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Comment by kh_hk | Hacker News Reader

The most important quote in the article:

    "It does look like the MakerBot part," says Stuart Offer of 3D-printing firm 3T 
    RPD in Newbury, UK. "These 3D printed guns seem to have hit the headlines, but
    I've no idea why they take off so much," he says. "A little engineer in his 
    shed with a mill down the bottom of the garden could make a proper metal barrel
    capable of firing a high-velocity bullet."

And that's what I have been discussing with friends. Is printing a 3D gun that much easier than building a proto-gun with metal parts?

I think they hit the headlines because the whole "the future is scary" appeals to the masses, or at least, "3D printed guns" sounds like something out of a movie (for instance, "In the Line of Fire").

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A home-made gun, aka a "zip gun"[1] is much easier to make -- but like you said, it doesn't sound nearly as scary as "any criminal can, with the press of a button, print out a gun at home!" (nevermind that it's not as simple as pressing a button, and they only work for a shot or two anyway.)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improvised_firearm

I think what's scary to some is the perceived ease of production. Just download some files and hit print. The engineer in his shed at least has to know what he's doing.

I'm not saying they are right and I have also no idea how hard it is to build an actual (metal)weapon from scratch, but the notion of "anyone can do this" seems to be a big factor in most stories.

Even if it was easy, you still need to go and find bullets, which is presumably just as hard and finding a gun. I wouldn't know, I've never had any inclination go anywhere near the things, and I don't know a single person in my normal life who owns one.

Here in the USA, ammunition is sold on every street corner. But then, so are guns. Printed guns seems to be more of a technical challenge than anything practical. The police and press making a fuss seem to be looking for a juicy story more than any actual danger. Meanwhile D&D made me the Satanist I am today.

here in the UK ammunition is as difficult to acquire as guns are, so printing a gun is not even half the battle.

Difficult for whom?

Well, you can also make your own bullets. I cast my own lead bullets sometimes (in the garage, you have to heat the lead and vapor doesn't belong in the house), but most of the time just reload old scruffy brass. Or as another poster mentioned, just buy the ammo. Ammo really is the easy part.

This guy built an AK47 out of a shovel. (well the receiver and stock anyhow) Some of the other bits are a little more tricky. Vodka appears to be an important factor as well.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DI...

What's most impressive about that build is that the AK47 design is optimized for specially-tooled mass production factories, not DIY. The AR15 is a more modular design that's easier for this sort of thing.

The AK47 receiver (which is the "gun" in the eyes of the law) is much simpler than the AR15. Its literally a piece of folded sheet metal. (I have built both in my garage from scratch)Now headspacing and barrel pressing with the AK is a bit more complicated but still there are ways around this work.

If you're willing to relax safety standards, you can easily do it with Home Depot parts. You just have to be mechanically inclined and somewhat clever. It doesn't have to look like a traditional firearm (grip, magazine, chamber, barrel, etc), all it has to be able to do is ignite a propellant and push a bullet down a tube.

Get a length of pipe that a shotgun shell will fit in - a slightly larger length of pipe that the smaller pipe will ride in smoothly, a cap for the larger length and a nail. Attach the nail to the cap - stick the cap onto the larger pipe. Place a shell in the smaller pipe and slide it into the larger one.

It's not hugely safe, mind - but it's doable. You can see videos on youtube of people, even kids, who've made them.

http://youtu.be/7Va87gB_4AI

You're right - 'perceived' is the operative word here. People are imagining Star Trek replicators, and that's not even close to where we're at.

The whole conversation around 3D printing reminds me a lot of personal computing in the 70s. It's a group of diehards hacking this stuff together, doing it because it's neat. There isn't a hell of a lot you can do with it yet, and no one can really predict what the future of it will be like, but everybody understands that it can be huge.

Have a look at this documentary-

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DconsfGsXyA

It's extremely scary. In most countries, the right to owning ammunition is not allowed. The thought that in the future, my neighbor could make a gun using a home 3d printer makes me feel very unsafe.

Your neighbor can build a bomb right now with beauty salon supplies. If you think restricting things is going to make you safe, you should be terrified.

Your commute to work every day is much more dangerous than an armed neighbor will ever be.

Source: survived countless armed neighbors and lost plenty of friends to cars. Also, statistics.

Why do you have irrational fear of your neighbor? That if they posess something dangerous you feel unsafe.

Maybe you should realize your neighbors aren't out to get you.

I should imagine the "scary" part for security services is the fact that it's printed in plastic and therefore much harder to detect, not that it's home-made.

Nothing stops you from milling and turning plastic. Not only that, there are many heat resistant plastics on the market that are far stronger than some poorly bonded ABS.

I may be wrong here, but don't 3d printed guns still need a metal firing assembly to work? Would that be enough to detect?

The Liberator derringer[1] which caused such a fuss a few months ago only needed a nail, which wouldn't be detected under most circumstances. I imagine that using an epoxy pin would probably be suitable given the gun's other single-fire characteristics.

[1] It's single shot, uses a low-powered cartridge, and is a bitch to reload; calling it a handgun is an extreme stretch.

They put in a metal firing pin because 100% plastic guns are illegal in the US. It was technically capable of being completely plastic.

But like the other poster said, it's a one-shot pistol with a weak cartridge. It's a long way from a practical firearm that will survive more than 10 shots.

No one should be alarmed by a non-metal firearm until someone figures out how to make plastic bullets.

http://www.guns.com/2013/01/02/flare-guns-as-weapons/

Shotgun shells are mostly plastic.

Loaded full of metal pellets.

You make a good point with flare guns, but I wouldn't be terribly afraid of them. Maybe someone on a plane could cause a lot of panic with flare gun but that's not much different that causing a fire with other means. You might be able to kill someone with the initial shot, but that's it.

In a shotgun shell, the pellets (or slug) and primer section are still metal. You couldn't smuggle a shotgun shell through a metal detector any more than you could smuggle a regular bullet through.

The shot, however, is not plastic.

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