California Ghost-Gun Bill Wants 3D Printers To Play Cop, EFF Says (theregister.com) 139
A proposed California bill would require 3D printer makers to use state-certified software to detect and block files for gun parts, but advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) say it would be easy to evade and could lead to widespread surveillance of users' printing activity. The Register reports: The bill in question is AB 2047, the scope of which, on paper, appears strict. The primary goal is clear and simple: to require 3D printer manufacturers to use a state-certified algorithm that checks digital design files for firearm components and blocks print jobs that would produce prohibited parts. [...] Cliff Braun and Rory Mir, who respectively work in policy and tech community engagement at the EFF, claim that the proposals in California are technically infeasible and in practice will lead to consumer surveillance.
In a series of blog posts published this month, the pair argued that print-blocking technology -- proposals for which have also surfaced in states including New York and Washington - cannot work for a range of technical reasons. They argued that because 3D printers and other types of computer numerical control (CNC) machines are fairly simple, with much of their brains coming from the computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software -- or slicer software -- to which they are linked, the bill would establish legal and illegal software. Proprietary software will likely become the de facto option, leaving open source alternatives to rot.
"Under these proposed laws, manufacturers of consumer 3D printers must ensure their printers only work with their software, and implement firearm detection algorithms on either the printer itself or in a slicer software," wrote Braun earlier this month. "These algorithms must detect firearm files using a maintained database of existing models. Vendors of printers must then verify that printers are on the allow-list maintained by the state before they can offer them for sale. Owners of printers will be guilty of a crime if they circumvent these intrusive scanning procedures or load alternative software, which they might do because their printer manufacturer ends support."
Braun also argued that it would be trivial for anyone who uses 3D printers to make small tweaks to either the visual models of firearms parts, or the machine instructions (G-code) generated from those models, to evade detection. Mir further argued that the bill offers no guardrails to keep this "constantly expanding blacklist" limited to firearm-related designs. In his view, there is a clear risk that this approach will creep into other forms of alleged unlawful activity, such as copyright infringement. [...] Braun and Mir have a list of other arguments against the bill. They say the algorithms are more than likely to lead to false positives, which will prevent good-faith users from using their hardware. Many 3D printer owners also have no interest in printing firearm components. Most simply want the freedom to print trinkets and spare parts while others use them to print various items and sell them as an income stream.
In a series of blog posts published this month, the pair argued that print-blocking technology -- proposals for which have also surfaced in states including New York and Washington - cannot work for a range of technical reasons. They argued that because 3D printers and other types of computer numerical control (CNC) machines are fairly simple, with much of their brains coming from the computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software -- or slicer software -- to which they are linked, the bill would establish legal and illegal software. Proprietary software will likely become the de facto option, leaving open source alternatives to rot.
"Under these proposed laws, manufacturers of consumer 3D printers must ensure their printers only work with their software, and implement firearm detection algorithms on either the printer itself or in a slicer software," wrote Braun earlier this month. "These algorithms must detect firearm files using a maintained database of existing models. Vendors of printers must then verify that printers are on the allow-list maintained by the state before they can offer them for sale. Owners of printers will be guilty of a crime if they circumvent these intrusive scanning procedures or load alternative software, which they might do because their printer manufacturer ends support."
Braun also argued that it would be trivial for anyone who uses 3D printers to make small tweaks to either the visual models of firearms parts, or the machine instructions (G-code) generated from those models, to evade detection. Mir further argued that the bill offers no guardrails to keep this "constantly expanding blacklist" limited to firearm-related designs. In his view, there is a clear risk that this approach will creep into other forms of alleged unlawful activity, such as copyright infringement. [...] Braun and Mir have a list of other arguments against the bill. They say the algorithms are more than likely to lead to false positives, which will prevent good-faith users from using their hardware. Many 3D printer owners also have no interest in printing firearm components. Most simply want the freedom to print trinkets and spare parts while others use them to print various items and sell them as an income stream.
mill (Score:3)
The metal parts I cut by hand on the mill are better quality anyway. Will that make me an illegal human?
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Re: mill (Score:2, Interesting)
Being in the firearms business without an FFL will make you a human doing illegal things. Even if you do it with a file and hand-crank drill.
