Did you know that it is now possible to make parts of an assault rifle with a 3D printer? Cody Wilson, a law student at the University of Texis has designed, printed and successfully tested the lower half of an AR-15 receiver. He has also designed and tested a 30-round box magazine, which may soon become illegal if a proposed ban on high-capacity ammunition clips succeeds in Congress. Although Wilson's designs comprise only a small portion of all the parts required to assemble a functioning assault rifle, the implications of his work are chilling.
Gun control and Second Amendment rights have been a hot topic since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Assault rifles, in particular, have come under fire after it was discovered that the shooting was committed with a Bushmaster XM15 assault rifle. The XM15 and AR-15 are two examples of highly customizable, civilian-issue semiautomatic assault rifles that can be purchased with minimal effort. Gun control advocates have claimed that this sort of assault rifle goes beyond a firearm's use in self-defense or sport. But, despite the uproar, there has been little progress in the way of policy banning such firearms.
In the meantime, gun rights advocates have been preparing for the coming storm. For Wilson, that entails making AR-15 parts with his 3D printer. It is not uncommon for gun people to find ways of making aftermarket parts for their firearms. In fact, people have been making lower receivers for the AR-15 out of wood for years. But Wilson's project goes beyond the normal scope of a craftsman upgrading his treasured firearm. He has developed an effective and inexpensive way to manufacture high-quality rifle parts - and distribute them.
3D printing is pretty easy, if you know what to do. The first step to making anything with a 3D printer is to render a model of the object using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. The model is then transmitted to a 3D printer. 3D printers use a process known as additive printing to lay down strips of material, often plastic, on top of each other to form a solid object. Although this technology is relatively new and still expensive to procure, it is developing quickly and is expected to have applications in medicine and construction, among other fields.
For those unfamiliar with the workings of an assault rifle, the lower receiver is the part that holds the trigger, handgrip and magazine. The upper receiver holds the machinery involved with actually firing the weapon. Although Wilson can't currently manufacture anything that could be considered dangerous, he has taken the first step toward manufacturing firearms at home. After the CAD designs of his receiver were removed from a design distribution website, Wilson founded DEFCAD, a website where designers of firearm parts could share and download designs - for free. A quick perusal of the website led me to downloadable designs for magazines, receivers, muzzle suppressers and more.
What we have here is an increasingly viable method for manufacturing firearm parts - for assault rifles, in particular - and a network for distributing the designs, which can be downloaded with the click of a mouse. Although I support the right to own and carry a firearm - with limitations, of course - I am scared by the ease with which firearms will soon be manufactured and distributed without any kind of regulation.
Fortunately, parts for firearms made on a 3D printer still face a few stumbling blocks. The main issue is that most 3D printers use plastics as their base material. Very few plastics can withstand the heat and mechanical stresses that firearms generate, which limits the kinds of parts that can be manufactured for firearms. For example, the lower receiver houses the trigger mechanism but is not otherwise exposed to the stresses of detonating ammunition. In fact, some muzzle suppressers are made specifically for small-caliber rifles, as higher-caliber ammunition would melt the plastic. Congress may ban the sale of assault rifles, and it may ban high-capacity box magazines. But, regardless of what happens in Washington, there is still a loophole. 3D printers have already been used to make assorted parts for firearms. As printing technology develops, I expect that the range of firearm parts that can be printed effectively will also develop. I rue the day that someone prints a functioning firearm.
Features Editor Nicholas Bradley is a College sophomore from Montgomery, NJ.
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