Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun 207
An anonymous reader writes "Cody Wilson details his conflict with the State Department over 3-D printable guns in this new interview with ReasonTV. In this video, he discusses how 3-D printing will render gun control laws obsolete and unenforceable; why Dark Wallet, his new crypto-currency, is much more subversive than Bitcoin; his legal defense, headed by Alan Gura (attorney in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago); and his forthcoming book about anarchy and the future."
Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing (Score:1, Insightful)
So yes, big deal, something that is made from a material weaker than most kinds of wood can maybe fire off a shot if you are very lucky or maybe be a small gun shaped grenade without a timer (whoops!). There's plenty of other more useful things that can be done with 3D printing and there's plenty of other ways to make guns at home that will not blow up in your face.
Don't be ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.
If you're an enthusiast, they're already unenforceable in the sense they won't stop you from making one; if John Browning could build a machine gun with 19th century technology, and third world armorers can build them in primitive conditions, then someone mechanically adept with the benefit of all those past designs and 21st century tooling can build a gun, even a machine gun, without purchasing any restricted or even suspicious items. Modern ammunition is hard to make but easy to legally obtain, so the only thing stopping an enthusiast is the desire not to get caught and subject to the harsh penalties.
Unregulatable! (Score:4, Insightful)
Practically unenforceable laws are worse than no law at all, because people get prosecuted at the whim of politicians.
Yawn (Score:1, Insightful)
Keep your shitty gun printers, people in the *real* world aren't interested.
3D Printing - Anachy ? (Score:4, Insightful)
I find it amusing that Anarchy will supposedly spring forth from a technology that depends on highly refined, multi-disciplinary engineering and built from precision materials that are only manufactured and sold at affordable pricing in the context of a highly ordered society.
Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio (Score:5, Insightful)
Cody is a gun nut, a pothead, and an anarchist. He is pro-crime, anti-police, anti-government. He wants everyone armed with every manner of illegal weaponry possible.
What's not to like?
Re:Idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
They were. There were definite concerns about letting computing resources out to the hoi polloi.
Remember when encryption was considered 'military armaments?
He's just an idiot (Score:5, Insightful)
There are all kinds of people, you can see them here on Slashdot, that know fuck-all about materials science and think 3D printers are magic. They think they are universal constructors, replicators, or whatever other sci-fi tech than can make anything and everything, just in a primitive form. So they think they can advance from playing with plastic to making metal parts that are as strong as forged metals and electronics and so on.
This is, of course, absurd. Anyone with basic MSE knowledge knows that there's a big difference between what you can potentially extrude using a process like a 3D printer does and how you have to make other various materials. It isn't as simple as just printing metal (which I've no doubt we'll see soon), not all metal processes are created equal.
So he doesn't know what he's talking about with regards to materials, which is why he thinks he's such a visionary, and he also knows fuck-all about anarchy. He's one of those loons that thinks an anarchy with no government control would be some kind of utopia instead of what it actually is, a place like Somalia run by warlords.
It all makes me laugh anyhow since he's in the US and could just go buy better parts over the counter anyhow. Oh wow, you can 3D print a lower receiver for an AR-15 that breaks after a little bit. Neat. Or you could just go and buy an AR-15 lower milled from an aluminium billet that will last several lifetimes.
Re:He's just an idiot (Score:4, Insightful)
Mod parent up. The idea that Somalia has no government simply because the government isn't your typical democratic republic, is silly.
Not only are warlords a form of government, even our much more enlightened republic includes some of the taint of arbitrary violence against the people.
http://www.cato.org/raidmap [cato.org]
Oh fuck the what? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's one hell of a strawman you've got there. I'm not an anarchist myself, but I'm not sure you've ever actually met many anarchists before if that's what you think of them. Sounds like you've conflated anarchy with chaos -- that's just silly. There are many native peoples that live quite happily in anarchy. [youtube.com] Self defense is an important aspect of anarchy. Note: The USA supreme court has ruled that it is not the duty of the police to protect anyone. They can't help you or your loved ones until they have already been victimized. The founding fathers of the USA also believed in a well armed militia. It is your duty to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your property -- Just like it is under anarchy... So, really, making weaponry more available is a good thing. Accidental shootings are rare, far more kids die in bathtubs or crossing the road than from accidental shootings, to say nothing of riding in cars themselves. Folks are OK with people building custom bathrooms and cars... right? Criminals don't care about gun control laws anyway.
