Working gun made with 3D printer

[Fletcher]

It seems in Austin, Texas a man has been able to use a $8,000 3D printer to create a working firearm, though it is rather primitive compared to traditional guns, it is still a gun. Imagine this technology in ten to twenty years.

EDIT: I've just been enlightened that you still need a lower receiver you still need a metal upper receiver to contain the force of the round being fired along with a metal barrel to contain the heat and friction. So its not all totally built by the 3D machine, and you need a license for the lower receiver.

Link to article - BBC News

The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US.

The controversial group which created the firearm, Defense Distributed, plans to make the blueprints available online.

The group has spent a year trying to create the firearm, which was successfully tested on Saturday at a firing range south of Austin, Texas.

Anti-gun campaigners have criticised the project.

Europe's law enforcement agency said it was monitoring developments.

Victoria Baines, from Europol's cybercrime centre, said that at present criminals were more likely to pursue traditional routes to obtain firearms.

She added, however: "But as time goes on and as this technology becomes more user friendly and more cost effective, it is possible that some of these risks will emerge."

Defense Distributed is headed by Cody Wilson, a 25-year-old law student at the University of Texas.

Mr Wilson said: "I think a lot of people weren't expecting that this could be done."


The gun was assembled from separate printed components made from ABS plastic - only the firing pin was made from metal

3D printing has been hailed as the future of manufacturing.

The technology works by building up layer upon layer of material - typically plastic - to build complex solid objects.

The idea is that as the printers become cheaper, instead of buying goods from shops, consumers will instead be able to download designs and print out the items at home.

But as with all new technologies, there are risks as well as benefits.

Personal liberties

The gun was made on a 3D printer that cost $8,000 (£5,140) from the online auction site eBay.

It was assembled from separate printed components made from ABS plastic - only the firing pin was made from metal.

Mr Wilson, who describes himself as a crypto-anarchist, said his plans to make the design available were "about liberty".

He told the BBC: "There is a demand of guns - there just is. There are states all over the world that say you can't own firearms - and that's not true anymore.

"I'm seeing a world where technology says you can pretty much be able to have whatever you want. It's not up to the political players any more."

Asked if he felt any sense of responsibility about whose hands the gun might fall into, he told the BBC: "I recognise the tool might be used to harm other people - that's what the tool is - it's a gun.

"But I don't think that's a reason to not do it - or a reason not to put it out there."

Gun control

To make the gun, Mr Wilson received a manufacturing and seller's licence from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Donna Sellers, from the ATF, told BBC News that the 3D-printed gun, as long as it was not a National Firearms Act weapon (an automatic gun, for example), was legal in the US.

She said: "[In the US] a person can manufacture a firearm for their own use. However, if they engage in the business of manufacture to sell a gun, they need a licence."

Amid America's ongoing gun debate in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, US congressman Steve Israel recently called for a ban on 3D guns under the Undetectable Firearms Act.

Groups looking to tighten US gun laws have also expressed concern.

Leah Gunn Barrett, from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, has said: "These guns could fall into the hands of people who should not have guns - criminals, people who are seriously mentally ill, people who are convicted of domestic violence, even children."

3D printing technology has already been used by some criminal organisations to create card readers - "skimmers" - that are inserted into bank machines.

Many law enforcement agencies around the world now have people dedicated to monitoring cybercrime and emerging technologies such as 3D printers.

Ms Baines from Europol said: "What we know is that technology proceeds much more quickly than we expect it to. So by getting one step ahead of the technological developments, we hope and believe we will be able to get one step ahead of the criminals as well."

I'm still nervous, but I am really hopeful about the 3D printing technology, it could really innovate manufacturing if they take it on an industrial level and find its actually cheaper than normal. Though I hope it doesn't lead to lost jobs on a large scale, don't need any more of that.

---

"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[Eonaros]

You still can't fire anything from this gun because 3D printers use a special powder for creating 3D stuff.Try firing and It'll fall apart, no matter what they say.

We had 2D printers, now 3D printers.How about 4D ? ( fourth dimension, still unexplainable )

[RmJ]

Fletcher you're always a delight to my sight. Everything you produce, find, or entertain somehow, not matter how offensive, is gold.

This I can see to help with my AirSofting project. Thanks for the story!

PS, Eonaros.... they tested it already.

---

[Fletcher]

You still can't fire anything from this gun because 3D printers use a special powder for creating 3D stuff.Try firing and It'll fall apart, no matter what they say.

