Like everything, 3D-printing has its good and bad things: it can also be used for malignant applications. The first 3D printed gun that can fire one bullet was a hot topic a couple of months ago. Now a 3D printed metal gun is created and it can fire a lot of bullets. I don’t think that this will be used by criminal organizations because it costs a lot to buy a 3D printer for metals. So the total cost will be cheaper to buy an ordinary gun.
What is your opinion?
On the following link you can find a picture and a movie.
3D Printed Connections 
Hi,
I saw the topic on the news as well, and it indeed revealed the possibilities of a 3D-printer that can be used for ‘bad’ causes. The one about a metal gun was new to me. The whole idea behind the fact that you can create your own weapons on a CAD program and simply print it out, might frighten people or make them more aware of what a 3D-printer can or can not do. This encourages people to think about the social impact of the 3D-printer if it is not used on company level.
Hey,
I’m not sure how unsafe people should feel about the fact that people with a 3D printer can print a gun. I think this was a very good marketing stunt for 3D printing-manufacturers to show of how big the potential can be of the 3D printers. The danger-element is a great way to get people’s attention, but I think there is a lot more danger in some technologies that’s already available, people just haven’t been advertised about it. My question on this topic would be, when will your everyday consumer have a 3D printer at home, like he has a 2D printer now? Downloading/Pirating the CAD-files shouldn’t be a problem, since I’ve read somewhere they are readily available on those not so legal downloading sites.
I think this has some really interesting repercussions in the long run. The current state of affairs is just a small step away from people making a gun by metalworking. There’s still some skill involved and you still need to get ammunition. But what if (due to some kind of exotic spring technology), you could print a fully functional and lethal gun + ammo with that same printer? Any nutcase could start printing their own weapons stockpile and do crazy things. Obviously that’s a very pessimistic view, but no doubt governments and law enforcement are also thinking about scenarios like that. No one can predict the future, but I think it’s very plausible that personal 3D printers will become something very prone to regulation. Something like copiers nowadays (a lot of them have embedded systems that prevents them from copying bank notes).