http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... onsfGsXyA#!

One to mull over... He's got a point, I'm just not sure I like why he's making it

Without reading the link, surely a printer gun barrel wouldn't have the internal strength to withstand the internal explosion?

No, you can't print the whole gun. What has been happening is people have been buying 'civilian' version of assault rifles (only in America would that not be a massive contradiction in terms) and using 3D printing to replicate the 'military version' of the parts that have been swapped, thus for example turning a civilian semi-automatic weapon into a military grade fully automatic weapon.

There's no way you could 3D print a working breach and barrel for a modern round to fire using consumer grade 3D printing equipment. As you suggest, it simply wouldn't be able to take the stress and pressure of a gunshot. At least not for more than a couple of shots, and it'd be as likely to harm you as the person at the other end of it.

The 'plastic gun' is currently still a myth. Even the Glocks that have a reputation that way are actually only mostly plastic, the bits that actually hold the bits that are going bang are steel. And they're being made in Germany by professional armourers, not by gun-nut Americans in their shed.

I have seen a couple of previous articles about printed guns. There was someone who got hold of two leased industrial printers to print guns, and when the printer company found out what they would be used for they withdrew the printers, though they have since returned the printers. They have since printed a couple of rifles. They can be used as lethal weapons but only have the capability to fire a couple of rounds. It has even been made in to an episode of CSI:NY. The idea was that to test the theory that you could make such a weapon, it could have been used for military reinforcement if it was viable.

He's making the lower receiver, the trigger box, which IIRC is the bit that's regulated, and magazines.

He's basically making the point that gun laws might become pointless as a result anyway, especially with new materials coming on the market. Needless to say he's a bit of a gun nut, but one who's charismatic and smart enough to argue his point.

Correct, the current materials with aren't strong enough for a traditional gun and the method of bonding the metal together is also nowhere near strong enough for a gun barrel. Most of the other components can be printed.

The guy in that video is a word beginning with c that rhymes with [LIFTED].

Stocks can also be very tough on the material. A lot of stress can be applied in a stock.

Can't we give him some adult guidance? I'm not sure he should be left to play unsupervised.