Gun Control is More of a Fantasy Every Day

In a way I almost feel sorry for advocates of gun control. While they may be able to get some laws passed in certain individual states it matters not because fabricating firearms in the home is becoming easier every day. Somebody managed to print a functioning evolution of the Liberator on a consumer-grade 3D printer:

When high tech gunsmith group Defense Distributed test-fired the world’s first fully 3D-printed firearm earlier this month, some critics dismissed the demonstration as expensive and impractical, arguing it could only be done with a high-end industrial 3D printer and that the plastic weapon wouldn’t last more than a single shot. Now a couple of hobbyists have proven them wrong on both counts.

One evening late last week, a Wisconsin engineer who calls himself “Joe” test-fired a new version of that handgun printed on a $1,725 Lulzbot A0-101 consumer-grade 3D printer, far cheaper than the one used by Defense Distributed. Joe, who asked that I not reveal his full name, loaded the weapon with .380 caliber rounds and fired it nine times, using a string to pull its trigger for safety.

Here's a video of the gun firing:

At this point it's pretty safe to say anybody with a decent 3D printer can print a firearm. Still, a $2,000 3D printer is out of the price range of many people, but that's OK. Let's not forget the person who created an AR lower out of hand tools and polymer. There was also the guy who fabricated an AK receiver out of a shovel.

Gun control has been a fantasy for a long time but it keeps becoming more of a fantasy every day.