia's approach to gun control, namely to control guns, as they proved it is effective. Digery doo.
However, technology may render ALL gun control laws impotent, forever. If people can freely "print" handguns, then gun control laws become toothless. Think about it. Copyright laws are powerless to stop piracy because anyone can do it, untraced, from inside their own homes. This is different than in the "before times" when you had to go outside to set up a bootleg "shop", which makes you instantly visible and shut down-able.
By the same token, I have recently become convinced that gun control laws in the CURRENT system ARE effective and SHOULD be implemented in America, but if 3D printing takes off, NO amount of law will EVER be able to prevent someone from just downloading the model and printing out their own handgun. You can make the model file illegal, and it won't matter at all, because it is the internet and it will still be available to everyone forever. You can make printing a home handgun illegal, and THAT won't matter, because there will be no purchase, no store, nothing but the inside of your own home, and thus NO way to EVER detect that someone has BROKEN the law, UNTIL they shoot someone, and at that point it's too late. Even that hasty law to require metal components so the gun is detectable is meaningless, as that hunk of metal can easily be omitted (and in fact will be cheaper and easier for users TO omit) and there would be NO way to tell that someone has done so, just as there would be NO possible way to detect that someone has printed a gun in the first place.
There is, however, a high note. These plastic guns currently still require real bullets, as plastic as of yet can't substitute for gunpowder or a projectile that can withstand the strain. If proposed laws are to keep their teeth in the face of this new tech threat, there are only two ways to do it. First, they could make 3D printing illegal except in monitored public spaces like a store. This would allow authorities to track WHAT is being printed, but sadly would drastically hinder the 3D printing revolution we previously thought so beneficial. The second method, which has been surprisingly absent from current proposals, is to put a much larger focus on restrictions to bullets. As prophet of our times Chris Rock has noted, guns don't kill people, it's just those dang bullets. Massive tax increase on bullet purchasing coupled with all the same proposed laws on gun sale tracking being applied to the AMMO as well would be a great step in slowing down this oncoming influx of fundamentally untraceable home made guns.