3D Magazine Ban Introduced in Congress

[Kirk Freeman]

We at INGO have been on 3D printing early and often and now the anti-gun Left has finally realized the power of 3D printing. Congressman Steven Israel has announced that he will be introducing legislation to ban 3D printed magazines.

3ders.org - US Congressman introducing ban on 3D-printable gun magazines | 3D Printer News & 3D Printing News

Hey, Congressman, good luck, buddy. It's in the air now, dips**t.

 

[Rookie]

Unenforceable...

 

[HiRoller]

I don't know how cost effective they are anyway. Injection molding is very cheap and fast. Portability and design on the fly make it attractive in 3D.

 

[poptab]

Unenforceable...

Yep, will just cause people to scoff at the law.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Converting a firearm to full-auto is a pretty simple operation, yet how many people do it now? Not many. Why? Because the laws against manufacturing machine guns is enforced aggressively and the prison terms (if you make it to prison alive) are long. Printing realistic looking currency is pretty easy and smaller denominations are not checked very closely. Why don't more people print their own now that the technology makes it easy to do? Because they pursue that aggressively and the jail terms are long. All they have to do is enforce this aggressively too and it doesn't matter if you CAN do it, few people WILL do it.

 

[cbhausen]

Converting a firearm to full-auto is a pretty simple operation, yet how many people do it now? Not many. Why? Because the laws against manufacturing machine guns is enforced aggressively and the prison terms (if you make it to prison alive) are long. Printing realistic looking currency is pretty easy and smaller denominations are not checked very closely. Why don't more people print their own now that the technology makes it easy to do? Because they pursue that aggressively and the jail terms are long. All they have to do is enforce this aggressively too and it doesn't matter if you CAN do it, few people WILL do it.

All are excellent points. The criminal mindset doesn't respect the rule of law; the law-abiding mindset does. WTF is this so difficult for liberals to understand? Rep inbound for your clarity of thought!

 

[Kirk Freeman]

All they have to do is enforce this aggressively too and it doesn't matter if you CAN do it, few people WILL do it.

As aggressively as the government enforces the drug laws?

 

[ghuns]

Injection molding is very cheap and fast.

3D printing is fairly cheap and fast. Injection molding is faster, once you have a mold. And building a mold is neither cheap or fast. I've been building and designing them for 20 years. A 3D printed mag will be inferior to a molded one, but if you're just shooting in the backyard, who cares. Use it till it breaks and print a new one. The quality of 3D printed parts is improving slowly but don't hold your breath. The first 3D printed parts I ever saw were in 1991. They were prototypes for an outboard motor cover. The engineer that showed them to me was happy to announce that in another 20 years, he wouldn't need me to build a mold. Guess what, he still needs me

 

[shibumiseeker]

As aggressively as the government enforces the drug laws?

As aggressively as they enforce machine gun laws...

 

[Kirk Freeman]

As aggressively as they enforce machine gun laws

Selectively then.

 

[Paul30]

As soon as they make file sharing illegal and succeed this will work. I know there are is no illegal music or movies out there.

 

[GunsNstuff]

I'd like to see the files to print magazines and receivers out there in cyberspace where it cannot be taken away.

 

[Movealongmovealong]

I hate to break the news, but successful counterfeiting is very, very common. It would be a lot more common if it weren't for numerous technological barriers introduced through legislation and complicity by technology manufacturers (makers of photo editing software, printers, scanners, etc. put barrier technology in their products to prevent counterfeiting). People try this all the time.

The big reason our paper currency keeps getting changed is because of counterfeiting, some of which (probably by the chinese government) is so good it is IMPOSSIBLE to distinguish from real money except by finding duplicate serial numbers.

Yeah, it's that pervasive.

Converting a firearm to full-auto is a pretty simple operation, yet how many people do it now? Not many. Why? Because the laws against manufacturing machine guns is enforced aggressively and the prison terms (if you make it to prison alive) are long. Printing realistic looking currency is pretty easy and smaller denominations are not checked very closely. Why don't more people print their own now that the technology makes it easy to do? Because they pursue that aggressively and the jail terms are long. All they have to do is enforce this aggressively too and it doesn't matter if you CAN do it, few people WILL do it.

 

[cbhausen]

I'd like to see the files to print magazines and receivers out there in cyberspace where it cannot be taken away.

Like this?

DEFCAD

LOL

 

[shibumiseeker]

I hate to break the news, but successful counterfeiting is very, very common. It would be a lot more common if it weren't for numerous technological barriers introduced through legislation and complicity by technology manufacturers (makers of photo editing software, printers, scanners, etc. put barrier technology in their products to prevent counterfeiting). People try this all the time.

The big reason our paper currency keeps getting changed is because of counterfeiting, some of which (probably by the chinese government) is so good it is IMPOSSIBLE to distinguish from real money except by finding duplicate serial numbers.

Yeah, it's that pervasive.

Then why don't you print your own?

I thought so.

None of what you wrote goes against my point.

 

[Stainer]

So who has one of these printers? What is the cost, materials wise, associated with printing a AR mag?

I think it is a cool idea and wish I had one of those printers but I don't think they would be too cost effective unless you were printing a lot of mags and lowers continuously to sell to others. Lowers would require you to be an FFL if you were going to be selling to the masses causing even more cost and time. Cool concept, practicality is low.

*Edit - Just looked up the cost on a Printbot if you had one right now, you could be cranking out mags and probably could make a profit off of them selling them to guys on here. It would be a stretch but if you sold them for $15 a pop, print about 300 mags, you would cover the cost of the printer and the materials. Not a bad idea had you bought the printer months ago.

 

[shibumiseeker]

As soon as they make file sharing illegal and succeed this will work. I know there are is no illegal music or movies out there.

How deep underground would it be if the government decided anyone who downloaded illegal music was an enemy of the state and vigorously pursued people who did?

People are forgetting recent history. In the late 80s through the 90s we were treated to numerous horror stories of ATF agents performing no-knock warrants, confiscating innocent people's guns, money, computers, milling equipment. People's lives ruined on mere suspicion of a firearms violation.

My point is that it's EASY to saw off a shotgun or rifle barrel. Doing so is illegal without the proper tax stamp, and for failing to pay a $200, or even $5 tax people have had their lives ruined.

There's lots of people on InGO who will freely admit right here to smoking a joint, or illegally downloading a movie. I'll bet there's lots of people who have done something illegal with a firearm like conversion to full auto, who will never say so in public because they know the consequences are not only severe, but the likelyhood of being investigated is high.

 

[GunsNstuff]

Like this?

DEFCAD

LOL

Exactly like that!

 

[The-Last-Round]

How would uncle sugar be able to prove the mag wasn't printed before the law takes effect?

I wonder how much magpul is paying to get this one proposed?

 

[GunsNstuff]

Like this?

DEFCAD

LOL

Exactly like that!