Authorities Seize 3D Printed Assault Rifle From Two Oregon Felons

Local news via Baldr

Today, we learn that two felons in Oregon were arrested and charged with illegally possessing firearms, one of which deputies believe was 3D printed. Nolan DeBell, 42, and Joshua Holloway, 27, were arrested three weeks ago on June 9 when deputies found a large number of illegally-modified and stolen firearms at their house in Chiloquin, Oregon. One of the weapons that was seized was an AR-15 assault rifle, which included a lower receiver that investigators now believe had been 3D printed. The lower receiver is of course a part of the gun that contains the firing mechanism, and is basically what makes the gun “work”.

“Being felons, they could not have purchased the lower receiver,” Detective Eric Shepherd of the Klamath County Sheriff’s Office explained.

While there continues to be significant talks about making the 3D printing of certain gun parts and other weapons illegal, at the current time it is not. However, there are laws that restrict the possession of, or manufacturing of a firearm that is not detectible by a metal detector or airport security system. Because most desktop 3D printers fabricate objects out of plastic, this lower receiver most definitely would not have been picked up by a metal detector.

California Ghost Guns - A Growing Problem

3D-printed Gun Maker in Japan Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

Yoshitomo Imura

The Verge

A 28-year-old former university employee was sentenced today in Japan to two years in prison for manufacturing plastic 3D-printed firearms in violation of national weapons laws, according to The Japan News. Yoshitomo Imura is said to have created at least two plastic guns at his home in Kawaski, Japan, that were capable of firing bullets, according to the report. He appears to be the first person in world history to receive a jail sentence for making 3D-printed firearms.

Imura was previously an employee at the Shonan Institute of Technology, according to The Japan Times. He was arrested in May after posting videos and blueprints of his 3D-printed weapons online. Police reportedly seized five plastic weapons from his home. A video uploaded to file-sharing websites almost a year ago, allegedly created by Imura, shows the creation and firing of a 3D-printed "Zig Zag" revolver capable of firing six .38 caliber bullets, as Wired previously reported. While the prosecution in Imura's case called for a three-and-a-half year prison sentence, the judge certainly didn't go easy on Imura, saying he "flaunted his skills and knowledge and attempted to make gun controls toothless."

3D Gun Printing is Coming to a Basement Near You

The World's First 3D Printed Metal Gun

At the second shot, "Looks like it went over the berm, hehehehe."

Naturally these idiots are so excited about their new gun they don't care about safety. It's all just good fun, right?

The gun-rights fanatics are telling us that DMLS (direct metal laser sintering) is just the next step of the plastic 3D printing that was all the rave about a year ago. I'm not so sure that's the case. Even the machine used to print with plastic was prohibitively expensive at about $200,000.  Imagine what the metal one costs, which is used to make precision parts for airplanes and surgical tools.

The real problem with all this is not the possibility of flooding the market with untraceable firearms manufactured in people's basements, that's not going to happen.  The real problem is what the discussion says about the gun-rights advocates. It says they are not concerned at all about the problem of gun violence. They laugh in our faces when we talk about twice as many kids being killed in gun accidents than was previously thought.  They scoff at the suggestion that gun owners need to be more responsible in the way they store their firearms in order to prevent theft. They refuse outright any attempt to close the private-sale loophole.

Instead of even admitting there's a problem, they offer the Utopian future of 3D metal printing for weapons so the killing can continue.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

3D Plastic Guns that Blow Up upon Firing

The First 3D Printed Bullet - Gun Nuts say "Wow"

More on the 3-D Gun Recklessness

Cody Wilson holding a 3D-printed gun in Austin, Texas. Experts say it would be dangerous to hold while firing. Photograph: BBC

The Guardian

Firing a gun in which any part has been made in a 3D printer could result in the death of the user, a specialist has warned, because the plastics in the gun would not stand ballistic pressures and stresses – and so might disintegrate.

Jonathan Rowley, design director of London-based 3D printing specialist Digits2Widgets, issued the warning on the company blog after being approached by two UK newspapers – the Mail On Sunday and the Daily Telegraph – that wanted him to "print" a gun using the files generated by Cody Wilson in the US earlier this week on his company's commercial printer.

Rowley fears that the nylon used to create the designs would be unable to withstand the explosive force of the bullet ejection and that the "gun" could explode, shooting plastic shards that could harm users and bystanders.