The problem, as you may have guessed, is not that off-the-books firearms manufacturing is illegal. The problem is that the state is getting lazy and doesn't want to enforce its laws. It wants shortcuts, and consequences be damned.
The charitable explanation is that the people who comprise the state are also lazy. They therefore believe the designated scapegoat (phones,
Re: mill (Score:5, Informative)
It is perfectly legal, even in California, to make your own firearm. That isn't the issue here.
There are some regulations on it. You have to request a serial number from the State prior to manufacturing it, and requesting a serial number will kick off a background check to ensure that you can own it. See here:
https://oag.ca.gov/firearms/us... [ca.gov]
Additionally, you would need a permit from the Federal Government (a FFL07) if you want to have a business selling firearms that you manufacture. Note the nuance here, it is legal to make firearms without the Federal permit as long as you don't sell them after manufacturing them, and as long as you comply with all applicable state laws, which in California, involves applying for a serial number each time.
Neither of the above issues would be addressed via this legislation.
If the State wants to make it illegal to manufacture a firearm, then they should pass a law to that effect. They are instead regulating a tool such that the tool will refuse to produce an otherwise legal to make device, and they are doing so in such a way that can't actually work from a technical standpoint.
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The issue is that making your own out of metal requires skill and expensive equipment. 3D printers are cheap and at the point where even a novice can press print and get a working part out of it.
The same thing happened with colour photocopiers. You could always forge paper money, but colour photocopiers made it as easy as pressing a button. Photocopiers implemented bank note detection to prevent users copying them, as did scanner software and apps like Photoshop.
I would imagine that 3D printer manufacturers
Bank note detection. (Score:2)
Photocopiers implemented bank note detection to prevent users copying them, as did scanner software and apps like Photoshop.
Yes, that ass-backward approach came in my mind.
Your bank notes are too easy to copy now that color photocopiers and color laser printers are a thing?
- Rest of the world: make better banknotes (see swiss money, euros, etc.)
- USA: make bank note detection software mandatory on each piece of tech (HP and other US manufacturers have a boner at the thoughts of the sudden illegalness of cheaper competitors from countries without that function) and also mandate yellow dot tracking (now in addition the police-stat
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I'd say that the bigger issue for 3D printers is that many people run open source firmware which is unlikely to implement these restrictions.
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The issue is that making your own out of metal requires skill and expensive equipment.
Yes, because guns were never made by hand before the invention of CNC. It is quite doable to make a gun or any of it's parts by hand, it just takes alot of time and effort. A law that tries to prevent easy manufacture will not stop someone who is determined. It's just another stupid unenforceable code that will be ignored. However it did enriched the bank accounts of the politicians who proposed it
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Not federally.
It has always been legal in the US to make your own firearms for PERSONAL use.
You can make all the firearms you want, but, you cannot sell them, nor give them away....no serial number required, etc.
This has been the long standing right all US citizens have enjoyed since the country began.
It's only recently where companies made this a bit easier to do
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Re: mill (Score:4, Insightful)
That's the thing with this state, all you ever hear is republican this, republican that, or equally bad, focusing solely on the federal government. Things that have next to nothing to do with what's right in front of you. Nobody in this state seems to realize just how much of what they perceive to be bad about America are really just local issues totally under the control -- nay, auspices -- of local politicians.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=gM... [youtube.com]
Whatever, won't be my problem anymore soon enough.
EURion constellation (Score:2)
Re:EURion constellation (Score:5, Insightful)
If there was exactly one pattern that produced a "gun" then it would be possible to block it. However a gun will work with quite large variations to the pattern, unlike a dollar bill.
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If there was exactly one pattern that produced a "gun" then it would be possible to block it. However a gun will work with quite large variations to the pattern, unlike a dollar bill.
Website CSAM [wikipedia.org] blocking works by downloading a current list of known hashes. If counterfeiting currency can blocked on printers it seems blocking gun blueprints can be managed more or less as effectively as child pornography on websites. [projectarachnid.ca]
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If there was exactly one pattern that produced a "gun" then it would be possible to block it. However a gun will work with quite large variations to the pattern, unlike a dollar bill.
