The continued development of 3D printing technology will undermine any notion of regulating firearms, and controlling their distribution as has been done in the past, will lead to a remarkable re-evaluation of our policies regarding gun rights and gun control. The single most controversial 3D objects being printed are firearms. We haven’t even been able to agree on whether we should even try, given the Constitution’s Second Amendment “Right to Bear Arms.” But now, 3D printers are being sold to individuals who are experimenting with building all kinds of objects. Trouble ahead! We haven’t been able to effectively control the distribution and use of guns in our society when you couldn’t make your own. I am licensed and trained in small arms handling, but I was able to print this part without asking permission or breaking any Federal or State laws in California (it should be noted that firearm laws vary from state to state and from city to city). The next weekend I took the assembled firearm and succeeded in firing more than 50 rounds into a target from 50 feet away. On a recent weekend, I printed the key part (called the lower receiver, shown in blue in the photo) of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle on a consumer 3D printer made by Makerbot. The question then is how difficult would it be to construct a legal, unregistered, and reliable semi-automatic rifle using widely available components, software, tools, materials, designs and 3D printers? I decided to put that question to the test by constructing a rifle based on the popular AR-15 platform, a semiautomatic version of the automatic rifle used by the military called the M4. Defense Distributed, a non-profit digital publisher and 3D R&D firm, developed an all-plastic handgun based on a WWII design called the Liberator. 45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, which successfully fired 50 rounds. Recently, one company, Solid Concepts, using a 3D printer that can print metals, reproduced a clone of a military 1911.
#AR 10 3D PRINT FILES PROFESSIONAL#
There are regular reports of individuals using professional grade 3D printers to print plastic parts to produce small arms. For instance, a congressionally approved law that prohibits the printing of undetectable plastic firearms just got extended. It would be easy to get lost in the intricate framework of federal and state regulations covering the manufacture, distribution, sale and use of firearms, because the framework is incredibly intricate. The touchstone for the debate about consumer use of 3D printers is the idea that an individual can print a functional gun in the privacy of their home and then use it without ever coming under the scrutiny of law enforcement. Other than printing throwaway trinkets, what good are these consumer devices? Almost no one disagrees that the commercial and industrial use of 3D printers will change manufacturing systems forever and lead to a remarkable revolution in custom and even high-volume manufacturing. Technology industry about how important and impactful the idea of consumers using their own 3D printers will be in society. It is still considered a hobby activity, much as personal computers were in 1978 when Apple, Commodore, and Radio Shack introduced the first consumer computers.
But the current generation of machines are still not reliable nor easy to use and they have very little embedded systems support from computers and software. Many lawmakers are asking themselves: how real is the threat and how realistic is it to restrict the printing of 3D guns?Ĭonsumer 3D printing has recently been enabled as a feasible activity, with the arrival of printers ranging in price from $300-$4,000 from companies such as Makerbot, Cubify, Flashforge, TypeA Machines, and Solidoodle. Others believe that this preemptive measure will help that city get ahead of creative criminals. Some critics feel that the city was premature given the state of 3D printing technology. Last week, Philadelphia became the first city in the United States to pass a 3D-Printer gun ban. An assembled AR-15 Semi-Automatic Rifle with 3D printed lower receiver.