Composite Pistol in "In the Line of Fire"

[Chitoryu12]

Originally Posted by 2wingo

Even if you can't see the gun, you can see the bullets.

Hell, metal detectors can detect a belt buckle or small pocket knife. I'm willing to bet that even a single cartridge would set it off, especially one of the handheld wands.

Also, the plastic in firearms is more than dense enough to show up on standard airport x-ray scanners.

As for the 3D guns thing, the guns are indeed made mostly of plastic. However, you still need metal for the important bits (especially a barrel, and if you want accuracy you need to be able to rifle it) and anything more than .22LR will probably cause something to break off within a few shots. Someone did make a 5.56mm gun from 3D printed parts and it malfunctioned several times and fired something like 3 rounds before the stock came off.

The biggest uproar is probably going to be internet censorship and 3D printer regulation rather than gun bans. One of the biggest concerns people have is that the ability to print "high capacity magazine clips" and "assault weapon parts" from your own home with the right materials and a few thousand dollars of equipment will make firearms bans nigh-worthless, and will inspire legislators to instead attempt to regulate 3D printing technology in general and censor internet distribution of firearms plans.

Of course, at least one website put out a free torrent of all of their 3D printer blueprints for firearms parts as soon as people started talking just to stick it to them.

[2wingo]

Originally Posted by Chitoryu12

Hell, metal detectors can detect a belt buckle or small pocket knife. I'm willing to bet that even a single cartridge would set it off, especially one of the handheld wands.

Also, the plastic in firearms is more than dense enough to show up on standard airport x-ray scanners.

As for the 3D guns thing, the guns are indeed made mostly of plastic. However, you still need metal for the important bits (especially a barrel, and if you want accuracy you need to be able to rifle it) and anything more than .22LR will probably cause something to break off within a few shots. Someone did make a 5.56mm gun from 3D printed parts and it malfunctioned several times and fired something like 3 rounds before the stock came off.

The biggest uproar is probably going to be internet censorship and 3D printer regulation rather than gun bans. One of the biggest concerns people have is that the ability to print "high capacity magazine clips" and "assault weapon parts" from your own home with the right materials and a few thousand dollars of equipment will make firearms bans nigh-worthless, and will inspire legislators to instead attempt to regulate 3D printing technology in general and censor internet distribution of firearms plans.

Of course, at least one website put out a free torrent of all of their 3D printer blueprints for firearms parts as soon as people started talking just to stick it to them.

In short, gun control measures are stupid and don't work.