Website CSAM [wikipedia.org] blocking works by downloading a current list of known hashes. If counterfeiting currency can blocked on printers it seems blocking gun blueprints can be managed more or less as effectively as child pornography on websites. [projectarachnid.ca]
Honestly if you think this is going to work, I'd advise you get out of IT, you're not devious enough to imagine how people will get around this. Image feature hashes that are robust to minor changes to the image are hard, and they're just a 2D problem.
What you're proposing is going to turn 3D printers from simple microcontroller based printers into something requires a fairly sophisticated AI in order to try and understand the shapes being sent to them. See you're not just going to have to block guns, you'r
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This is the dumbest analogy for this i've seen yet
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This is the dumbest analogy for this i've seen yet
Which is, no doubt, why our congresscritters think it's a pretty good analogy.
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Exactly. Don't get me wrong. They're both idiotic.
BAN IRON (Score:4, Interesting)
Make all unlicensed possession of iron a punishable offense. There's no reason any human should have iron on or about their person unless they are attempting to make a dangerous and deadly weapon. NO EXCEPTIONS.
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Copper is a gateway metal. Get started with repoussé and next thing you know it's full on Blacksmithing.
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The Bronze Age has entered the conversation.
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Re: BAN IRON (Score:2)
Never going to happen. (Score:2)
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Ban motors (Score:2)
Because motors could be used to drive an unlicensed CNC machine. And maybe ban magnets too. Who needs magnets?
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It would be interesting to test the law in the following way.
Instead of directly printing a desired part (say, the frame for a Glock clone, which holds the rails that turn it into a receiver), print a mold which can then be used using casting or injection molding to mass produce the desired part.
Text of the law:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca... [ca.gov]
As defined in the bill:
"(g) âoeIllegal firearm partsâ means a firearm precursor part and any part designed and intended for use in converting a semiautomati
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Method 3) Require all printers to report to the state what they're going to print and get back if they're allowed to print it or not.
Bonus, any industry which is worried their products might get cloned will support this as it provides a blacklist that anyone with copyrighted designs can submit their design to. Double bonus, if the state finds you're printing something registered, they can collect a fee from you on behalf of the company that registered it. Triple bonus, if your printer is too old to have t
Re:Never going to happen. (Score:5, Interesting)
If it does happen, it will do nothing but turn the 3D printer hobby market into a market similar to the "get free movies/TV/sports on this magic streaming stick" market. I built a CNC stepper controller from discrete components connected to a DOS computer in the 90's. I wrote my own limited CAM software, too. Things have only gotten easier since then.
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Doesn't klippers rendsr the stl files being printed as a preview?
Re: Never going to happen. (Score:2)
Plus, with klipper, itâ(TM)d be even worse to implement. The pi attached to do the bulk of the processing is optional - the actual printer is the low power bit that does nothing but move the print head. Effectively this would ban klipper entirely, because the printer side MCU stands no chance of verifying a part.
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The printer can require the gcode to be signed by a government service that does the verification. The slicer will have to upload the shape file to the service to get it approved and signed. Possessing firmware that bypasses this will be a criminal offense.
Impossible (Score:2)
This is obviously impossible unless almost any moving parts are prevented, or printing with some materials is prevented. That would make it impossible to 3D print lots of stuff that is not illegal.
The effect on open software and hardware is also disastrous.
As others pointed out, currently you can make better gun parts on some non-computerized equipment, so this also does not seem to prevent anything.
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PS I am not a gun nut. If guns were illegal then printing parts of them using a 3D printer would also be illegal and you could get in a lot of trouble if you do it. But after the fact, don't try to prevent it first.
Is cooking equipment supposed to not work if it figures out it is being used to make drugs?
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The effect on open software and hardware is also disastrous.
Only if other states adopts this or similar laws. Otherwise, it's a simple workaround to buy whatever printer you want in Nevada. It would be perfectly legal too, since the law doesn't ban imports, only sales and transfers of non-compliant printers.
Fine for 3D printing (Score:2)
But they will have to close every bicycle repair shop to prevent the metalworking tools necessary to produce ghost guns from illicit use.
