3-D Printed Gun Ban Fails In Senate 414
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from The Daily Dot:"On Monday evening, a bill aimed at thwarting the production and distribution of plastic 3-D printed weapons was blocked by Senate Republicans. ... The debate over the new legislation centered around the 1988 Undetectable Firearms Act, which bans the production and distribution of weapons that skirt 'walk through metal detectors.' The act has been renewed on two occasions since its passage. It was due to expire again on the 9th of December. The House voted to renew the bill last week. The rise of 3-D printing has made this year's renewal more complicated in the Senate. Many lawmakers, particularly Democrats, feel the current Undetectable Firearms Act inadequately addresses the rising threat posed by printed plastic weapons."
New Bill =/= Passing House Approved Bill (Score:4, Interesting)
I believe the Senate Democrats wanted to create a new, tougher bill. The bill that started in the house was passed by both the house and senate. President Obama signed the bill.
Good (Score:4, Interesting)
If we can delay it long enough, 3d printing might get good enough that all gun control is moot. We can defeat it like we defeated the Clipper Chip - by letting the cat out of the bag.
Re:New Bill =/= Passing House Approved Bill (Score:4, Interesting)
"It has always been possible to make crude weapons quickly and easily. Laws won't stop that."
Not only that. It has always been legal in the U.S. to make your own guns, just not to sell them to others.
But more to the point here: the Feds (Democrats in particular) seem to think that regulating a technology will stop the manufacture of firearms out of synthetics. False. It would just mean that someone else would do it.
They tried this same "let's suppress technology internally" bullshit in the field of cryptography back around the turn of the century. It didn't work then, either.
All suppression of the technology would do is make the U.S. less competitive internationally. IT DOESN'T WORK.
Restricting cryptography exports did not work for its intended purpose.
Restricting attempts to "defeat" DRM did not work for its intended purpose.
Restricting research and development of new firearms manufacturing techniques will not work for its intended purpose.
Re:New Bill =/= Passing House Approved Bill (Score:2, Interesting)
"Firearms are about to become a lot more available to a lot more people."
They'll only become "more available" in those areas where they're already restricted. Elsewhere, they are already available anyway. (And by the way: statistically, the places where they're restricted tend to be the places with the highest firearms-related crime.)
I predict that over the next 10 years, we will see crime continue to drop as guns do become more available, especially in areas where they were not. Criminals don't like it when people shoot back.