Oh noes!!!!!!!!!! Pretty cool, but the anti gun nuts are going to have a field day with this.
Student constructs handgun using a 3-D printer
June 03, 2013
by c_philipp
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A 25-year-old law student in Texas has successfully printed and fired a single-shot handgun using a 3-D printer — a development that will likely have far-reaching impacts on the gun-control debate. Cody Wilson’s prototype, coined “The Liberator,” was manufactured from ABS plastic, except for a nail fashioned into a firing pin. The demo took place on May 1st, when a commercially manufactured .380 cartridge was successfully fired, immediately giving rise to a compelling question: What if a terrorist sneaks a plastic gun aboard an airplane?
In August 2012, Wilson launched Defense Distributed, a startup that plans to provide schematics for a working gun that could be downloaded and reproduced by anyone around the globe with a 3-D printer. The gun consists of 15 plastic parts and needs only a single metal pin to ignite the primer. It took just 24 hours for the 3-D printer to produce the parts.
Within hours after the schematic of the gun was uploaded to a website the U.S. State Department requested it be removed. Defense Distributed complied and will fight their case in court. However, before the plans were removed a flurry of downloads had already taken place. If someone wants to obtain plans for a 3-D gun, no doubt those plans could eventually be located.
The prototype is a monstrosity but weapon enthusiasts around the world are already discussing new designs and components. It won’t be long before improved designs incorporating harder materials are uploaded on websites around the world. Some would-be inventors are already talking about plastic bullets and casings and special powders for an all-plastic gun. Obviously a Pandora’s box has been opened and no one really knows how all this will play out.
These developments have stirred a beehive of debate on all sides of the gun-control controversy. New York Sen. Charles Schumer chimed in, describing the development as “stomach-churning.” When the time arrives that anyone with access to a 3-D printer could make a gun, we know we’ve entered a new era in gun control both home and abroad.