Ahead of writing up this brief report the best I can promise is that I will try REALLY hard to stay objective …..
So in the last few hours this link has been sent to me ‘a few’ times. It’s getting, and will get, a great deal of attention over the next week or two, because what it reveals is that Cody Wilson, controversial person #1 in 3DP land and founder of Defense Distributed, is one step away from completing his stated mission of producing a fully 3D printed hand gun. Fully that is, with one tiny exception, the firing pin, which is made of metal.
According to Greenberg the last step this coming week involves some final testing to prove it will “work reliably” [biting tongue so hard I think it’s bleeding!] and the files are then subsequently uploaded to Defcad.org.
The gun is called, wait for it, “the Liberator” [biting even harder] and comprises 16 3D printed parts plus the pin. Apparently it also contains a wad of metal in its body but this is only to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act that Wilson has to meet as a legal gun manufacturer with a federal firearms license and has nothing whatsoever to do with the operation or function of the gun itself.
Greenberg also outlines the 8 month development, controversy and outright opposition that Wilson has faced since founding Defense Distributed. While there is a great deal of opposition, there are others that defend what he is doing to the hilt, take for example Jason Doege, who submitted this comment to 3DPI a couple of days ago in response to one of Mike’s articles that suggested Wilson was making the world a scarier place with his project: “I don’t think what people like Cody are doing is making the world a scarier place. What they are doing is exposing how scary the world really is to improve the quality of discourse. Cody is doing what most anyone could do if they were so inclined. What he is “really” doing is doing what he is doing in the light of day, in clear sight of us all, so we can better understand some of the ramifications of 3D printing technology.”
This is going to rumble on, and on ……
Source & Image credit: Forbes
This may just be the answer to the communist leaning governments of the planet. They do not want you to BUY a Gun, just print your own!
Being skeptical, I found this helpful:
http://www.zdnet.com/no-you-cant-download-a-gun-from-the-internet-7000002108/
I am so tired and exasperated with how much press this issue is getting. Guns are exceedingly simple machines. Anyone with basic aptitude and tools can build something that will work whether it be with metal or plastics. The world has always been a scary place. People with evil intentions will always find a way to harm the innocent. For politicians and the media to focus on 3D printing is ludicrous and intellectually lazy (and yes Rachel, you’ve fallen into this trap as well). Whatever Cody’s intentions are, I think he is doing a service by hopefully getting people to realize that tools and machines are not the source of evil. Evil people are evil and need to be dealt with.
Glenn – I agree, actually.
I refer you to my personal thoughts on this from last year from the handcuff key story and the early days of Cody’s work prior to the launch of 3DPI. I have purposely refrained from regular updates, but in terms of 3D printing applications it is a developing one.
http://www.prsnlz.me/blogs/guestblog/not-quite-3d-printing-a-gun/
http://www.prsnlz.me/blogs/guestblog/3d-printing-for-better-or-for-worse/
I do not want to start an ideological discussion here, but it is hard
to let people like Glenn uncommented. Therefore I just want to bring up
some simple questions:
1. Are the US safer than Canada or Europe because of the freedom to carry weapon?
2. Are the US people more evil than other peoples?
If you answer both questions with no, how can you believe that free access to weapons do not help “evil” humans to kill others. In addition, I do not believe that only “evil” people cause harm to innocents by firearms. Even childs are able and kill other childs with guns.
Here an eye-opener article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/11/guns-child-deaths-more-than-cancer/2073259/
Rethink!