Philip Boyce, an independent firearms expert at Forensic Scientific in Thetford, said: "It all depends on how hard the plastic is. You might get one of these to fire 10 to 20 shots before it gives up the ghost. It would just disrupt - the barrel would fall apart, the chamber would fall apart." The accuracy of 3D printed guns is also under question because the barrel would wobble as the bullet passes through it.

Boyce says the existence of files to create such weapons is something people "definitely should worry" about: "normally criminals can only get converted blank-firing pistols. But if they have plastic weapons they can get a few shots off, which is all they want."

He says: "We fear that the next story will be about a child blowing their hand off while experimenting with a 3D printed gun … This type of accident is the immediate danger of the project and will happen long before anyone is deliberately killed by one of these tools."

Wilson, 22, has managed to produce a gun using a commercial 3D printer which successfully fired a shot – but in testament to his own nervousness about safety, he used a piece of string 20ft long attached to the trigger. He has now released the files for making the gun onto the internet so that anyone could "print" their own using a printer.

That led to approaches from the newspapers, which Rowley has turned down flat. "Nobody has done any testing on these materials in regard to high pressure and explosives," he told the Guardian. "All that Wilson has proved is that with one particular machine and one particular material he's produced something that doesn't blow his hand off. He's giving the impression that these files can be used by anybody." That, he says, is enormously risky. "None of our industrial 3D printers run the same type of plastic as used by Cody Wilson." Though the parts might look superficially similar, "the way they would perform under firing would be totally unknown".

3D printing uses materials which can be heated using computer-controlled design systems to form extremely thin solid slices, which are then built up layer by layer to form solid objects. Its principal advantages are that it can be used building prototypes, generating one-off designs and even making shapes that cannot be made by standard injection-moulding systems.

Wilson spent almost a year developing the "Liberator", a "wiki weapon" that can be put together from parts which can be printed in a commercial printer. He hopes that his files will lead to "a complete explosion of all available gun laws … I think we should have the right to own all the terrible implements of war".

Rowley says Wilson has "abstract libertarian philosophy that proposes that anyone has the right to own anything" and that he "doesn't appear to care" about the potential widespread use of 3D printed guns by individuals.

But Rowley argues that making the files available is far more dangerous to those who download and try to use them than to those who might have such guns aimed at them. "If you look at these files, there are all sorts of attached text documents about how to put them together, but nothing about the materials you must use for it to work or the printer you need to employ. It's highly irresponsible, but there are plenty of fools who will jump at the chance to have a go."

He said he could not ethically agree to produce the guns for the newspapers: "Anyone would be putting their life in their hands if they used these."

And this is what the pro-gun folks are all excited about?  Typical of them - they couldn't care less about the dangers involved, so besotted are they with the prospect of guns for everyone. And the ones talking the loudest won't be the first to blow their fingers off.  That'll be done, and soon too, by the more gullible followers of guys like Robert Farago and Kurt the Superman.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Plastic Guns Made by 3D printers

 

 Yahoo News

A new front is emerging in the debate over gun control in the US, as some members of Congress seek to ban firearms that can be made through the technology of 3D printing.

The technology opens the door for people to create guns, using plans downloaded from the Internet, that could elude detection in security screenings at places such as airports.

3D printers are becoming increasingly common as tools for making three-dimensional objects out of plastic or similar materials, much the way a traditional printer applies ink to paper based on instructions from a computer.

Controversy about the technology’s use in making guns revved up in recent days, with a private group that dubs itself the “wiki weapon project” preparing to release plans for constructing a handgun that could be made almost entirely with a pieces from a 3D printer.

The gun can operate with 16 printed parts and one nonprinted component, an ordinary nail used as a firing pin. According to news reports, the gun also has a compartment to insert a six-ounce piece of steel - to make it visible in a metal detector, as required by the Undetectable Firearms Act.

“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,” Rep. Steve Israel (D) of New York said in a statement released Friday. “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 appears to be upon us, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms.”

Where have I heard that before, "a plastic gun is science fiction?"

I suppose, like Congressman Israel, I must admit at this point that there's something to this 3-D printing of guns.  Further, considering the way computer technology advances so rapidly, I suppose the costs involved will soon make the fancy printers available to the general public.

But, I'm still missing the point?  Why is this so important to the gun nuts? Is it the solution to that bizarre fantasy of total government tyranny?  Short of that, given the availability of guns today, what's the point?

This article seems to imply that it's criminals who will benefit most, being able to beat metal detectors?  Why are lawful gun owners so interested?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.