by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Republic of Doyle is a lightweight Canadian "comedy/mystery" television series that was filmed in St. John's, Newfoundland, over several seasons in the early part of this decade. It is currently available for streaming on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. The show features a pair of father and son private detectives who trade sarcastic barbs and assist each other in solving crimes. Allan Hawco, plays the action-loving, womanizing son, Jake Doyle, and Sean McGinley is the more stable and subdued father, Malachi "Mal" Doyle. Many of the episodes were written and/or directed by Hawco.
A few weeks ago I was watching an episode that had originally run in 2013. It involved a woman breaking into a college laboratory so that she could "print" a pistol using the lab's nifty new 3-D printer. She accomplished her task with the speed that it would take to heat a TV dinner in a microwave, and then grabbed her shiny new blue plastic pistol and headed off to the airport where she planned to sell it to an arms dealer. If not for the ultimate interference of Doyle and Son, the arms dealer would have then boarded a plane with his deadly weapon - going undetected through the airport's security screening equipment - and terrorists would have won the day.
This week while doing business at a local establishment, I happened upon a 3-D printer, much like the one that the lady on television had used to quickly produce a firearm. This local printer was busy constructing an Eiffel Tower that, when finished, would stand about fifteen inches tall. On display were several other plastic items - masks, a unicorn's head, a frieze of the Last Supper - which had all recently been constructed by the same printer. The business owner told me that the Eiffel Tower would take about fifteen hours to complete. He picked up the unicorn head to show me that item, which has also taken fifteen hours to produce, and accidentally dropped it on the concrete floor. The head bounced around, but did not break. The 3-D printer made very durable goods, but it was obviously a slow process.
Being the curious sort, I then asked about guns. The guy told me that others had asked him the same thing - not surprising in West Plains, Missouri. He said, taking great pains to explain that he had no personal views on the issue of guns, that it is possible to print working guns with 3-D printers, but that was something which he would not be doing.
By the time I got home my curiosity completely had the better of me. What was the process for "printing" a gun, and how long would it take? My quick research indicated that guns could not be printed in tact - as a finished product - as the one had been on Republic of Doyle. Instead, the parts could be printed individually - fifteen or sixteen for a pistol - and then assembled by hand. Would it then work? Sadly, yes.
Then I went on to investigate the current cost of 3-D printers. They can be purchased on-line and run, on the average, from $250 to $2,500 each, depending on the size and quality desired. Like all tech equipment of the past two or three decades, those prices are bound to fall into the range where every home can eventually have one.
That may be well and good for people who need a tricky part for a mower, blender, or antique clock make in Silesia in the 1830's - just go on-line, order the schematic or whatever software is necessary, and print the part. But what about Bubba and his buddies, working late in his garage every night making gun after gun? Certainly plastic bullets would be just as deadly as those made of lead. The only ingredient left to buy would be gunpowder. That represents a future that might even scare Wayne LaPierre and Ted Nugent.
And it damned sure scares Pa Rock. This brave new world has left me in future shock!
Citizen Journalist
Republic of Doyle is a lightweight Canadian "comedy/mystery" television series that was filmed in St. John's, Newfoundland, over several seasons in the early part of this decade. It is currently available for streaming on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. The show features a pair of father and son private detectives who trade sarcastic barbs and assist each other in solving crimes. Allan Hawco, plays the action-loving, womanizing son, Jake Doyle, and Sean McGinley is the more stable and subdued father, Malachi "Mal" Doyle. Many of the episodes were written and/or directed by Hawco.
A few weeks ago I was watching an episode that had originally run in 2013. It involved a woman breaking into a college laboratory so that she could "print" a pistol using the lab's nifty new 3-D printer. She accomplished her task with the speed that it would take to heat a TV dinner in a microwave, and then grabbed her shiny new blue plastic pistol and headed off to the airport where she planned to sell it to an arms dealer. If not for the ultimate interference of Doyle and Son, the arms dealer would have then boarded a plane with his deadly weapon - going undetected through the airport's security screening equipment - and terrorists would have won the day.
This week while doing business at a local establishment, I happened upon a 3-D printer, much like the one that the lady on television had used to quickly produce a firearm. This local printer was busy constructing an Eiffel Tower that, when finished, would stand about fifteen inches tall. On display were several other plastic items - masks, a unicorn's head, a frieze of the Last Supper - which had all recently been constructed by the same printer. The business owner told me that the Eiffel Tower would take about fifteen hours to complete. He picked up the unicorn head to show me that item, which has also taken fifteen hours to produce, and accidentally dropped it on the concrete floor. The head bounced around, but did not break. The 3-D printer made very durable goods, but it was obviously a slow process.
Being the curious sort, I then asked about guns. The guy told me that others had asked him the same thing - not surprising in West Plains, Missouri. He said, taking great pains to explain that he had no personal views on the issue of guns, that it is possible to print working guns with 3-D printers, but that was something which he would not be doing.
By the time I got home my curiosity completely had the better of me. What was the process for "printing" a gun, and how long would it take? My quick research indicated that guns could not be printed in tact - as a finished product - as the one had been on Republic of Doyle. Instead, the parts could be printed individually - fifteen or sixteen for a pistol - and then assembled by hand. Would it then work? Sadly, yes.
Then I went on to investigate the current cost of 3-D printers. They can be purchased on-line and run, on the average, from $250 to $2,500 each, depending on the size and quality desired. Like all tech equipment of the past two or three decades, those prices are bound to fall into the range where every home can eventually have one.
That may be well and good for people who need a tricky part for a mower, blender, or antique clock make in Silesia in the 1830's - just go on-line, order the schematic or whatever software is necessary, and print the part. But what about Bubba and his buddies, working late in his garage every night making gun after gun? Certainly plastic bullets would be just as deadly as those made of lead. The only ingredient left to buy would be gunpowder. That represents a future that might even scare Wayne LaPierre and Ted Nugent.
And it damned sure scares Pa Rock. This brave new world has left me in future shock!
1 comment:
Americans can, consistent with the Second Amendment, regulate military assault weapons. A person, or an organized group of persons, can alone or in a criminal conspiracy not only build guns that are not detectable but make that information public. The questions are would a regulation violate the First Amendment and can the regulation survive Second Amendment scrutiny.
Currently The Undetected Firearms Act of 1988 has been extended until 2023. See, Public Law 100-649. Of course the knuckleheads with 3-D printers don't give a damn about that. A group that you can visit on line challenged the law in Defense Distributed v. United States Department of State. The Texas case did not go well for the good old boys with high tech designs on circumventing the law.
There is an excellent law review on the case at https://harvardlawreview.org/2017/04/defense-distributed-v-united-states-department-of-state/ The article said "refused to suspend a regulation restricting publication of computer-aided design (CAD) files that enable the public to print guns or gun parts using just a 3D printer."
Make no mistake, the knuckleheads are going to continue to pursue their agenda of anarchy because they covet guns more than life or liberty. I suspect their downfall will be in the law of Tort because they are placing a dangerous instrument in the line of commerce. They will be liable in Tort where other gun manufacturers have not been.
For their part the knuckleheads at Defense Distributed appear to have attempted to isolate themselves by being organized as a not for profit enterprise. That corporate veil may not shield them.
America can take heart that at least the knuckleheads have not replicated the AR-15. I hope.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence also filed an amicus brief in that case. Their press release is here: http://www.bradycampaign.org/press-room/brady-files-amicus-brief-to-keep-untraceable-3d-printed-guns-out-of-the-hands-of.
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