Why the 3D Printed Firearm Will Be the Biggest Challenge Ever to the…..1st Amendment?

The Freehold ^ | May 6, 2013 | Jonathan David Baird

[EveningStar]

Yesterday when I saw the picture of the first fully 3D printed gun (I realize the firing pin is a nail and was not printed) I almost wept for joy. This is a first important step away from the dominance of the state over their citizens in many parts of the world. Americans enjoy the protection of Second Amendment, but many places that purport to be free countries have banned all guns outright or have made ownership so restrictive that getting a firearm is almost impossible. Other parts of the world are not so free as even that. Firearm ownership for people in places like China or North Korea could mean the death penalty. This new technology makes it possible for anyone anywhere with access to a certain level of technology to take the power of the state and place it into the hands of the people. The 3D printed gun is either the beginning of the end to those repressive regimes or the beginning of one of the largest and most sweeping crack down on civil rights in the past fifty years.

[tbw2]

When I saw the replicators on Star Trek, it looked cool. You could order up anything you wanted, any time you wanted. In the later series, you saw how the supply was limited by available power and restrictions on what could be replicated. In short, the replicators eliminated most traditional manufacturing - and gave the people in charge the ability to ration everything and control material specifications, too.
It wasn’t freedom from material want. You saw people who had darn near no possessions at all, even with families with two kids. You got food and endless entertainment, but not “stuff” beyond your allotment.