Al-Jazeera On 3D Printed Guns

By on March 6th, 2013 in Ideas

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A video report on Al-Jazeera explores the 3D printed gun scenario. While we’ve written (probably too much) on this topic, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle points out one aspect not written so much about: what happens outside of the USA? 
 
Within the USA, proponents of 3D printed guns suggest that the US Constitution permits such activity and therefore their designs are well within legal bounds. 
 
However, the same designs are freely available anywhere in the world due to the interconnected nature of the Internet. Anyone, anywhere can obtain the gun part designs. Even in jurisdictions that do not permit gun possession and manufacture in the same way as the US does. 
 
It will be interesting to see what actions governments outside the US take regarding 3D printed weapons. Just as the designs cannot be easily controlled in the US, they cannot be easily controlled anywhere else. Perhaps we’ll see the first restrictions on 3D printing appear outside of the US? 
 

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!