Here we go again. My conclusion to the last article I wrote about 3D printed guns (a whole ten days ago) was: I bet we are going to hear a lot more on 3D printing guns in the months and years to come. It was a bit of a no brainer, and less than two weeks later, here we are, as New Scientist reports that the UK government is now at it.
Before imaginations take off in myriad directions, important to say we are to going to see Her Majesty’s secret service, or soldiers, running around with Liberators or any imitations of the same anytime soon. For now it is just a matter of “knowing your enemy” and properly assessing the potential risks, before getting too deep into the tricky legislative aspect of things. [Ed: Although, on the other side of the Atlantic, where the gun legislation is a whole different ball game, Scott will reporting a different perspective on a similar theme tomorrow.]
UK legislation currently remains limited to the Home Office issued new guidelines on firearms licensing in November, explicitly prohibiting the manufacture, purchase, sale and possession of 3D printed guns, without the authority of the Home Secretary, under the Firearms Act 1968.
To find out exactly how easy and how dangerous it is to 3D print a gun, UK officials from the Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) used a 3D printer to make a gun based on designs downloaded from the web, likely (but not confirmed) to be Defense Distributed’s Liberator gun.
New Scientist reports that the CAST model failed to fire, but in other similar experiments both the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NBIS) and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been successful in 3D printing and firing a Liberator.
According to many experts, 3D printed guns are still far from becoming a potential social concern. Still, when Defense Distributed’s Cody Wilson first published the 3D models and instructions last year they were downloaded over 100.000 times and many different, colorful, customized Liberator models have been popping up all over the web since (just digit Liberator 3DP gun in Google if you have any doubt).
The idea of being able to transmit a weapon through the web, and even personalize it, is powerful. Another powerful idea was the AK-47 (AKA the Kalashnikov), a low production cost and easily available automatic rifle: it killed more people than any so-called weapon of mass destruction. I still think personalized guns are cool but maybe it’s time for humanity to become a little less trigger-happy.