Multiple fools errands in one (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't like you tell a 3D printer you want a gun and a few hours later one appears. What is printed are a series of discrete components the user assembles into a finished product.
Here are the parts for one of the 3D printed designs:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org]
Not only is locking this down a fools errand as anyone wanting to print firearms is just going to bypass the restrictions.. even if they don't there is no way for a computer program to discern whether or not a discrete component is part of a weapon anymore than the hardware store the bolts and springs were purchased from can discern intent to produce a weapon.
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tell a 3D printer you want a gun and a few hours later one appears
Well actually, that would be a good AI integration. We could see something like that in a couple years. It would move us a significant step closer to having home replicators. Need a hanger? Ask your printer. Needs plates for a party? Print some out then wash and melt them back down to pellets afterwards. Print out a new phone case, eye glass frames, single use screwdriver, dice, etc... You no longer need to store a bunch of rarely used items. Just print what you need when you need it and melt/grind
Breath life back into the DIY 3D printer hobby (Score:2)
Adding more evidence to the claim... (Score:4, Insightful)
...that politicians are totally clueless about technology
Re:Adding more evidence to the claim... (Score:4, Insightful)
Its about turnout on Election Day (Score:3)
Nor do they care. It is all about what the electorate, which knows even less, thinks about the idea.
Not really. It's about which phantom wedge issue gets more people to show up on Election Day. That's why neither sides want to actually fix the problems.
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Nor do they care. It is all about what the electorate, which knows even less, thinks about the idea.
This is about stopping right to repair, and guns are being used as the boogeyman to frighten people into accepting it. Monied interests would ban all 3-D printing if they could.
Clueless about firearms for about 60 years now (Score:2)
Adding more evidence to the claim that politicians are totally clueless about technology
It may be a somewhat recent phenomenon with respect to computers, but with respect to firearms its been on display for even longer.
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Politicians do not want to solve problems. They want to be seen to be "fighting for you" so that they can get re-elected. The more controversy the better.
Politician1 can argue they want a law to protect you from $bad_thing! Politician2 can argue that they are fighting to prevent Politician1 from taking away your rights. It generates votes (and donations) for both of them.
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Anyone who thinks (Score:2)
they can create an algorithm to stop someone from printing a ghost gun part is daft. First of all, just move one state over, or for that matter, change the country code on your 3d printer or use modified software. There isn't going to be an algorithm that can check to see if you've made a part, you can slice it. But what I think they really want is the surveillance, so they could watch people print out parts. But then again that will be easily evadible, if you can't stop a gun from going into a place, you w
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Again, I just read the linked proposed law. I can get a nice piece of walnut, and make my own grips. Is printing grips illegal? Right now, you can buy a new trigger online, or you can print one. How about sights? Most modern sights are polymer. You can buy replacement parts legally, or you can print your own.
You can buy a barrel. I have gunsmith friends that make their own slides (on a CNC machine). Is that now illegal?
Go and read the bill. Tell me exactly which parts are illegal to make. Specifi
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Tell me exactly which parts are illegal to make. Specifically.
In California a pistol grip, flash suppressor, or bayonet lug.
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My opinion is that they are having their cake and eating it too:
https://leginfo.legislature.ca... [ca.gov]
"(b) âoeFirearmâ has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 16520 of the Penal Code.
(c) âoeFirearm blocking technologyâ means hardware, firmware, or other integrated technological measures capable of ensuring a three-dimensional printer will not proceed to any print job unless the underlying three-dimensional printing file has been evaluated by a firearms blueprints detecti
Saws and chisels? (Score:2)
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If you want to risk your life using it, you can 3D print a barrel...
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What are they on about? (Score:2)
If I want to go and make my own trigger, that is perfectly legal. My own sights, grips.... You name it.
These people understand that it is perfectly legal to buy a barrel, trigger pack, slide, spring kit.... Right?
Is it now illegal to make my own grips out of a nice piece of walnut? Which parts - specifically - are you allowed to buy through the mail, but not make at home?
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It is quite insane as it criminalizes a very specifc method of production. You can make an injection mold and produce the same part, but apparently using the same material using a slightly different process is not allowed.
