this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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Great... can't wait for politicians to use this as a way to pass "common sense" legislation banning 3D printers.
3D printers are even less useful here though. The rocket bit can be replaced with a cardboard tube and some balsa fins. The important parts are the active control and circuitry.
But I guess logic doesn't really enter into the conversation anyway.
Aren't they already doing that due to their hysteria over "ghost" guns?
Well, that's the excuse at least. The law would have to effectively kill 3D printing. Is that the goal? Idk.
It would severally hurt small time manufacturers, so yeah, probably.
I learned from Mario that ghosts can only harm you if you look away. They never had guns, but I guess the same applies for that.
I thought Luigi was the one with ghost gun
Luigi was with me and he didn’t have a gun
Trying to yes. I think it's model legislation, probably ALEC bs, if I recall CA tried to pass it and hasn't yet. Maybe a year back.
Washington State's bill would ban offline 3d printing and essentially force all printers to include DRM to stop undesirable printing.
The kind that can be better made with $20 and a trip to home depot?
They can try, but the parts that make up a printer are used in tons of other applications. It isn't hard to build one from scratch.
reprap goes brrrr
I wonder how they intend to add DRM to a stepper motor.
Don't give them any ideas! We don't need Dumb Restrictions on Motors.
And just like age verification it's useless because one can build a 3d printer out of an old VCR and a hot glue gun.
They already are over 3d guns, this will send them ballistic. They want every printer to keep a record of everything they've printed. Model legislation, I think CA tried and so far failed to pass it.
They're already trying that in New York and California, unfortunately. "Any 3D printer capable of printing parts for firearms" was the verbage, from what I recall.
You don’t need to ban 3D printers. Restrictions and licensing requirements for making, using, owning rockets and guidance software are enough.
His guidance is just wifi cameras talking to it. Not sure it even is using gps.
To ban stuff like this you have to ban a lot of useful tech
GPS is mentioned.
This already would fall under an FFL license for legal citizens anyway. As is the nature of the internet though, this open design will be preserved and available for those who seek it.
Being in that category just prevents it from being sold. It's not illegal federally to build your own weapon without a FFL.
Is that the same rule for destructive devices? Genuinely curious - I know privately made firearms have different rules.
No, for a destructive device you have to file a form 1.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. Granted I live in a state where this is unobtanium officially anyway.
Yes. I am actually surprised we haven’t seen a major terrorist attack in a western country using remote controlled or autonomous drones for example. The technology has been available for years now.
3D printed home made guns like the FGC-9 and Urutau have been around for a while now, but remain marginal in gun crime.
As you say, the cat is out the bag and on the internet forever. However homemade guns and instructions on how to make them have been around for decades.
The lack of simple attacks on soft targets is proof that the threat is overstated and that a statistically overwhelming portion of humans simply don't want to put bombs on busses and rig them to explode on bridges or in tunnels.
Most western terrorist attacks are by opportunistic losers who don’t have the knowledge or motivation to do something like this.
They’d rather drive a car into people who make them angry and use a gun they already own.
As for organized groups until recently there have been any good reason for an attack from any centrally organized group.
Ukraine and Russia are western countries. Narco cartels have started using fpv drones, too.
We really should call them northern countries at this point
LOL. Like they "ban" some guns?.
Printers are not hard to assemble from parts.
I wonder if there is some archive or torrent for STL files, like an archive of thingiverse or something. Would be nice to archive that just in case.
Is that even necessary? Anyone with a CAD tool can recreate the 3D printed parts from a glance and a few specs.
It's literally a tube. Which—to be fair—is a "weapon of mass destruction" according to President Bush (the other war criminal president).