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Comment by knowaveragejoe | Hacker News Reader

More sensationalism about 3D printed guns. People, please - nobody is going to be printing a functioning gun purely out of ABS plastic on a <$1k hobby printer for a long time(if ever).

The only people who might be printing guns(requiring pretty rigorous touchup after the printing process) are those with access with extremely expensive printers that can print metal.

I sincerely hope this doesn't lead to regulating 3d printing into oblivion. Just like the entertainment industry wishes it got the jump on filesharing, I'm sure big manufacturing is prepping its lobbying efforts.

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Yes, the fact the article refers to > than 1k (but still not terribly expensive) printers using 'advanced polymer' instead of ABS makes it yet another article about using pure ABS plastic on a sub-1k printer...

I'll agree that metal is probably a requirement for a barrel. But barrels are not controlled or restricted. Neither are magazines, which we know can be printed already with some success.

I'd love to see some 'advanced polymers' that can handle the stress of a caliber greater than .22LR(which is what Defense Distributed tested with), while simultaneously being printed with the precision necessary from a printer costing <$10k.

It's also worth pointing out you can already buy all of the components necessary to assemble your own firearm, all without a serial number. I think the deeper issue here is, as another comment pointed out, there are entrenched interests promoting this hysteria to garner public sentiment for regulation by making the scary applications glaringly obvious and overshadowing the beneficial implications of the technology.

It's also worth pointing out you can already buy all of the components necessary to assemble your own firearm, all without a serial number

Not exactly true. Every legal gun has one part with a serial number that defines the gun legally. Usually (always?) it's the receiver. There are some grey areas where you can get an almost finished receiver free of regulation.

The comment was referencing the fact that you can make a gun for yourself without a serial number as long as you don't sell it or do anything with it that is defined as 'transfer.'

>> Just like the entertainment industry wishes it got the jump on filesharing, I'm sure big manufacturing is prepping its lobbying efforts.

Or possibly is already working hard to focus all conversations about 3D printing toward scary applications that make people want to regulate it heavily.

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