redditmudder

Does it matter if they have a serial number? Does the SN give you warm fuzzy feelings? If the police are looking up the SN, it's going to be after something horrible happened. Did that stop the crime? No. In most U.S. states, only the transfer between a firearms dealer and individual is ever logged. For ex, here in texas I can sell a rifle to a random stranger on the internet with nothing more than a handshake. Perfectly legal, and it happens thousands of times a day. See texasguntrader.com if this is news to you; it's the texas gun equivalent to craigslist

Our previous AR-15 design was done before we received our FFL, and since it was home made and a title one firearm, it did not require an SN. The gun we printed today is legally a title two firearm and is serialized. As far as throw away, we must now log the status/location of all guns we produce, so that hurdle is very low... We just tell the atf all the guns we've made on a particular day and that's it.

The hardest legal issue has been interpreting laws and opinions that are rife with contradiction, convolution, and cobwebs, since we're really pushing the limits of what out legislators have dreamed up. A month ago, steve israel was under the impression this was science fiction, so I expect we lit a fire today that we're now going to need passionate gun lovers to smother. We spent a large part of the past 3 weeks wading through the legalese, but now we're expecting smooth sailing from an operating standpoint. We are following the laws as they exist today, even though some don't like it.

I'm more afraid of the "think of the children" clause. Children would need access to a 3D printer for hours and hours, and then obtain ammunication. In general, though, I think that it's a parent's responsibility to teach children how to safely handle guns. A Nation of Cowards is a excellent read that I resonate well with, so for more details see that text.

Definitely barrel length is an issue. We've fired 10 rounds through barrels up to 8" in length. The general consensus is that shorter barrels are better, but they do need length for velocity. We'll likely use a 2.5" barrel on the released Liberator, which is an inch longer than the couple of photos Forbes put up. The key trick to barrels is to print the barrel on the z axis and then treat the barrel in acetone vapor bath to reduce friction. Untreated barrels safely fire 1 round only, usually because the last 1" or so gets torn off with the bullet. With acetone bath, the barrels fail predictably and safely above 10 rounds... A crack propagates down the barrel starting around round 10

We built a tool that has great value to society. How people use it is beyond our control. I can think of a lot of people who would have killed for (and with) this... One example: germany in 194x