Gun Control ...Don't Make Me Laugh - 3 D Technology And Wiki Weapons!!!!

[Selene]

    How 3D Printing Is Inflaming The Gun Control Debate

John Paul Titlow· August 29th, 2012


If you think the gun debate in the United States is heated now, technological advances are about to make it a whole lot more intense. Last week, Forbes highlighted a project called Wiki Weapon that wants to prototype the world's first fully printable gun.

In the same way that the Internet democratized publishing and the flow of information, Second Amendment advocates want to make acquiring arms as easy as downloading a file and hitting Print. Defense Distributed, the group behind Wiki Weapon, aims to raise $20,000 to buy a Stratasys 3D printer and further develop the concept. The initiative, unsurprisingly, has raised  a few eyebrows.

The project may or may not reach its goal, but the idea of a fully 3D-printable gun now seems inevitable. Last year, 3D CAD models of a lower receiver for a semiautomatic rifle sparked controversy when they popped up online. Then a gun enthusiast tried - and succeeded - to use one to fire 200 rounds of ammunition.

    When Tech Evolves Faster Than Society Can Keep Up

Wiki Weapon is just the latest - and most dramatic - example  of how technology can evolve more rapidly than do our laws and societal norms. Just as the Internet and file-sharing platforms turned copyright on its head before any of the world's legislatures and media companies knew what hit them, the already complex and tense debate over gun control may be about to take on an entirely new shape. And just as in the copyright wars, controlling the distribution of digital files is a lot more challenging than clamping down on the sale and distribution of physical goods, whether they're a bootleg DVD or a semiautomatic rifle.

Second Amendment advocates are, as always, ready for rhetorical battle. On its website, Defense Distributed draws from American history to support the notion that building firearms at home is not only legal, but is a long-standing tradition in the U.S. It confesses quite openly that Wiki Weapon "is about challenging gun control and regulation."

The legality issue isn't clear cut. It is lawful to build a firearm for personal use in the U.S., but making one out of plastic may violate a 1988 law designed to prevent people from sneaking such guns through airport security, as Wired points out.

The 3D printing revolution has been slowly unfolding for about a decade, but it's only in the last few years that it's begun to creep into mainstream awareness. It's known chiefly for common use cases like rapid prototyping and architectural modeling. But the technology is still very young. For years, there's been talk of 3D-printing everything from houses to human tissue, and those realities are inching closer. Soon enough, the list of things we'll be able to print out will grow even more mind-blowing. In the meantime, we already have plenty of complex issues with which to grapple.  

Photo by John McStravick.


http://www.readwrite...trol-debate.php

 

 

This may be the most powerful 7:58 second video you ever see ----MOVE OVER MR. GUTENBERG --- Today mass literacy - tomorrow informational liberty!

[Dglgmut]

That is incredible.

[Brant Gaede]

"information should be free--and it wants to be." Well, if you don't have to buy college textbooks, it by and large already is.

Go ahead and print out a ready-to-go cartridge full of gunpowder with a primer for my gun--never mind the gun--and I'll start to get religion on this.

For now this is just another example of someone talking not knowing what he is talking about.

--Brant

make it or shove it

[Selene]

"information should be free--and it wants to be." Well, if you don't have to buy college textbooks, it by and large already is.

Go ahead and print out a ready-to-go cartridge full of gunpowder with a primer for my gun--never mind the gun--and I'll start to get religion on this.

For now this is just another example of someone talking not knowing what he is talking about.

--Brant

make it or shove it

Brant:

There is an allegation in the article that someone did and fired 200 rounds of ammo from the download. I, also, being from Missouri, by choice, would like some solid proof.

My associate here at the house states that it is not only doable, but has been done. He has been working with a machine out back which has produced some very convincing prototypes .

We spoke about this this morning at breakfast and he is pursuing this. If he is successful I will post it.

Adam

[caroljane]

Adam, please! Stick to your crossbow!

[Brant Gaede]

"information should be free--and it wants to be." Well, if you don't have to buy college textbooks, it by and large already is.

Go ahead and print out a ready-to-go cartridge full of gunpowder with a primer for my gun--never mind the gun--and I'll start to get religion on this.

For now this is just another example of someone talking not knowing what he is talking about.

--Brant

make it or shove it

Brant:

There is an allegation in the article that someone did and fired 200 rounds of ammo from the download. I, also, being from Missouri, by choice, would like some solid proof.

My associate here at the house states that it is not only doable, but has been done. He has been working with a machine out back which has produced some very convincing prototypes .

We spoke about this this morning at breakfast and he is pursuing this. If he is successful I will post it.

Adam

Has it produced gunpowder? Primers? Cartridge cases? Assembled? They make cheap rifle knockoffs in Pakistan--or they used to--that work.

I can imagine the manufacture of (some) parts that are then thrown into a hopper and viola!--something to kill with comes out the other end.

Let's see some real 3-D printing and go from there, baby step after baby step. What that guy is talking about is not information but a revolution in manufacturing not yet demonstrated. At the most it's evolution. We can't fight off government anymore with guns. It's too hard a slog even in Syria. The future is cyber-warfare.

--Brant

my guns are for private bastards, not government bastards

[Selene]

Adam, please! Stick to your crossbow!

Too late baby!