3D printed guns on the horizon

As the gun control debate rages on in America a new technology is starting to hit the mainstream that could make obtaining a gun virtually as easy as downloading a file. That technology is 3D printing.

Likely the biggest public advocate of 3D printed guns is 24-year-old Cody Wilson who owns Defense Distributed.

Cody’s company has created a website called DEFCAD which contains different files that 3D printers can use to print different components of a gun.

A popular 3D printer manufacturer, MakerBot, once housed many of these same files on their website at Thingiverse.

When MakerBot removed all gun-related files from Thingiverse, Cody jumped into action in order to defend the freedom of information, a controversial move.

One day 3D printers will be as common as inkjet printers, and that day may not be very far away.

3D printers are already dropping in price substantially; in fact you can purchase the MakerBot Replicator 2 for $2,199 USD (http://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html).

So as governments spend time and money trying to develop laws and regulations that keep traditional guns out of the hands of dangerous people, technology is leapfrogging their efforts and opening a whole new world of potential turmoil.

But any profound innovation comes with a dark side - the day we can purchase a 3D printer, and then print a second 3D printer for our friends with the original printer.

Oh wait, it looks like that day has already arrived!

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.