While "The Liberator" (one of the first 3d printed guns) was interesting as a test of the technology and what it means for the law, I don't know if I'd trust using one to not blow up in my hands. Pretty sure you could assemble a zip gun in a Home Depot (they even sell cartridges for powder-actuated tools) that's less dangerous for you, more dangerous downrange.
It is a total mystery how the Washington bill's cited "blocking technology" is supposed to work. If you load a pipe-shaped object into your CAM software, how the hell is it supposed to know if it's an illegal firearm part or just a manifold? Maybe before each time it generates some G-code, you need to submit a signed affidavit to the government, and they'll conduct an investigation. Three months later you can print your fidget spinner.
I think the designs have advanced a lot since the first but what hasn't changed is that printed guns are mostly for hobbyists while criminals mostly use normal guns.
Currently, building a ghost gun is merely a matter of loading the right files into the appropriate software, purchasing the necessary materials, and beginning the printing process. The assembly instructions are as straightforward as building a Lego set.
Do we really want that?
Every day, people are actually murdered with these guns.
While they may not be more dangerous than a 1911 made in the jungles of the Philippines, acquiring a traditional firearm requires engaging with real people, which gives law enforcement a better chance to intercept someone before they can commit acts of violence with an illegal firearm.
What this bill does is not make it impossible to build a firearm with the available technology, instead, it raises the entry point beyond what the average American can navigate.
Let's be honest. Many of the individuals printing guns aren't doing it out of curiosity but to use them criminally. These individuals typically have a 30-second TikTok attention span, minimal resilience to failure, and little to no physical skills. Most of them have likely already been incarcerated and are therefore prohibited from legally purchasing firearms.
By creating a database of unique hashes for the publicly accessible printing files, we would deny about 95% of those individuals access to easily obtainable illegal firearms.
This list can be updated by authorities whenever someone modifies a public file needed to print a firearm, and with online access, similar to many normal printers, it could even alert law enforcement when someone tries to print these files.
This approach enhances safety for everyone, as guns, legal or not, shouldn't be in the hands of irresponsible individuals. Regardless of your views on firearm possession, I believe we can all agree on that point.
If you possess the skills to modify those files to make them printable, you must be smart enough to recognize that printing a gun, unless it’s purely as a project to build and then destroy for the sake of personal achievement, is inherently a foolish idea.
Additionally, the Liberator design had a singular purpose, it was inspired by French resistance fighters who needed just one bullet to take out Nazis and then acquire their well-functioning, fully loaded submachine guns.
This allowed them to kill more Nazis and obtain more weapons for their resistance efforts.
The U.S. is not currently under Nazi occupation, and law enforcement already faces significant challenges. They shouldn't have to worry about every individual they encounter potentially possessing an untraceable firearm, which may even resist fingerprint identification.
Society owes it to those risking their lives daily to keep the community safe. A world in which anyone can press a button and create their own unregulated, untraceable firearm is not safe for any of us.
> This list can be updated by authorities whenever someone modifies a public file needed to print a firearm, and with online access, similar to many normal printers, it could even alert law enforcement when someone tries to print these files.
Not really, we use a similar system for court ordered DNS blocks.
So to get on that DNS blocklist they need probable cause and a federal judge reviewing the request.
So if your 3D printer is no longer printing anything that is not illegal to print, you can always contact a journalist or tell the public on whatever channel you choose to that they are blocking a file/object that is not prohibited and provide video evidence.
That doesn’t guarantee the file gets unblocked, but if they want the system to be publicly accepted, both sides have to play by the rules, and with transparency comes trust in institutions.
Same if they abuse the system to get notified whenever you print something that is not illegal. They do it once, and then that whole project is toast.
the cuii list blocked a person's blog for reporting the existence of the cuii list - the person who created cuiiliste.de - and yet the cuii list still exists and is not toast.
I respect your opinion and I think you have a very healthy view on what freedom means and how much influence the government should have on your life.
If I read comments like yours it reminds me whom I fought for, and in a perfect world you should be able to print as many guns as you desire. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world.
I don’t need to persuade you that my solution for this problem is the best or even worth pursuing, it probably isn’t and I never think I’m the smartest person in the room. I just say this is how it’s technically possible, because the person I replied to asked about how it could even be done.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to exchange thoughts with me. Take care and stay a free and independent human being.
I should mention that I don't even have a 3D printer or a CNC machine. I'll be in my fifties soon and maybe I get grumpy, but I sometimes have the feeling that more and more aspects of our lives fall under a law of some sort, down to very precise details. It's death of freedom by a thousand paper cuts. And it's always in the name of a good thing, of course. But in the end, it's really taking responsability away from the people.
It is a total mystery how the Washington bill's cited "blocking technology" is supposed to work. If you load a pipe-shaped object into your CAM software, how the hell is it supposed to know if it's an illegal firearm part or just a manifold? Maybe before each time it generates some G-code, you need to submit a signed affidavit to the government, and they'll conduct an investigation. Three months later you can print your fidget spinner.