However, this is California. Using pepper spray is allowed, but pepperballs are considered a tear gas grenade delivery device and illegal for use by civilians.
https://www.sandiegouniontribu... [sandiegouniontribune.com]
Yes, you can own pepperball launchers. You just can't possess or use pepperballs:
https://shop.p [pepperball.com]
Re: What are they on about? (Score:2)
I think you could probably make a convincing argument that what software you choose to make is protected speech, and that this law is unconstitutional.
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Politicians thinking they define reality (Score:4, Informative)
Obviously, they do not. This is completely impossible to do. Nobody can identify "gun components" from a g-code stream that is playing in real-time while the printing happens. That is just not how CNC (large or small) works.
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Obviously, they do not. This is completely impossible to do. Nobody can identify "gun components" from a g-code stream that is playing in real-time while the printing happens. That is just not how CNC (large or small) works.
The problem is the serial number is printed on the receiver which is just a block that holds the all important properly made barrel without which you aren’t going to have almost any accuracy or velocity both of which actually separate it from a crude barely functioning weapon and an accurate and powerful one. Putting the serial number on the barrel and regulating that makes far more sense, you can’t even rifle the barrel properly without specialized equipment that’s not run of the mill CN
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Agreed. You cannot make even somewhat decent gun components on a cheap 3D printer. That is the other problem with this law.
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> you can’t even rifle the barrel properly without specialized equipment that’s not run of the mill CNC
Burmese rebels have been using semi-auto 9mm carbines which require no firearms parts other than the ammo. An Indian guy made a .22 AR-15 with a few basic tools and some parts he bought from Aliexpress.
Humans are much more innovative than you seem to believe. This law will just criminalize people who aren't a problem while criminals buy real guns from the black market.
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Putting the serial number on the barrel and regulating that makes far more sense,
Not really. Barrels are consumables. They need occasional replacement.
you canâ(TM)t even rifle the barrel properly without specialized equipment thatâ(TM)s not run of the mill CNC.
I've seen some rifling jigs made from all-thread, bolts and an angle iron frame. The trick is just to pull the rifling button through a piece of bored rod. Homemade buttons made from hardened tool steel will do for a production run in the dozens of parts. Carbide is only needed for actual commercial production runs.
And then there are home made EDM machines.
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Not really. Barrels are consumables. They need occasional replacement.
Yes really. Where is there a law limiting the number of guns you may own? Simply buy a new barrel, you’re done it’s repaired. Are you trying to make a metaphysical argument about the gun of Theseus?
I've seen some rifling jigs made from all-thread, bolts and an angle iron frame. The trick is just to pull the rifling button through a piece of bored rod. Homemade buttons made from hardened tool steel will do for a production run in the dozens of parts. Carbide is only needed for actual commercial production runs.
Where does a 3-D plastic filament printer figure in because it’s not possible to make a barrel with plastic when the pressure climbs to many tens of thousands of PSI in a proper barrel. Even a half million dollar metal printing machine isn’t going to make a barrel that’s reason
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You should really take a look on the Internet before making these kind of posts. People have been making decently-accurate 9mm barrels at home for about ten years now, and it's clearly fairly popular because if you look up one of the required tools on Amazon the site recommends some of the others that are needed.
I haven't really been following this for a couple of years so I don't know whether anyone has progressed past rimfire barrels for rifles, but anyone can make pistol and shotgun barrels by spending $
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None of that refutes the argument the hardest component to make and the one most integral to a gun and the one that canâ(TM)t be made on a plastic printer is the barrel.
Well then the regulators are screwed. Because barrels are pretty easy to make.
A couple of observations (Score:5, Insightful)
First, the gun problem is pretty much specific to the US. Other developed countries get along without "muh gunz" for the most part, and their societies haven't fallen prey to dictators. Yet ironically, the "land of the free" is now a Fascist dictatorship, in spite of all those armed citizens. So much for taking up arms to dethrone tyrants! Maybe the US should just re-think this whole "guns are sacred" thing?
