Unlike the 3D printed Liberator, this 3D-printed part requires very little structural support and is simply used to guide the mechanism while firing. In other words, you can buy all the parts for a Ruger Charger (a .22-calibre rimfire semiautomatic that is essentially a Ruger 10/22 rifle in pistol form) online – except the receiver.

O’Fama is doing little novel here. Gunmakers wishing to exert their rights can buy “80% completed” receivers online now and, with the help of a guide and a drill press, complete the parts at home. In fact, his two-piece receiver seems a little dangerous as it requires the user to print it in two pieces and then stick them together. He has not made the model available for download, either.

In an anonymous-esque voiceover, O’Fama says:

“You may not condone the activity, but the fact remains that we are now living in a time when deadly weapons can be printed with the push of a button. The notion that any item so easily created could be eradicated from the earth is pure fantasy. The capacity to defend my family is a fundamental human right. If you take my gun, I will simply print another one. “

I will condone this activity until I’m blue in the face. But to make this sort of a thing a public issue full of posturing and puffery is wrong-headed. Any sensible person with some mechanical skill can build a receiver out of metal or plastic. However by politicizing the entire operation and turning it into what amounts to a thumb in the nose of “government overreach,” you hurt the entire 3D-printing and making industry. The right to bear arms shall not be infringed, etc. etc. but you don’t have to be smarmy about it.

My primary fear is that this sort of thing turns quickly in the national conversation from “guy makes a gun part” to “3D printers let terrorists build anti-tank missiles.” Like the Liberator before it, this video will sizzle for a moment and then disappear and it’s the makers who are actually trying to change the world for the better who will suffer under increased legislation.

Source: Techcrunch.com

The trouble started when Imura printed and fired the Zig Zag in a video posted 25 weeks ago. In the video we see him assemble the primitive gun and fire blanks. Imura wrote:

It is the first 3D printer revolver in the world which can discharge the live cartridge made in Japan. In order to protect the law of Japan, the bullet for motion picture photography is used. Please make in the United States. !!

It appears that Imura raised hackles in Japan back in March when the Zig Zag first appeared on Japanese television. This week police raided his home and found five 3D-printed guns as well as his cheap 3D printer.

Japan has long upheld the Japanese Firearm and Sword Act which essentially outlaws guns in the country. The law states:

Unless otherwise provided by a specific provision, the Law prohibits the following: possession of a firearm, handgun part, handgun ammunition, imitation handgun, or a mock arm with intent to sell; import of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition;” conveyance of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition; receipt of an Article 3-4 Handgun, a handgun part, or handgun ammunition;’ the firing of an Article 3-4 Handgun in a public place such as a public road, park, station, theater, and department store or on or at public transportation; the carrying of a sword with a blade length of greater than six centimeters, or an imitation sword;

What does this mean for the future of 3D-printed guns in Japan? Clearly the police see the manufacture of any firearm to be an offense and the same goes for the 3D-printed models. In short, the police treated Imura as if he had manufactured a firearm using more traditional methods. Regardless of medium and material, then, a gun is a gun.

Source: Techcrunch.com

3D-printed guns have yet to be officially criminalized in the US but it is increasingly harder to find and download the plans to the first 3D-printed gun, the Liberator from Defense Distributed. In fact, this original zip-gun style 3D model has been eclipsed by a real, fireable pistol made entirely out of metal and 3D printed using laser sintering.

Regardless, the average consumer is miles away from being able to print a real gun at home, but that hasn’t stopped the UK authorities from fully outlawing the practice. The release states:

The manufacture, purchase, sale and possession of 3D printed firearms, ammunition or their component parts is fully captured by the provisions in section 57(1) of the Firearms Act 1968. The definition of firearm in the Act includes any component parts. 3D printed firearms are subject to strict control in the following respects:

a. under section 1 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for an individual to possess, purchase or acquire any component part of a firearm without a certificate;
b. under section 3 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture or possess for sale a component part of a firearm acting by way of trade or business; and
c. under section 5 of the 1968 Act, it is an offence for a person to manufacture, possess, purchase, sell, transfer or acquire a component part of a prohibited weapon without the authority of the Secretary of State for the Home Department or by Scottish Ministers in Scotland.

Considering the possible threat from 3D printed guns is approximately zero, it’s brave of the UK Home Office to get out in front of the problem. In fact I’d wager that the moment 3D metal sintering becomes an amateur pursuit, we will have far more societal problems to deal with than 3D-printed pop guns.

Via 3Ders

Source: Techcrunch.com

During the searches, officers found a 3D printer and what is suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a viable 3D gun.

Sadly, they were quite wrong.

The items in question, a little piece that looks like a trigger (shown here) and something that looks like a magazine, are actually a poorly-printed Replicator 2 drive block and a filament spool holder – essentially two parts you’d build if you were building another 3D printer. The criminal masterminds also printed it out of PLA plastic, which is not ideal for heavy-duty use, let alone firing a projectile. The printer, pictured above, is a Makerbot 2 which, in fact, only prints PLA. The jeers, needless to say, have been flying. This sort of fear, uncertainty, and doubt will soon be flowing fast and heavy from “authorities” all over the world. What Cody Wilson at Defense Distributed has done by creating a media spectacle around his nearly useless 3D gun is set back the 3D printing industry considerably in the eyes of the uninitiated. While his gun works and can be fired, it requires far better materials and a higher-resolution printer to prevent death or maiming of the person behind the trigger. This “gun,” on the other hand, is simply plastic scrap. via Buzzfeed

Source: Techcrunch.com

The gun, created by Solid Concepts, is completely legal. The company has a Federal Firearms License and it’s trivial to find the blueprints online. The company created a 3D model of the 1911 and then simply blasted metal powder, heating it up and creating a solid, fireable item. The finished product needed a great deal of finishing including the removal of support material and modifications to the chamber. They laser sintered the nylon grips but used off-the-shelf springs and a store-bought magazine. They have used it to fire over 50 rounds so far.

“We made it to prove out metal laser sintering technology,” said VP of Marketing Scott McGowan. “We think it’s a departure from the Liberator. It’s not done with hobbyist printers. It’s not something you’re going to find in someone’s garage.”

McGowan expects to be able to help gunsmiths acquire difficult-to-build parts using this technology. They will only work with qualified customers and they are fully certified to manufacture weapons. The printers cost over $500,000 and McGowan noted that they are “professional engineers working with professional machines for professional clients.”

“We’re proving this is possible, the technology is at a place now where we can manufacture a gun with 3D Metal Printing,” wrote Kent Firestone, Vice President of Additive Manufacturing at Solid Concepts. “Now, if a qualifying customer needs a unique gun part in five days, we can deliver.”

Most important, in fact, is that this is a true first.

“As far as we know this is the world’s first 3d-printed metal gun,” said McGowan.

Source: Techcrunch.com