Controversy
has erupted over a plastic gun created from a design fed into a 3D
printer — a weapon that could conceivably be smuggled past weapons
detectors and create a major security breach at airports, courthouses
and schools.
The so-called "3D gun'' was created by a group called Defense
Distributed, which fed digital blueprints of a working firearm into a 3D
printer to cast a hard polymer mold. It said its initial firing tests
of the first gun — created for about $8,000 — were successful.
The only nonplastic part of the weapon is a nail which serves as
the firing pin — allowing the gun to escape federal restrictions on
undetectable firearms.
Defense Distributed, headed by gun advocates, is reportedly
planning on releasing blueprints of the 3D gun online this week — a plan
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer slammed as "stomach-churning."
“Now anyone — a terrorist, someone who is mentally ill, a spousal
abuser, a felon — can essentially open a gun factory in their garage,”
Schumer said. “It must be stopped.”
Rep. Steve Israel, a Long Island Democrat, announced he has drafted a
bill to outlaw the technology for the use of creating weapons.