Second, in a country which just this year has had 21 school shootings as of today [cnn.com], the real problem isn't printed guns. It's a whole set of cultural, social, political, and governance flaws which need to be fixed. Other developed countries have nothing even close to the gun problem that Americans put up with. Citizens of other nations don't feel a moment of panic and start scoping out shelter and escape routes when they hear some random loud bang while walking down the street.
Leave the 3D printers alone. That's a war that can't be won; those laws will make it more difficult and costly for individuals and businesses to print benign stuff, while doing almost nothing to prevent those serious about printing guns from doing so. Don't hobble your 3D printers - fix your social, political, cultural, and economic shit.
Re:A couple of observations (Score:5, Informative)
>"First, the gun problem is pretty much specific to the US"
The 2A is not a "problem", nor is good people owning/carrying guns. There are problems with violence, both with and without guns, and that is not "specific to the USA". There are also problems with enforcement and follow-through for existing gun laws. Worrying about 3D printers is ridiculous. But so are many other types of "gun control" like so-called "gun-free zones."
>"Second, in a country which just this year has had 21 school shootings as of today,"
"School shootings" is a semantically-overloaded term. Most are not in the school, but on property around the school. Usually those shot are also not related to the schools and often not even during school hours. I am not saying it isn't a problem, but the data are often twisted to make it sound far worse than it is. And that is the case with the article you cited. They hide the ACTUAL data, like category of who was shot, when, exactly where (inside, outside, field, woods, parking lot), and full circumstances. Their data INCLUDES self-defense use, for example. It INCLUDES non-school gang-related activity. It INCLUDES at night or non-operating hours. It INCLUDES a public sidewalk or edge of the woods, or parking area far away from any building.
>"the real problem isn't printed guns. It's a whole set of cultural, social, political, and governance flaws which need to be fixed"
Agreed.
>"Citizens of other nations don't feel a moment of panic and start scoping out shelter and escape routes when they hear some random loud bang while walking down the street."
Neither do perhaps 99%+ of Americans. The vast majority of the gun crime is focused in small geographical spots in the USA.
>"Yet ironically, the "land of the free" is now a Fascist dictatorship"
That is, of course, nonsense.
>"Leave the 3D printers alone"
Agreed.
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The only problem I see with your argument is that the same people who want the guns want the fascism.
Re: A couple of observations (Score:2)
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>>...and their societies haven't fallen prey to dictators
Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, France (in times past), Germany, Italy might disagree with you on that.
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First, the gun problem is pretty much specific to the US. Other developed countries get along without "muh gunz" for the most part, and their societies haven't fallen prey to dictators. Yet ironically, the "land of the free" is now a Fascist dictatorship, in spite of all those armed citizens. So much for taking up arms to dethrone tyrants! Maybe the US should just re-think this whole "guns are sacred" thing?
Second, in a country which just this year has had 21 school shootings as of today [cnn.com], the real problem isn't printed guns. It's a whole set of cultural, social, political, and governance flaws which need to be fixed. Other developed countries have nothing even close to the gun problem that Americans put up with. Citizens of other nations don't feel a moment of panic and start scoping out shelter and escape routes when they hear some random loud bang while walking down the street.
Leave the 3D printers alone. That's a war that can't be won; those laws will make it more difficult and costly for individuals and businesses to print benign stuff, while doing almost nothing to prevent those serious about printing guns from doing so. Don't hobble your 3D printers - fix your social, political, cultural, and economic shit.
So... America... With access to all those guns when are you going to stand up to the orange dictator who's taken over the "land of the free"?
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Despite all those guns, you've still got an unaccountable dictator in charge.
Yes, we elected him.
Sacramento is a dangerous neighborhood (Score:3)
Sacramento is in itself, a dangerous neighborhood. Gang bangers are shooting at innocent people across the street from the State Capitol. Politicians can't even keep their own neighborhood safe with their silly laws. They had to put a fence around the state capitol. I'd challenge all of them to take a stroll down some of their neighborhoods after dark.
Here's an idea (Score:2)
If you commit a violent crime that involves a firearm you go to prison for life. No parole, no pardons, nada. If you kill someone with a firearm you get a free dirt nap compliments of the justice system.
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Yeah, but that would be racist.