I use a custom 3D printing rig for my robotics projects, and this gun project is AMAZING. Who doesn't want sturdier robots? Now, here's something interesting: How many technological advances can you think of that were not quickly militarized? Electricity? Nope. Uhm, radio? Nope. Cars? No -- hell, even horses were militarized. Computers? Nope, code makers and breakers. Telescopes? Immediately found their way to the battle field. Even our beloved RC cars, model airplanes and robots are becoming military drones. Did you know the US government reserves the right to option any patent for their exclusive secret (military) use? That's why patent applications are still secret even though first to file exists.
Making guns is human nature. We've been crafting weapons with unlikely materials for millions of years. Break this rock, and tie it to that stick and you can make a spear! However, this 3D printed gun is more of a proof of concept, and it's important because guns involve coping with extreme heat and pressure. It's sort of the same way that other than for boring entertainment or a very expensive hobby race cars are mostly pointless, except that many expensive impractical innovations from race cars do eventually make it into street cars for better safety, efficiency, speed, etc. I can hardly think of a better Olympics of 3D printing than gun making.
Also, "bits of plastic"... I can 3D print with metals using a simple welding rig. The resolution is shit, and requires lots of polishing afterwards, but the results are OK considering it's make-shift adaptation to a reprap, and they will only get better. If we can improve the durability of 3D printing, then you might order things at your computer and pick them up from the local hardware store in the "printware" section. Perhaps they'd have some thing-of-the week demo units of things to try out, printed while you wait, or delivered with your next pizza. Then we could drastically reduce our shipping infrastructure by producing products right in the stores, only shipping the raw materials to feed the printers. Other things like cars which you'd want certified MFGs to assemble could even be customized on demand -- Select a bigger cargo area, or narrower for tight spaces, get your logo crafted into the design.
Hell, we could even work our way up to custom designed 3D printed space craft, you'd have to bake the ceramic shields though. I've even made my own super capacitors by layering the ceramic clay and aluminum foil and baking it in the kiln (vertically, with the edges folded closed, only the lower 1/3rd retained its metal and became a huge capacitor. My welding rods deposit too thickly, but better metal and ceramic 3D printing could yield things with built in instant-charge inductive cells too one day. It's a ways off, esp. with entrenched market forces, but that's what refining 3D printing material science by making guns ca
Re:This will be a litmus test (Score:5, Insightful)
When printable guns become more feasible, it will be revealing what the NRA has to say about it. One one hand, you would think they would support this in the name of the Second Amendment and so on. I predict that the NRA will not be able to spit out the teat of gun manufacturers corporate money and will find some convoluted way to oppose private citizens making their own arms.
The problem with your theory is that there are more members of the NRA that are private citizens than those that are gun manufacturers. When you buy into the noise that the NRA are all about gun manufacturers you forget the millions of people that are gun owners many of which are members that contribute more money to the NRA than all manufacturers combined. The pundits on the left would have you brainwashed into thinking the NRA is all a front for gun manufacturers. Take a look at what happened in purple Colorado. Even liberal gun owners that previously supported the 2 democrats that were recalled over onerous anti-gun legislation voted them out on recall. So no, the NRA cannot tell millions of its own members that they should not have the right to exercise their first ammendment right in their home.
Re:This will be a litmus test (Score:2, Insightful)
The NRA does not support the Second Amendment. The NRA supports threatening the Second Amendment to generate revenue from unsuspecting dupes who give them money to try less hard to take away gun rights.
They don't call the NRA "negotiating rights away" for nothing. A prime example of their shenanigans was sending lobbyists to Pennsylvania in the wee hours before the vote on HB40 (SYG Bill) to KILL it because they didn't want Gov. Ed Rendell to get credit for signing it into Law - which he said he would if it came to his desk.
The NRA also lobbied to have provisions removed from HB40 that would have strengthened gun rights in PA by removing the "character and reputation" clause that allows Sheriffs to arbitrary and capriciously deny LTCF applications; making it a criminal offense to improperly deny or willfully delay an LTCF application (as Philadelphia routinely does), and so on. The NRA gutted the bill that was ultimately passed, when a much better bill could have been passed.
Fuck the NRA.
Re:Why are we giving people like Cody any attentio (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Getting attention at the expense of 3D printing (Score:4, Insightful)
This happens regularly. Across America there are regular meetings of people at machine shops, to turn the gun kits they bought online into working guns. Perfectly legal in most places (incredibly illegal to sell the finished product). And these are zip guns, these are perfectly fine AR15s.