Maybe in a decade, but right now not only is the stuff a PITA to destroy, it’s easily traceable as BEING 3d printed. And 3d printers are not self-replicating or common yet. Worse, many take a distinctive type of plastic.
This is a subject for a different thread, but I also tend to think that speculation about the imminent ubiquity of 3D printers is overblown. I think they’re super cool, but I very, very rarely find myself thinking “Gee, I wish I had a piece of plastic in a very specific shape.”
Like for curtain rod-caps, I find it more likely that you would just print out the decorative end-cap in the industrial 3d printer at Home Depot than buying and maintaining a 3d-printer and getting paint / appropriately colored plastic nurdles. Sure, some hobbyists might have them in a garage, but I don’t think they’ll ever be a standard household appliance.
I call these “miniatures.”
Actually, I agree with you about 3D printers, particularly since they’re still a long way from being precise enough to duplicate a well sculpted plastic miniature. But that particular phrase hit me since I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on pieces of plastic in very specific shapes.
In a few years, I will use my home fabricator to print out a replica of you, download your consciousness into it and laugh at your former Luddite naivete.
ShivaX
2771
That’s one of the few uses. Specifically when FFG released the expansion pack thing for Descent 2.0. If you didn’t have those original boxed sets, it was hard to use all the cool new creatures. The price of said boxed sets skyrocketed. Then someone brought up using a 3D printer to recreate them if someone could get them the specs or the like. So in that regard it is relevant. I especially see people like Games Workshop seeing it as an issue, or really anyone who mostly sells shaped plastic of some sort.
Here’s a story with no actual firearm involved, but holy heck.
“We received a series of 911 calls stating that a man dressed in all black and body armor and a rifle was walking into Capital 8 Theaters,” said Capt. Doug Shoemaker.
Officers thought they were responding to an active shooter investigation.
“Everything was in place, it’s the opening night of a superhero movie, it’s somebody walking in all-dark clothes, everything pointed to bad things about to happen,” said Shoemaker. “There’s really no good that can come of this.”
Instead, it was all part of a publicity stunt for the movie opening. The man in tactical gear was an actor carrying a fake gun.
Capital 8 Theaters manager Bob Wilkins told ABC 17 News this was planned months in advance and only a few people were upset, but hundreds were entertained.
When asked if management took into consideration what happened in the the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater, Wilkins responded, “Absolutely. That’s my number-one priority every day. It’s the safety and security of our guests.”
ABC 17 News asked Wilkins if he had any regrets for allowing the publicity stunt and he said, “No, my job is to entertain people.”
Still, some moviegoers and law enforcement do not believe the stunt was a good idea.
“That’s just unbelievable,” said Morlock. “The whole country is talking about gun control because of shootings in theaters and schools.”
“It’s an unfortunate lack of wisdom in this particular judgement that hopefully will never occur again,” said Shoemaker.
Unbelievably stupid stunt.
I know that growing up in Tanzania my dad used to make guns out of old truck aerials and .22 cartridges. I bet those lasted longer, too.
RichVR
2774
My memories of the 1960s in Brooklyn seem to contain the loss of car antennas for this very thing. A block of wood shaped in an el. Rubberbanded to a certain car antenna width. A piece of spring steel, also rubberbanded to the back of the device. With a tack or small nail in the steel. That’s a basic zip gun. The issues with a zip gun are:
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Even though you are “only” using a .22 rimfire they can still explode. At the very least take off a part of a hand. Maybe blind you.
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The “barrel” has no rifling. And the bullet will tumble. If it hits you it will bounce around. Close up it can be very damaging.
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It can both explode and fire a tumbling round. Thus fucking up the shooter and the target.
Honestly, I’d think a wrist catapult (slingshot) would be more dangerous than a zip gun, at least to your target…
(incidentally, fully legal in the UK - they’re classed as toys. You can’t fire them on public land, but…)
The police should have charged him for the cost of response at least. That could have ended very badly had someone in the crowd drawn a weapon in response.
Lynch
2777
If only everybody wore a fire arm.
I think maybe it’s time to ease back on this zero-tolerance insanity:
The mother said the principal told her that if the cap gun had been loaded with caps, it would have been deemed an explosive and police would have been called in.
Look, I get that you want to discourage the idea that guns are anything but taboo, but a grown woman would call the police over a cap gun and a kindergartener? The gun crowd is starting to get the intellectual high ground, I didn’t see that one coming.
What I don’t understand is how parents can possibly send kids back to those schools after these incidents.
First, I don’t think anyone believes that any given “side” has a monopoly on stupid.
Second, I think this is less of a gun issue than a school administration/zero tolerance policy issue. We see this with drugs, hugs, and other things that don’t rhythm. Whether it’s because of lawsuits, the unions, or what, administrators at schools are increasingly unwilling to undertake any decisionmaking, beyond propogating the initial rule.
Yup, it won’t change until parents start pulling kids out of public schools. A little whiny news story won’t make any bureaucracy budge an inch.
Have we discussed Adam Kokesh before? tl;dr summary: ex-Marine Iraq vet turned libertarian anti-war / pro-gun (and apparently pro-weed) activist. His latest exploit is getting himself arrested after posting a Youtube video of himself apparently loading a shotgun in Freedom Plaza on July 4th, which is a violation of D.C.'s stringent gun laws. [Still a far cry from the gun-rights march on D.C. he was planning, though.] His house was raided; supposedly a gun and “hallucinogenic” mushrooms were found, so he was arrested on drug charges. His bond was set at $5K, but he might voluntarily stay in jail to protest his “unjust” prosecution (or is that “persecution” in his mind?).
My view is he’s a self-aggrandizing idiot looking for his 15 minutes of fame. But I’m curious what other pro-gun and/or libertarian folks make of his antics. :)
I feel the same as I do about anyone trying trying to increase my liberty: I’m glad people who are better than me are out there doing something, but I can’t be bothered to stand with them.
Your liberty to carry a loaded shotgun in central DC? Is that something you actually want to do?
About as much as I want to smoke crack and marry a man.
One of those three things is not like the others.
