$1200: The price of (legally) 3D printing your own metal AR-15 rifle at home [merged]

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Defense Distributed has made a habit of provoking government regulators in its quest to bring 3D-printed firearms to home hobbyists. The most recent loophole exploited by Defense Distributed is once again about creating a working firearm at home, but unlike the 3D-printed Liberator pistol, this one isn’t made of plastic. The Ghost Gunner is a small CNC milling machine that costs a mere $1200 and is capable of spitting out an aluminum lower receiver for an AR-15 rifle. This device allows people with no gunsmith training to assemble a working assault rifle at home with no licensing or serial number — and it’s completely legal.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/191388-1200-the-price-of-legally-3d-printing-your-own-metal-ar-15-rifle-at-home

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just idiotic. Why would you do this?

£743 untraceable gun 3D-printer sells out in 36 hours

Americans want guns without serial numbers. And apparently, they want to make them at home.

On Wednesday, Cody Wilson's libertarian non-profit Defense Distributed revealed the Ghost Gunner, a $1,200 (£743) computer-controlled (CNC) milling machine designed to let anyone make the aluminum body of an AR-15 rifle at home, with no expertise, no regulation, and no serial numbers. Since then, he's sold more than 200 of the foot-cubed CNC mills-175 in the first 24 hours. That's well beyond his expectations; Wilson had planned to sell only 110 of the machines total before cutting off orders.

To keep up, Wilson says he's now raising the price for the next round of Ghost Gunners by $100 (£62). He has even hired another employee to add to Defense Distributed's tiny operation. That makes four staffers on the group's CNC milling project, an offshoot of its larger mission to foil gun control with digital DIY tools.

"People want this machine," Wilson tells WIRED. "People want the battle rifle and the comfort of replicability, and the privacy component. They want it, and they're buying it."

While the Ghost Gunner is a general-purpose CNC mill, capable of automatically carving polymer, wood, and metal in three dimensions, Defense Distributed has marketed its machine specifically as a tool for milling the so-called lower receiver of an AR-15, which is the regulated body of that semi-automatic rifle. The gun community has already made that task far easier by selling so-called "80-percent lowers," blocks of aluminum that need only a few holes and cavities milled out to become working lower receivers. Wilson says he's now in talks with San Diego-based Ares Armor, one of the top sellers of those 80-percent lowers, to enter into some sort of sales partnership.

For now, milling your own AR-15 lower receiver at home is legal. A California bill to outlaw the homemade firearms without serial numbers-what the bill's creator, state senator Kevin De Leon, calls "ghost guns"-was vetoed by governor Jerry Brown Tuesday.

The last time one of Defense Distributed's inventions led to such a popular frenzy was the release of blueprints for its "Liberator" 3-D printed pistol, the world's first fully 3-D printable gun. That free file was downloaded 100,000 times in two days.

The sales numbers for the Ghost Gunner may be far smaller. But at $1,200 (£743), every sale helps fund the activities of Defense Distributed. "I've never felt more optimistic about the ability of Defense Distributed to become an installed part of the future, and to help create an expansion of the second amendment," he says. "There's hope that Defense Distributed can become a significant civil liberties organization…That's the ambition, the wildest dream of this entity, to have a marked material effect like that."

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/03/3d-printer-for-codys-gun-sells-out

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Just idiotic. Why would you do this?

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-10/03/3d-printer-for-codys-gun-sells-out

We need to have this merged. I just posted the same thing for the American version of 1200$.

[TBoneTX 46,271]

Similar topics merged.

[lostinblue 1,989]

A small machine shop can pump them out all day long... And they have been for decades . nothing new here. ... Without breaking the law.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

A small machine shop can pump them out all day long... And they have been for decades . nothing new here. ... Without breaking the law.

What? No outrage from you? Wow. I'm pretty sure there was going to be some racist or insensitive comment in there somewhere, but maybe you're turning over a new leaf.

[Karee 4,191]

Another example of how passing more gun laws is a waste of time. Until something is done about the collective mental illness/obsession concerning firearms, passing more laws isn't going to change anything. Have to start teaching kids at a young age that it's ok to go through life without having 20 different kinds of firearms within reach at all times.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Another example of how passing more gun laws is a waste of time. Until something is done about the collective mental illness/obsession concerning firearms, passing more laws isn't going to change anything. Have to start teaching kids at a young age that it's ok to go through life without having 20 different kinds of firearms within reach at all times.

Agreed. It's like you can't function in society without owning a gun.

[Karee 4,191]

Agreed. It's like you can't function in society the U.S. without owning a gun.

Fixed. Other countries seem to do just fine without them.

[lostinblue 1,989]

What? No outrage from you? Wow. I'm pretty sure there was going to be some racist or insensitive comment in there somewhere, but maybe you're turning over a new leaf.

we just follow your lead marvin.... Marvin there are 10's of millions of guns without a serial number on them ... Why the concern about this situation.... I can make a gun at my home without breaking any laws without a serial number, I just cannot sell this gun to anyone. This man is just making it a bit easier. I cannot rent machinery to make the gun , I have to own everything. From what I understand. (hire a person to make parts at a machine shop. ) is not allowed .

Edited October 6, 2014 by lostinblue

[Boiler 46,239]

I would have thought 3 types would be adequate for most people.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Fixed. Other countries seem to do just fine without them.

I was talking about here. I remember talking with my mom this weekend about Roppongi and how it's completely safe to fall asleep at night on the sidewalk.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Another example of how passing more gun laws is a waste of time. Until something is done about the collective mental illness/obsession concerning firearms, passing more laws isn't going to change anything. Have to start teaching kids at a young age that it's ok to go through life without having 20 different kinds of firearms within reach at all times.

How about teaching a child to handle a gun in a safe manner. So a gun owner has a mental illness...Right

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

we just follow your lead marvin.... Marvin there are 10's of millions of guns without a serial number on them ... Why the concern about this situation.... I can make a gun at my home without breaking any laws without a serial number, I just cannot sell this gun to anyone. This man is just making it a bit easier. I cannot rent machinery to make the gun , I have to own everything. From what I understand. (hire a person to make parts at a machine shop. ) is not allowed .

I don't have a concern. I though the article itself would cause a conversation. But I didn't put any red words at the bottom to show my fear.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

How about teaching a child to handle a gun in a safe manner. So a gun owner has a mental illness...Right

How about teaching a child manners and respect? Or the values of education and hard work? Those things are more important to me than how to handle a firearm.