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Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun 207

Posted by timothy from the good-role-models dept.
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."
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Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun More

Cody Wilson Interview at Reason: Happiness Is a 3D Printed Gun

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  • Excuse me for one moment. (Score:5, Funny)

    by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Sunday April 20, 2014 @11:49AM (#46799943) Journal

    3D printing, gun control and bitcoin in one thread.

    Please excuse me for one moment. I'll be back with popcorn shortly.

  • Don't be ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)

    by russotto ( 537200 ) on Sunday April 20, 2014 @12:03PM (#46800015) Journal

    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.

    • Just to add to your point that even under limited conditions you can build a gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... [wikipedia.org]

    • I'm surprised we haven't already started to see reasonably large scale sten gun manufacture by criminal groups - easy to make and powerful. Especially in places like the UK where it's much more difficult to get firearms.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by RsG ( 809189 )

        Limited demand. They'd be selling a product that's both low quality and illegal to own. The target market for that would be criminals with money to spend, who don't already have access to equal or better guns. And it's not like you can set up shop on a street corner; secrecy is expensive.

        Basically, a black market Sten Gun factory has all the drawbacks of illegal arms dealing AND startup costs to boot. I'm not surprised it isn't a thing yet. Oh, and I doubt 3D printing will make it a reality any time so

    • why do you mention "if you're an enthusiast"? If you are an enthusiast, you can legally build a gun, and moreover make on that is much safer and robust than 3D printed flimsy rubbish. If one wants to 3D sculpt plastic for frame of gun, Injection molding of a polymer into handmade mold is much faster, cheaper and cost effective. 3D printing only raises the issue of stupid people trying to make a gun that is not safe.

      • I believe the grandparent post was referring to the manufacture of a machine gun. Any enthusiast can build a semi-auto firearm with little legal hassle, building a full-auto firearm is beyond "enthusiast".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by plopez ( 54068 )

      So that's a good solution It's unenforceable, by which you mean not everyone who does it is caught though some are caught, so let's just not try to stop it. That's like saying "rape is going to happen anyway we might as well make it legal" Great logic there.

      • So that's a good solution It's unenforceable, by which you mean not everyone who does it is caught though some are caught, so let's just not try to stop it. That's like saying "rape is going to happen anyway we might as well make it legal"

        No, it's more like saying "rape is going to happen anyway, so we might as well make penises legal".

        If someone 3-D prints a gun, and takes it to the range, I have no problem (well, other than wanting to be at a different range that day).

        I DO have a problem if he uses it t

    • I agree, but you don't even need a machine shop, lathe, etc. to build a gun. You can build a pretty sturdy zip gun with some pipe and fittings from your local hardware store. They even sell 22 caliber rounds for driving in nails so you can build the whole gun, projectiles and all, right there in the store. Get some real bullets at Walmart later. Look, we're all "nerds" here, home made guns should be part of any contingency scenario for your zombie plan; Help a geek out.

      Makeshift "zip" guns are even stud

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.

      ... or from police weapon lockers.

      They also make them. See the case recently in Australia of motorcycle gangs making some (very) effective subguns (automatic pistols and the like).

      It's pretty trivial to make a firearm capable of being used to perpetuate crimes against people: they just have to be better than not having a firearm, so looks, and impression of effectiveness, are more important than actually being well made firearms. Someone with crude hand tools can make an AK in a day or two, and that's a fai

    • They're already unenforcable -- against criminals, who steal them (both wholesale and retail, sometimes even from police evidence rooms) and illegally import them.

      I have to admit that I am always surprised by people who confuse and conflate the notion that something is possible with the notion that laws against that possible-to-do thing are thereby rendered unenforceable.

      It is extraordinarily easy to acquire an automobile with a top speed exceeding 75 miles per hour. They can be found readily on our city streets, in the garages of our homes, all across America. Millions of such vehicles exchange hands, legally, every year. Shockingly, that doesn't actually rend

      • I'm using "unenforceable" in the same sense that Wilson is; that anyone who cares to break the law can, and in nearly all cases won't get caught.

        • I'm using "unenforceable" in the same sense that Wilson is; that anyone who cares to break the law can, and in nearly all cases won't get caught.

          The same is true for speeding. But even if you want to narrow the scope to "things I can do in my own home, where I won't get caught except if something goes terribly wrong, or by happenstance" there is still a pretty big field.

          Suppose I live in a high-rise apartment tower. It would be trivially easy for me to buy a couple of dozen propane cylinders from local retailers, and slip them into my hypothetical apartment. (Put each one in a suitcase or cardboard box to carry it upstairs, and spread the purcha

  • Unregulatable! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jane Q. Public ( 1010737 ) on Sunday April 20, 2014 @12:04PM (#46800021)
    In practice, 3D printing is unregulatable.

