Less than 4 miles from where I sit, UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson was murdered with a ghost gun. So I wondered, how big of a threat are 3D printed firearms?
A Rapidly Advancing Technology
Unfortunately, 3D printing firearms has become increasingly easy. There are entire YouTube channels devoted to it.
The guns they’re printing are increasingly sophisticated. Weapons that were once made of failure prone plastic parts are increasingly made out of much stronger aluminum.
In the video above, you can see the creator of the PSR channel firing a Czech-designed Nexus Evo 3 Gen 2.
I’m no gun expert, but it looks a lot like a typical assault rifle. He puts round after round through the weapon at high speed with no apparent issues.
3D printed guns like these are difficult or impossible to trace. And laws meant to stop the spread of firearms don’t catch these “ghost guns.”
How Big Is the Risk?
Seeing a masked man on YouTube firing a ghost gun is disturbing, no question there. But how much worse are ghost guns than the normal ones?
In most of America, it’s laughably easy to get a firearm. Where I grew up in Wisconsin, you can buy a shotgun at Wal-Mart just like you were buying milk.
Most states and cities allow handguns and even assault rifles like the AR-15. The 3D printed weapons are no more dangerous than what’s for sale in countless stores nationwide with few if any controls.
Take Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of Mr. Thompson.
He used a 3D printed pistol. But if he had been almost anywhere else in America other than New York City, he could’ve bought a pistol legally.
Remove every 3D printed gun, and Mangione probably still would’ve committed this awful crime.
How to Regulate Ghost Guns
Although it’s easy enough to buy normal guns in this country, we still don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry printing weapons with zero oversight.
The government should work with 3D printer manufacturers to ensure their devices cannot print firearm parts. The 3D printer could have software that recognizes key firearm components, such as the receiver or trigger group, and stops the printing process. It could even notify authorities of the attempt.
This could prevent guns from falling into the hands of criminals and minors.
Wrap-Up
We need better regulation to stop ghost guns. If government works with 3D printer manufacturers, we could make a big dent in the ghost gun problem.
But we should also keep in mind how easy it is to get the normal ones.
I’m not saying take everyone’s guns away. But there has to be some middle ground between “take everyone’s guns away” and “unlimited, military grade firearms for the criminally insane.”
It’s our job to find it.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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