3d printers that people can afford can only produce garbage guns. 3d printers that professionals use (i.e., that cost tends of thousands of dollars) can produce slightly less crappy guns. In either case, you end up with a product that is substantially lower quality that mass-manufactured equivalents and costs substantially more.
What kind of idiot would pay more money for a lower quality product that could easily blow up in your hand severely injuring you? I mean, it is not like there's a shortage of mass-manufactured firearms.
I can purchase a laser sintering printer that can print 3D metal objects for a few thousand dollars. I would argue this is a low enough price point that your average person could afford it. I could also print a gun with a laser sinter, that while not as smooth and refined as a cast weapon, will still fire.
Sure, ABS plastic weapons are still somewhat laughable. What happens when you can print a metal gun in your own home with some metal powder, with a machine purchased for less than $1K?
Note: Boeing uses laser sintered parts in their new Dreamliner; this isn't just for prototyping.
I wasn't arguing that manufacturing tech turns people into murderers. I was arguing that the cost of rapid prototyping/manufacturing tech is dropping extremely rapidly, and to attempt to regulate it will be a fool's errand.
SLS fabricators don't actually produce equivalent quality to real guns. Real guns are made with precision machined metal components that are extremely strong. SLS "guns" are made with tiny bits of metal and binder fused at much lower temperatures than metal forging and thus have much weaker bonds. You can't really compare the two.
3d printers that people can afford can only produce garbage guns. 3d printers that professionals use (i.e., that cost tends of thousands of dollars) can produce slightly less crappy guns. In either case, you end up with a product that is substantially lower quality that mass-manufactured equivalents and costs substantially more.
What kind of idiot would pay more money for a lower quality product that could easily blow up in your hand severely injuring you? I mean, it is not like there's a shortage of mass-manufactured firearms.