3D Printed Guns Are Easy To Make And Impossible To Stop (HBO)

They talked about it like it was some sort of technological doomsday.

August 1st was supposed to be the day when ready-made blueprints for 3D printed guns would be released on the internet, and allow anyone to manufacture unlicensed, and untraceable, deadly weapons in their living rooms.

When Alfredo Orejuela heard about all this, his reaction was something like an eye-roll.

Orejuela is the CEO of STEAMporio. He manufacturers cheap, easy to use 3D printers for sale to schools and maker studios. And he considers the battle over 3D printed guns long over — he’s been experimenting with 3D printed plastic guns for years. The blueprints, regardless of what a judge says, were already out there.

“We're in an era where people can get the latest Drake album or Infinity War at will,” he told VICE News. “To think you can control or stop the flow of data on the internet is absolutely ludicrous.”

The gun-blueprints project started about five years ago, when Cody Wilson, a self-described crypto-anarchist and gun enthusiast, released online the designs for a fully 3D printed gun he called the Liberator.

They were available for only a few days before the government ordered him to take them down; in that time, the schematics were downloaded tens of thousands of times.

Wilson told VICE News that he is on an ideological mission: to prove that abundant guns in America are inevitable — and that gun control is doomed.

“There's literally more guns than people, maybe two guns for every person in this country,” Wilson said. “You know you don't need a 3D printer to get to your nightmare scenario.”

Orejuela doesn't share Wilson's vision. He's no fan of firearms. But on this he agrees with Wilson: the ease of acquiring guns is not a consequence of 3D printing.

For one thing, Orejuela says, the guns that 3D printing machines make really aren’t all that good: To produce one that would function without exploding takes days of painstaking work, and thousands of dollars of machinery. (Wilson concedes this much: The Liberator, he told VICE, “doesn’t really work.”) There are already easy-to-use machines that can make high quality guns, or the parts for guns, much more cheaply — including a CNC machine, which can produce parts out of metal.

What happens in the future is anyone’s guess — and Orejuela agrees it’s a certainty that 3D printing will only get easier, and cheaper. Quality, untraceable guns may very well be printable in people’s living rooms.

No amount of fretting will stop that.

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[dave-qlri]

Calling that a dangerous weapon is like calling a butter knife a broadsword.

[GreaterThanALL]

"Weapons of war made in peoples living rooms" LOL..

[backwoodsjunkie]

you can make a better firearm out of stuff you can buy at Lowe's or Menards... and it doesn't require a $1500 3D printer. people act like everyone has a 3D printer lyin in third junk drawer at home..

[man]

its cheaper and safer to make a shot gun for like 20 bucks at lowes

[DickCheneyXX]

"Weapons of war"

I sure ain't going to war with that crap.

[locuscades]

"Weapons of war in your living room" That's the point. The constitution protects our right to be able to defend yourself against a tyrannical government. Making weapons of war in your living room is of no responsibility or concern of the government.

[rc]

you can buy a hi point 380 at a pawn shop for $130 and it won't blow up in your face after the first shot

[NC_Fisher_Guy]

Yes. Because a completely legal 3d printed handgun that is only able to ever fire 1-3 rounds before breaking is much more dangerous than a stolen and very much real handgun that has a higher magazine capacity than the 3d printed pistol will ever fire.

[simonedaniel]

How to make an untraceable gun:
- Metal, plenty of videos online
- 80% lower receivers which you mill out (Polymer 80 for a Glock, for example)
- Black market

[MANTIKORE_]

A single shot weapon! Isn't this like a musket?

[BuckyTheRedDeer]

Metal pipes, wood, duct tape and nails, nuff said

[vicenteelenes]

Lol these guns are trash, buy a real one. Or buy an 80% lower and make your own quality gun.

[theodoresmith]

So happy to see how far these have come. From something that’s just as likely to injure you as your target to something that can be as functional and reliable as one your buy at a store.

[saltinecracker]

Just look at that Minecraft reject he's holding up. If you pulled that out in front of a home invader, you might be able to escape while they were paralyzed with laughter.

[PartTimeJedi]

Umm that's a lower receiver. I can make a more powerful and accurate zip gun in a plumbing store for a few bucks.

[iJamiex]

Criminals are buying them illegally not printing a 3D plastic gun on a $15000+ Printer

Still need bullets, this will blow up in your hand, you can also make a gun from stuff from the hardware store

[Martin-kvth]

"the 2nd amendment only applies to shitty one shot guns"

"those shitty one shot guns will kill us all"

[pauly]

My gender is a 3-D printer gun. RESPECT MY PRONOUNS

[williamwestonn]

Fun fact.. The tested one blew up on the range. The bullet shattered and there was nothing left except a grip?
So tell me? What makes anyone think that plastic will work for something with this amount of force?
Sure you can print a lower in a really high quality plastic.. but where are you suppose to get the rest?

I hate the bullshit media and this is a good example of what it is..

[julians]

Instead of "This is how you 3D print a gun" it should be titled "This is how to lose a hand." The lies told by Vice are getting more and more lazy as time goes on.