Amidst a national gun control conversation, one organization has been focusing on a firearm made almost entirely out of 3D printed parts. Recently, Defense Distributed demonstrated the "Liberator" in its mostly usable prototype stage.
Despite an ever increasing number of obstacles, the guys at Defense Distributed have been determined to create a firearm that can be built using a high end 3D printer. Between the attempted ban on 3D printed magazines and MakerBot stepping in and removing anything related toguns from Thingiverse, the road to a finished product hasn't been easy. When Defense Distributed launched their own hosting service for 3D printed projects, it became clear that they weren't going to let anything else get in their way. Now the Liberator is a real thing that fires real bullets, but the cost of a misfire for this weapon is significant.
Fifteen 3D printed plastic pieces and what is essentially a drywall nail for a firing pin make up the Liberator handgun. A 6oz piece of metal is inserted into the weapon in order to comply with federal laws regarding undetectable weapons, but obviously that's only a requirement as long as you're interested in following those laws. In tests performed on the Liberator, a standard .380 cartridge was fired with no visible damage to any of the parts. When a 5.7 x 28 rifle cartridge was loaded into the Liberator it misfired and exploded. The cause of the misfire seemed to be an internal misalignment, but had an actual human being been holding the weapon at the time, the injury to the user could have been severe.
The successful firing of the Liberator is a significant leap in demonstrating what 3D printing is capable of. As we move closer to lower end printers becoming affordable enough to be a household object, the conversation surrounding the capabilities of these machines will only increase. The mechanical accomplishment here shouldn't get lost in the increasingly negative conversation surrounding firearms in the US right now, though it is worth pointing out that if the guy who built the gun couldn't see that the rifle round was improperly aligned, the Liberator is likely still pretty far from being considered safe to use.
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