3D Printing of Weapons - Can Anything be done?

[curious aardvark]

Engineering teachers have access to lathes and mills : they could make actual working weapons faar less dangerous to the user. Yet somehow they have refrained from it, no ?

Anyone can buy a mill and lathe. I haven't seen a ban on those. I don't expect there will be a ban on 3D printers anytime soon. This is just hype piling on hype.

There is no need for ammo shells to build a projectile weapon, you can rig a very effective induction rail gun for less than 400$. We're not banning car batteries or mosfets either are we ?

So let's stop with the nonsense already.

The difference is in the skill level required to make the weapon.
Any non-metal parts can be made from plastic.

Anyone with a metal 3d printer can probably acquire the cad files for an ak47 and print the parts.
To manufacture those same parts in a more conventional manner requires a lot of skill and knowlege.

That's the difference.

So yeah, 3d printed guns will be a problem when metal printers get cheap and criminals realise how easy it is to make untraceable guns that don't have to be transported over national borders.

And no the problem is NOT the same in the states - you already have far more guns than people. But in the rest of the world where guns are tools and not an inalienable right - it will be a growing and serious issue.

Also to make ammunition you just need the casing and bullet (both can easily be printed) a couple of youtube videos to walk you through making the propellant and ignitors.
So yeah becasue the technology of 3d printing takes the skill away from making complex parts - it is going to be a major issue in the next decade or two.