REAL LIFE NEWS: ANNIE, PRINT YOUR GUN
by Hazed
The media is all abuzz with the news that plans to make a plastic gun using a 3D printer have been published online.
Those in favor of gun control are aghast that it is now possible for anyone to make their own gun, without having to undergo any background checks or registration. (Much like it is for “real” guns, in fact!)
Those who want the right to arm themselves with whatever weapons they choose are overjoyed at the idea of supplementing their existing lethal arsenals with a small plastic weapon.
The US government is so worried about this that it has demanded the plans be taken offline. They should know better: once info is released on the internet it is all but impossible to suppress it. In a case of locking the stable door after the horse has shot it to bits, the blueprints had already been downloaded more than 100,000 times before they were yanked from the company’s website, and copies are showing up all over the net including on the file-sharing site Pirate Bay. The genie is out of the bottle, and the Streisand effect is well and truly in play.
Frankly, everyone needs to calm down. This isn’t going to herald the end of civilization as we know it, nor is it the start of a glorious revolution where the people rise up to overthrow the oppressive Government regime.
It’s a plastic gun. It’s made of plastic. There is a reason guns are usually made of metal, and that’s because they need to be solid, rigid, capable of withstanding the gaseous force of the explosion that propels the bullet. There’s a detailed explanation of how pathetic this plastic gun is in the Register article linked to below.
As for the security implications: yes, it’s made of plastic, so it won’t trigger metal detectors. But bullets will. So I don’t think it’s going to help wannabe terrorists or robbers evade security measures.
Given the ease with which anyone can get hold of a gun, legally or illegally, how is the ability to make a flimsy plastic firearm going to make any difference whatsoever?
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22478310
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/05/10/oh_no_its_the_plastic_3d_gun/
