Just to add to my comments earlier about this week's moral panic, being able to make a functional gun
without a 3D printer is not terribly difficult. Again, the plans have been in circulation for a very long time; they can be found in the publicly accessible files of the U.S. Patent Office.
Pictured below is a Sten gun. It was used by British paratroopers and commandos during World War II. It is a fully automatic sub-machine gun with a rate of fire of 8 rounds per second. It cost ten dollars per gun to produce in 1940. It is so simple in design and construction requirements that the French Resistance would make them in their basements. [My secondary Military Occupational Specialty was "Infantry Weapon Repairman", so I know something of this.]
Today, a capable metal fabricator can make a fully functional model using standard shop equipment for around $130.
Our interest in this latest panic is because we use a 3D printer in the guitar shop as some of the parts for the older models that we restore are no longer available or are prohibitive in cost. Since the government distributes justice with a hammer, our concern is that they will legislate 3D printers into oblivion just because they learned what people can do with them.
