The Great ILX Gun Control Debate

They should give the people a choice, a free shotgun or $500.

Why wouldn't you just take the shotgun and rob the other guys?

once you become a gun owner you're always responsible is my understanding

i can never remember which thread i use to post updates to the unfolding 3D printer gun debacle, so i guess i'll just use this one.

Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun.

Now he has.

Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year-old University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls “the Liberator,” pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection of printable gun blueprints at Defcad.org.

All sixteen pieces of the Liberator prototype were printed in ABS plastic with a Dimension SST printer from 3D printing company Stratasys, with the exception of a single nail that’s used as a firing pin. The gun is designed to fire standard handgun rounds, using interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.

...Update: Defense Distributed’s political opponents aren’t waiting around for its printable gun to be finished and uploaded before calling for it to be banned. Congressman Steve Israel issued a press release Friday responding to this story: “Security checkpoints, background checks, and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and bring those firearms through metal detectors with no one the wiser,” his statement reads. “When I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology is proven, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/03/this-is-the-worlds-first-entirely-3d-printed-gun-photos/

i should have included this paragraph as well: "Technically, Defense Distributed’s gun has one other non-printed component: the group added a six ounce chunk of steel into the body to make it detectable by metal detectors in order to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act. In March, the group also obtained a federal firearms license, making it a legal gun manufacturer."

i had mainly been dreading 3D-printed guns because it would be another way for criminals to get their hands on a weapon without regulation, but i didn't even think about the fact that you could carry them past metal detectors. ugh

wait idgi ppl can basically make origami guns? they just print them out?

It IS pretty weird that that bit from the end of In The Line of Fire is becoming reality

i remember reading when i was a kid about ppl in prisons making guns from magazines or something, i am very confused as to how all this works but it scares me

I'm not particularly afraid of this. Not yet anyway. There are already so many guns available that a few ppl with the expensive equip to gin up a plastic toy able to shoot a few rounds doesn't seem like a big deal. But the future...

To repeat my hobbyhorse: with a nice steep Pigovian tax on ammo it wouldn't matter what kind of gun was out there.

(what if you could print ammo?)

I'm not particularly afraid of this. Not yet anyway. There are already so many guns available that a few ppl with the expensive equip to gin up a plastic toy able to shoot a few rounds doesn't seem like a big deal. But the future...

yeah I agree, this isn't that alarming

ya there are plenty of metal guns to be banned first, lets keep our eyes on the prize

if we can't even muster political will to ban freakish nu-guns that nobody likes, banning guns that people are used to might be too lofty a goal at the moment.

ppl are already accustomed to getting shot by a wide variety of fine firearms you see,

It's a single-shot zip gun - you can build one out of parts from Home Depot without needing a $25k 3-d printer.

The whole project still looks like libertarian circle-jerking designed in large part to troll liberals, IMO.

sad but true, c.f. the shootout part of boston bombing.

^ feelin this

(xpost to milo)

one day 3d guns will be the issue that unites liberals and conservatives against circle-jerking libertarians.

xp yeah, i kind of agree. they're even somewhat upfront about the design being more for symbolic use than practical

It'll be cool when the 2nd amendment protects a citizen's right to own 'defense' nanobots in the year 2043.

My cousin's wife sent this forward yesterday (names removed):

So today was dress up like a movie character or someone from a story book you like. Typically, he wanted to be a cowboy: he picked Clint Eastwood (the Good, the Bad & the Ugly) but he was not able to use any fake weapons in his holster ... you can't even do a paper rendition (or even draw) of a gun or knife in school these days and no lassos either. While we can all agree weapons don't belong in school, I don't think any of us ever imagined that dressing up like a cowboy for fun would ever be so controversial ..... After some discussion about what to do with his empty holsters, he decided to arm himself with the Constitution -- so that even though he can't go dressed up like the cowboy he wanted, he is still packing! (Thanks to his aunt for the pocket Constitution ... )

Context: the boy's dad -- an obnoxious conservative -- is a hunter and has taught his son to use weapons. I grew up around guns and have endured more than one hunting expedition, but way before the rash of gun catastrophes I was uneasy. Am I wrong in thinking this email is creepy?

the last sentence is pretty creepy

in general tho I would say cowboy costume does not require a gun so wtf

also: the boy's eight years old

I still remember vividly the quiet "why don't you take that home" talk I got from my teacher when I brought my Megatron Transformer to school

That's a different problem: Megatron was a fucking disaster as a robot when transformed.

you can't even do a paper rendition (or even draw) of a gun or knife in school these days

When i was in middle school (mid-90's) we had someone get thrown out of school cos he brought a tiny Star Trek phaser and was fake shooting it at a teacher. Though yeah, I know, "these days", Obama's anti-free speech state, yaddah yaddah yaddah

"Packing the Constitution stuff" is asinine, obviously. I don't have a problem with kids playing with toy guns, but I'd completely understand a school not wanting anything that looked like a gun inside the building.

Circa 1990, my teacher asked me to bring my air rifle to use as a prop in our class play (Pilgrims or frontiersmen or something) and the school didn't care about me wandering around with it all day.

After some discussion about what to do with his empty holsters, he decided to arm himself with the Constitution

amazing that the 8-year-old boy decided to bring the constitution into it, all by himself.

His friend went as a Native American for a cowboys-and-indians theme. They wouldn't let him bring a bow and arrows so he brought a stack of broken treaties.

wittle bitty cowboy could pack a blanket full of smallpox.

my sister just sent me a photo of the assault rifle cake her friend had made for friend's son's 15th bday. what in the fucking fuck.

friend: "no it's ok, he's 15 now"

almost to mass murderin age

http://gawker.com/pop-tart-gun-tyke-gets-lifetime-nra-membership-refuses-510531201

And remember, using kids as political props is bad. Until it isn't. Also, too.

thought you wrote the assault rife shot cake, Granny.

should've noted that this boy's parents are...a litigator and corporate attorney.

that's a terrible gun, kid

it's a terrible gun and I'm walkin with spiders (bc old pop-tarts attract ants, and ants attract spiders)

when I was in 6th grade (1977) our teacher did an exercise where she had two guys from class go out to "run an errand" and then come back, get into an argument, have one "shoot" the other with a cap gun, and then they both ran out the door. The teacher asked us to write down exactly what happened, what they said, what they were wearing, etc. - it was a lesson in subjectivity of the observer. I've never forgotten it, but more and more I think "wow I am old, that would never ever happen today"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/batavia_geneva_st_charles/chi-10-hurt-in-shotgun-accident-at-gun-club-20130605,0,392342.story

another fun day at ye olde gun range

Make sure you're following David Waldman's #gunfail series at Daily Kos. He's on Week 21: http://www.dailykos.com/news/GunFail

Because the incident was an accident, police said there will be no criminal charges.

This shit drives me nuts. Since when is negligence which leads to injury not chargeable just because "it was an accident?" Auto drivers can't get away with that, why should gun owners?

lol auto drivers get away with that every day

True. But people at least have the good taste to get pissed about it sometimes.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130607prescott-valley-boy-shoots-kills-father-abrk.html

http://i.imgur.com/aT9r7w2.jpg

Oh hey just a homemade drone w/a remote control handgun nothing to see here move along

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxThXvuP4Vo

The best part? This effort is all to advertise *smartphone screen protectors.* Just think what a REALLY motivated person could do.