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You already have the most extensive prison system in the ENTIRE WORLD. Clearly punitive justice does not work as well as you think it does.
Next they will outlaw printing Disney charactors (Score:2)
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Soon any copyrighted shape.
If not sooner any part for any intellectual property of any design of any kind. It really gets under the skins of companies when instead of being forced to buy a cheap plastic part for hundreds of dollars you can just print it for a few dollars of filament.
it's hopeless (Score:2)
Stuff that isn't compliant will be easily available anywhere near one of California's major ports. Many of these ports are significant foreign-trade zones that not only avoid Federal customs inspections, they of course completely side-step any California state regulation thanks to the supremacy clause.
A nation-wide ban might be more effective. But really, replacing your 3D printer's software with a different package is trivial and often a prerequisite to even getting it set up in the first place.
This law be
Literally impossible (Score:2)
Unless they want to play a cat and mouse game with the designers, you just can't make something that can detect a 3D model of a gun 100% reliably, they would have to do a per model basis ban.
Distraction (Score:2)
This is just the latest attempt to distract California citizens from something else that is going wrong in California.
As I've pointed out in other threads there are no laws in the USA that prevent someone from making a gun from scratch. If you can legally own a gun, i.e. your not a convicted felon, underage, etc. you can build on for yourself. It has to be within the existing law regarding barrel length, over all length, can't be full auto, and you can't sell or otherwise transfer it to another.
A trip to
This is about as sensible as ... (Score:2)
Any politician who votes for this has proven themselves unfit for the purpose for which they were elected, and should be declared to be inadequate for any office, let alone a "high office".
In my view, they should be required to get a medical certification that they are sane before they are allowed out of the house.
Disclaimer: I do not reside in the USA.
Absurd (Score:2)
so, let me get this straight... (Score:2)
...the country where you can buy firearms at Walmart wants to restrict 3D printing because they worry about gun parts?
What drugs are these people on?
Idiotic politicians (Score:2)
How the heck is a printer supposed to recognize the purpose of a particular object that it is printing? Anyway, building your own firearms is (afaik) entirely legal - you just aren't allowed to sell them.
Want a stupid-simple gun? Start with a piece of iron pipe, with an iron cap on one end. Drill a small hole in the cap, put a nail through it to serve as the firing pin. Voila: an incredible primitive gun. Are we going to outlaw plumbing supplies and nails?
Bad Bill, Against Privacy, Patents will follow (Score:2)
3d cop (Score:2)
Old Tech (Score:2)
Gun this, gun that, blah blah blah.
I'll send my perfectly legal swarm of mini drones at you after I've sharpened their rotor blades to knife points and add a little mod to self-ignite their battery pack. Guns shoot one person at a time from one location. Each drone can follow and hit one person and still work even if the operator is down. No need for the operator to even stay in the area.
It's a good thing most violent criminals are stupid and most people aren't interesting in fighting each other.
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The other printer tech you listed doesn't report home or have to be updated for rapidly variable print designs.
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Welcome to California.
We have a full legislature of them that are employed full time making laws just like that.
From September of 2024:
https://calmatters.org/politic... [calmatters.org]
"Gov. Gavin Newsom cleared his desk today of nearly 1,000 bills â" and he blocked 183 of them.
Thatâ(TM)s a veto rate of about 18% of the bills he acted on after the Legislature adjourned Aug. 31 (and about 16% of all 1,200 bills passed this year). That compares to a 15% veto rate in 2023, when he blocked 156 bills. He had a similar
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The person who wrote this law must be one of the most utterly moronic person on earth.
They're in the California legislature. That goes without saying. Although, even by Sacramento standards, this is pretty moronic.
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>"The person who wrote this law must be one of the most utterly moronic person on earth"
How is it any less ridiculous than so-called "gun free zone" laws? Let's just pass a law that says it is illegal to have a gun in area X. But area X is not controlled, not patrolled, not searched, not secure. The only people who would abide such a law, and de-arm themselves, are exactly the good people who follow laws and have no intent of violent crime, including the people who have zero record and with concealed
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The 2nd amendment says nothing about bullets.
Courts have recognized that ammunition is an essential parts of the protected "arms".