While the majority of the country has moved in a pro-gun-rights direction (41 states have Right-to-Carry/Shall-Issue laws or better, 11 of those have Constitutional Carry laws of some form), a handful of states have chosen to buck the tide and enact more restrictive legislation. On top of enhanced “assault weapon” restrictions in Connecticut and the SAFE Act in New York enacted in 2013, and the California “assault weapon” ban enacted this year, California recently passed legislation requiring that anyone who makes a firearm at home pass a background check and get a serial number for the firearm.
On first blush, this may not seem an unreasonable burden. All commercially manufactured firearms have serial numbers, and it is a felony in at least some states to remove or deface these serial numbers.
The great big joke, though, is that this is just another pointless piece of legislation, intended as a demonstration of “doing something” about gun violence and as a salve for the quivering chihuahuas who suffer PTSD at the mere thought of a gun in the hands of someone other than a police officer or soldier. It’s silly to think that someone with criminal intent in his heart, who went through the trouble of making a gun at home, would be interested in registering that home-made gun with the authorities. This new legislation is only a burden on the law-abiding.
It’s also rendered even more pointless by the advent of 3D printing. It’s been a couple years since 3D printing was first used to make a gun, and 3D-printed gun rights activists have shared designs across the world. As 3D printing technology improves, the quality of 3D-printed guns improves as well. Already, people have made AR-15 receivers (the receiver is the part of the rifle that is regulated i.e. has a serial number and can normally only be purchased from a licensed dealer after a background check).
This, of course, freaks out anti-gun politicians. They can do nothing about 3D printed guns. But, they feel they must do something, so they try anyway. So, they do stuff that infringes on the rights of citizens to make themselves and the quivering chihuahuas that vote them into office feel better. They do stuff that is as pointless as sweeping back the tide, and in doing so do harm only to the law-abiding.
This is all genie-out-of-the-bottle stuff. The government cannot ban 3D printers, and the software to make the parts for guns has already been disseminated across the world via the Internet. As the technology improves, as 3D printers get cheaper and more capable, as the materials used for 3D printing get better, and as people develop newer designs, the guns that can be produced will themselves get better. To reiterate – there is nothing the government can do to prevent this from happening.
It’s not hard to envision how this would change the criminal world. A criminal gun-runner will no longer have to risk smuggling stolen, illegally possessed or straw-purchased guns over distance. He can bring his 3D printer (models under $2K have enough capability) to his customer’s area, rent a motel room, plug into any wall outlet, and in 48 hours produce a pistol. And another, and another. Each for about $25 in materials. Using 2013 technology. Time and cost will only improve.
Australia thought to get out ahead of this “threat” by banning the ownership of digital blueprints for 3D-printed guns. I can’t speak for the laws in Australia, but I’m not quite sure how such a law would pass constitutional muster in the US. The UK and Japan have banned making 3D printed guns entirely. But, given how easy it is for anyone with a bit of computer savvy to access the Internet anonymously, (hello, Tor browser), and the fact that 3D printers have tons of other uses, these bans aren’t likely to do anything to stop those with criminal intent.
It may take another decade for its impact to truly be felt, but already there are people who are making ghost guns, i.e. untraceable firearms. It is currently legal under federal statute (though not necessarily under state laws – see CA above) to make a firearm, as long as you don’t sell it. I’d imagine that some congressman will have a freak-out at some point and write a law to ban such a practice, but even if bans are enacted, how will they stop the criminally-minded?
Hollywood, of course, is injecting itself into the narrative. While my searches have not found any instances of 3D printed guns used in crimes, they did find episodes of the shows NCIS, Elementary, The Good Wife and Shades of Blue that involved 3D printed guns. Of course, we all know Hollywood has no political agendas…
John Stossel is only one of many who have observed that technology outpaces regulation and thus helps protect our rights. Beyond the game-changing effect of 3D printing on gun rights and restrictions, consider what Bitcoin means for on-line gambling and for purchases one doesn’t want the government to track, how encryption benefits privacy, how Uber, Lyft and ride-sharing services are skirting the taxicab monopolies, and how AirBnB is beating back government-hotel cronyism. Consider what chemical 3D printing (still a couple decades out, I believe) will do to the War on Drugs.
Our politicians should recognize that their rights-restricting endeavors are being wiped off the map by technology. They should stop trying to do what cannot be done, and instead restore the rights they’ve infringed. The criminals don’t care about such laws, and technology’s making those laws pointless anyway. Perhaps, instead of looking for new and creative ways to infringe on the rights of the law-abiding, those politicians should actually honor their oaths of office and stand up for our rights.
The broader lesson? In battles between technology and prohibition, technology will always win out.
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