We had 2D printers, now 3D printers.How about 4D ? ( fourth dimension, still unexplainable )

They tested it, if you clicked on the source page, the BBC have a video of him test firing the weapon, it works. I can't link it here since I can't source BBC media directly.

Fletcher you're always a delight to my sight. Everything you produce, find, or entertain somehow, not matter how offensive, is gold.

This I can see to help with my AirSofting project. Thanks for the story!

PS, Eonaros.... they tested it already.

I think I really should start a blog or something for these random little stories I find across the web, as suggested in the last one of these I did.

I can't name it though, I'm bad at names.

"Fletcher's Somewhat Interesting Blog"

...no

---

"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[Fletcher]

Sorry for the double but there has been a development with this topic.

It seems the USA government has tried to lock down this 3D guns blueprints, sadly, once it got onto PirateBay, it was too late. Now there is no chance you will ever shut this thing down.

Thoughts?

Link to article - BBC News UK

The US government has demanded designs for a 3D-printed gun be taken offline.

The order to remove the blueprints for the plastic gun comes after they were downloaded more than 100,000 times.

The US State Department wrote to the gun's designer, Defense Distributed, suggesting publishing them online may breach arms-control regulations.

Although the files have been removed from the company's Defcad site, it is not clear whether this will stop people accessing the blueprints.

They were being hosted by the Mega online service and may still reside on its servers.

Also, many links to copies of the blueprints have been uploaded to file-sharing site the Pirate Bay, making them widely available. The Pirate Bay has also publicised its links to the files via social news site Reddit suggesting many more people will get hold of the blueprints.

Cody Wilson, who founded Defense Distributed, told the BBC that the genie was out of the bottle.

"Once people heard what happened, Pirate Bay has exploded. I'm sat here watching it now, seeing the downloads go up and up."

The Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance emailed Mr Wilson a document demanding the designs be "removed from public access" until he could prove he had not broken laws governing shipping weapons overseas by putting the files online and letting people outside the US download them.

Explosive force

Mr Wilson said that Defense Distributed had complied with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) rules. He said the rules were pretty convoluted, but he believed his project was exempt as Defense Distributed had been set up specifically to meet requirements that exempted it from ITAR.

"Our gun operations were registered with ITAR."

He said the letter was unclear in that the Office was conducting a "review" yet at the same time he had to remove the files.

"They are stalling, they are going to make this review last as long as they can," he said. "They are getting a lot of political pressure." He added that he had taken legal advice about what to do next.

"We've also had offers of help from lawyers from all around the country," he said.

He welcomed the US government's intervention, saying it would highlight the issue of whether it was possible to stop the spread of 3D-printed weapons.

Unlike conventional weapons, the printed gun - called the Liberator by its creators - is made out of plastic on a printer. Many engineering firms and manufacturers use these machines to test prototypes before starting large-scale production.

While desktop 3D printers are becoming more popular, Defense Distributed used an industrial 3D printer that cost more than £5,000 to produce its gun. This was able to use high-density plastic that could withstand and channel the explosive force involved in firing a bullet.

Before making the Liberator, Mr Wilson got a licence to manufacture and sell the weapon from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Bureau told the BBC that any American could make a gun for their own use, even on a 3D printer, but selling it required a licence.

Mr Wilson, who describes himself as a crypto-anarchist, said the project to create a printed gun and make it widely available was all "about liberty".

---

"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[Hone]

So if you need a license for the lower reciever, which the printer cant make, whats the difference from normal?

---

User was banned for: Griefing others
Time left: (Permanent)

[Veygaar]

Metal 3d printers are just around the corner. Once they're here nothing will stop this. Which is fine by me.

---

Veygaar for Admin Moderator 2013!!!

[Agmen of Eladesor]

Metal 3d printers are just around the corner. Once they're here nothing will stop this. Which is fine by me.

Agreed. Star trek replicators and personal freedom ftw.

---

Oh god... The end of days... Agmen agreed with me.

[stardust47]

I'm not sure about this. Whilst guns are one of my main hobbies (10 metre air pistol, if you really must know), the idea that any idiot can get their hands on one (albiet at great personal expense) is a troubling thought. Whilst a Liberator probably won't be much use in, say, a primary school, metal 3D printing probably isn't too far off.

Can't we find a better use for 3D printers, like making replacement organs or ending world hunger?

---

[SMGSterlin]

EDIT: I've just been enlightened that you still need a lower receiver you still need a metal upper receiver to contain the force of the round being fired along with a metal barrel to contain the heat and friction. So its not all totally built by the 3D machine, and you need a license for the lower receiver.

This could probably be made from carbon fiber, so you may not necessarily need metal at all.

---