    Practically unenforceable laws are worse than no law at all, because people get prosecuted at the whim of politicians.

    • How is it unregulated? Making a gun is actually quite easy, therefore guns are somewhat unregulatable.

      As far as I am aware you pretty much have no chance of making a working 3D printer/3D toner in your garage. So if you are forced to buy them from one of the 12 factories in the world who make them then they are easily regrettable.

    • No it's not. Just require people who own a 3d printer to have a license for it. If you don't have a license, you go to jail. Simple.

      • Tell me how many people are driving in the USA without a license? We all know the number is not zero. Nobody knows what the true number is, and estimates vary widely. Why is this? Because driver licensing requirements are effectively unenforceable.

        There are millions of cars and millions of drivers. To enforce a requirement to have a license to drive would mean putting up checkpoints all over. To avoid falsified papers getting through all licenses would have to be checked against a database. Even then

  • 3D Printing - Anachy ? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pjrc ( 134994 ) <paul@pjrc.com> on Sunday April 20, 2014 @12:27PM (#46800147) Homepage Journal

    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: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Arker ( 91948 )
      "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."

      Errr, why?

  • Neo: What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?

    Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.

    The freedom that could gives 3d printers, virtual currency, and internet is not about printing bullets or guns, but about not needing them. Is a extreme proof of concept to be able to do even that, the key part is being able to do anything.

  • Pretty funny to have this article right after the one about two large new corporations as "unelected superpowers". All the guns you can print won't materialize a factory for you to work in if unelected superpowers in our society decide to outsource your job. Waving a gun around your ISP offices won't make the oligopoly they're part of cut your Internet rates.

    Threatening violence in the 30's didn't get poor people anything but far more violence used against them. (Turns out the Powers That Be have guns t

  • 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.

    • Re:This will be a litmus test (Score:5, Insightful)

      by andydread ( 758754 ) on Sunday April 20, 2014 @02:55PM (#46800987)

      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: (Score:3)

        by kqs ( 1038910 )

        The problem with your theory is that there are more members of the NRA that are private citizens than those that are gun manufacturers.

        So your theory is that unlike every other religious organization, the NRA does what its members want rather than the members doing what the NRA wants [usnews.com]. Nice theory. Every religious zealot believes that their religion is different; every non-zealot sees that they are largely identical.

        Though the gun manufacturers are part of it, a much larger part is that the NRA only exists as long as they can whip people up into a frenzy to donate money. So even though gun control laws have been completely gutted in the

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by andydread ( 758754 )
          Dont need the NRA to whip people in a frenzy. People looking to ban certain types of guns and magazines are the ones that whip people up in a frenzy. Those same people refer to Japan and the UK as a shining example, places where guns are outrigt banned. So when you refer to places that ban guns as your example you are basically saying without admitting that we should outright ban guns. These are the type of statments that whip people up i a frenzy.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by kqs ( 1038910 )

            Such religious ferver, attacking something I did not say and do not believe, while ignoring what I did say. You truly believe the Holy Gospel of the NRA, that all those who do not worship the NRA wish to destroy every last gun.

            Again: the NRA is a religion and does not represent the desires of the majority of its adherents. It perpetuates itself by convincing gullible people that if they do not support the NRA then evil forces will throw them into Hell (a gunless society). You believe this in the absence

            • >Again: the NRA is a religion and does not represent the desires of the majority of its adherents.

              I agree - they dont really represent our interests very well. They are far too moderate and willing to compromise.
              We need to eradiacate all gun laws of any kind form the books, and restore the 2A to its original intention, and the NRA
              just isnt pushing hard enough. This is why we have additional groups such as GOA and the VCDL, because the NRA
              is too goddamn liberal.

      • Major donors will still shape policy on an issue as long as it doesn't antagonize the general membership too much. The "corporate gun lobby" itself is influenced by government connections more than the big government supporters can admit, since after all government is every big gun manufacturer's best customer.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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

  • People dumb enough to make a gun from 3D printed plastic should be encouraged not told they are idiots. The Gene pool is already polluted enough, let these morons make their toy gun grenades so that the rest of the human race can move forward without these anchors.

  • > A self-declared crypto-anarchist, the 26-year-old Wilson is fighting the situation in court—and relishing every minute of his battle with the government.

    Why is he in court? What law was broken? Was he manufacturing arms and distributing them without a license? If not, I fail to see any basis to charge him with any crime or for the government to harass him in any way. Otherwise the Feds need to harass everybody distributing this information:

    https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]

    It's ridiculous at best.

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