Logan Coursen

CAS 283

Blog #4

Click Print Gun and Second Amendment Rights

            The other day in class we watched a video called Click. Print. Gun., which was about a young man in law school named Cody Wilson who was printing gun parts for an AR 15. Specifically he focused on the lower reciever and the magazine because thats where most of the working parts are on the gun that are being questioned in congress, politics, and gun rights. Wilson is very pro gun laws, in short terms he beleives control over gun rights in bull shit.

            He started printing these parts a few years ago, and through trial and error he has been able to put over 600 rounds through a lower reciver made of plastic, and feed a 30 round magazine that was plastic through an AR15. These things that Wilson is doing, and many like him are incredible, and beleive it or not, soon everyone could be printing gun parts on 3D printers.

            Cody is seen as an anarchist by many people in the government. He is reffering his argument back to the Second Amendment which states people have the right to own and bear arms. Technically what Cody is doing is not illegal, he is just finding ways around the gun laws that state certain things you cant do with guns. The US allows for people to make firearms from kits or peices. According to the ATF(Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) it states that an unliscened indivual may make a firearm for their own personal use, but not for sale or distribution. This is exactly what Cody is doing and why it is still legal. This brings up another good point with what was just stated makes any gun made that way untracebale by the government; another point Cody was trying to nail.

            Most recently in the 3D gun printing industry, a gun was fully printed of plastic called the "Liberator". Its made out of all plastic, has 16 parts and fires one bullet at a time. The inside of the barrel is coated in acetone to keep from eroding and after firing it there was minimal damage(Forbes.com). This was the very beginning to a new generation of technology wether you view it as exciting and cool, or scary and dangerous. My views on the 3D printing on guns is similar to Codys. I am very fascinated with it and think it is a cool idea. I am a little concerned though if guns can be made of plastic, it makes concelment so much easier and our defense as a domestic nation goes down. There are many questions that have to be answered but with this new technology and how it is still changing, answers will be hard to get. Although this idea of printed guns may seem like a bad idea I think later down the road it will prove to be benneficial.