3D Printing: Educational and useful, but potentially dangerous

August 1st was supposed to be the day that Defense Distributed released the blueprints to several firearms for 3D printing.

Yesterday, just hours before the release was set to start, an injunction was filed, stopping the release.

Unfortunately, many of the files had already found their way online and were downloaded more than 2,500 times.

These blueprints allow people with access to a 3D printer to construct a weapon, capable of firing bullets.

These plastic guns are untraceable and in many cases metal detector proof. Additionally, there is no regulation on who can purchase a 3D printer, essentially making firearms accessible to anyone.

It’s something that has Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen concerned. He doesn’t believe this is a 2nd amendment issue, rather a public safety concern.

But over at Idaho State University, a place with several 3D printers, it’s not a major concern.

The university already has strict weapons policies in place and has someone review every item request sent in for printing, before anything can be printed.

University officials reinforced that they do not make weapons, never have and never will.

Instead, they look at the benefits they get from the printer, putting the negative possibilities aside.

It is something the students love to use, printing off plastic game pieces and animals.

Still, these weapons pose a threat. It is an area of weapon that has never been regulated and probably won’t be for quite sometime.

And although the prints were blocked yesterday, these guns are already out there. In fact, the TSA has confiscated dozens of these in airports all over the country in the last two years.

While the blueprints are technically “information,” they allow anyone, including criminals and children, to construct a potentially deadly weapon.