3D printed guns aren’t worth the freak out
This is probably what you’ve been told will happen if Cody Wilson, a selfdescribed anarchist, releases his plans for the Liberator, a 3D printable pistol:
❚ A flood of completely untraceable “ghost guns” will flood the market, putting even more firearms into the wrong hands.
❚ And gun violence will skyrocket, because anyone can go on the internet, download plans and, in a few hours, have access to a fully functional, deadly weapon without a background check.
But this narrative ignores a few realities.
❚ It’s already against federal law to print a completely plastic gun — and it has been since 1988.
We heard the same doom and gloom about guns that could elude metal detectors when polymers began to appear on firearms. In fact, that’s why we have the Undetectable Firearms Act, which makes it illegal to manufacture, sell or possess any firearm with less than 3.7 ounces of metal.
❚ It’s also against federal law to make a gun with the intent to sell it or transfer it to someone else. You need a federal firearms license for that. Federal law doesn’t require you to put a serial number on a gun you make for your personal use, but some states — like California — do.
❚ “Making” a firearm without a 3D printer isn’t new — or that uncommon. You can readily buy a receiver or frame that’s 80 percent completed (that’s the part that’s considered the firearm, because it contains the serial number, but at 80 percent completion, the law considers it just a piece of metal). All you have to do is mill out some additional material, with ample instructions on the internet, and voila! You’ve got a functional firearm.
❚ Wilson may scare everyone because he says he’s an anarchist and because he has a business that sells parts to help people print their own firearms. But 3D-printable firearm plans have been available for years. It’s not as if preventing Wilson from releasing his plans — or outlawing anyone from sharing similar plans — will shut Pandora’s box on what people may or may not do with this technology.
❚ Printers are getting cheaper, and the materials they print are getting stronger. But it’s unlikely that street criminals are going to print a slew of them for use in crimes. They can get more reliable firearms from the black market for far less money and effort.
❚ That’s because most 3D-printed firearms can only withstand a few shots (and they’re not very accurate to boot). Given most criminals’ poor shooting skills, that makes them unlikely to become the weapon of choice for much of anything, particularly mass shootings.
Could someone conceivably use a 3D printer to make a perfectly untraceable murder weapon for a trained assassin to use in the perfect crime? Maybe.
But you’ve been watching way too many James Bond movies if you think that’ll become commonplace any time soon.