There is currently a bill in the NY State Assembly to require background checks for the purchase of 3D printers

was it even printed in new york? I mean im sure someone would never bring one in from jersey.

Well achtually........To be pedantic,

A 3D consumer grade printer is not a true 3D tool since it can only move on 2 axis simultaneously. If you watch your printer closely, as it finishes it's path around the xy plane, there is a tiny halt as it changes active plane from the xy plane to xz plane, lifts the nozzle, then flips the active back to the xy to go along it's merry way again to lay down the new layer. And no, the hot new scarf joint is still a single plane movement. Sometimes such machines are incorrectly referred to as 2 1/2 axis because they aren't true 3 axis.

Source: I'm an old retired toolmaker. Trust me Bro.

Not really.

There are gun parts that just can't be printed in plastic (reliably. There are proof of concept "all plastic except the firing pin" guns). But... because of how lobbyists tainted what few gun control laws we have, most of what makes a gun a gun CAN be printed and the rest can be bought as after market parts. That is why an incredibly common "ghost gun" is basically "print this and then go buy this replacement barrel and this baggy of parts to repair a glock".

Whereas a mill is great for those metal parts and you can theoretically mill an entire gun, it isn't going to be a gun you "want" to use and, odds are, you are going to need a lot more technical skills. And for stuff like "ghost guns" and the bootleg mods used in stuff like The Troubles? A 3d printer is MUCH more accessible and MUCH easier to make.

The reality is that neither is going to be effective in the case of a militia/uprising scenario (yes, you can print an AR-15 and it isn't THAT hard to reinforce the plastic to handle intermediate rounds. No, you can't print a hellfire missile or a predator drone or a tank). And for the purposes of a school shooting? Why print a gun when you can just grab daddy's glock out of his nightstand or junk drawer?

I'll also add on the reason why additive manufacturing is so loved by Industry. Milling is subtractive. You get a piece of stock and you cut it until it is the part you want. If you can guarantee said piece of stock is approximately the same dimensions every time, you can automate that. But getting a piece to those dimensions has a significant cost. 3d printing? As long as you clear out the build plate and sort of control the environment, it is the same operations every single time.

So to 3d print a glock? You go to one of the naughty sites, get the STL, make a few tweaks to your slicer, and start it (old Vice actually did a really good video on this). After that you wait until it is done, remove the supports, file the ever loving hell out of it, and you are ready to go blasting.

To mill a glock? You go to one of the naught sites and get the gcode. You then adjust that gcode to fit the dimensions of your piece of stock (or put in the time to make your piece of stock the dimensions the gcode is expecting...). You then do one process, stop it, move and remount the part precisely to expose the correct surfaces, and do the next process. And so forth.

THIS IS AMERICA! You can't post stuff like this outside of a classroom!

Aww. He just died (David Lynch).

Yeah, a dude actually made a ton of money during a gun buyback, by making cheap pipe guns. The buyback program had a flat amount as the bare minimum, meant to entice people to turn their firearms in. It was like $200 minimum. He made dozens of $5 single-shot pipe guns, and turned them all in. And since they were technically functioning firearms, the program was forced to pay out.

Ah. So I suppose that means California has successfully solved the skyrocketing cost of living and inflation, drought, rampant homelessness, and uncontrollable wildfires?

Iron rust. Can be used with the aluminum you included to produce thermite.

Can't you make a pipe bomb out of PVC?

We'll see if that sticks, or if annoying rich car people get the reforms repealed. Hochul certainly seems pliable.

Oi. You got a permit to tumble that aluminum foil?

You think those employees are paid enough to care?

There's a 3D printer designed to also print itself, right?

Ah yes, but then they'll just make it illegal to buy and own 2nd hand stuff.

Background checks are a Federal requirement and any transfer requires it go through an FFL for just that reason There is no Gun Show Loophole

Doesn’t really matter if you can buy a gun in another state.

their sale and possession is banned

How will I assassinate the Shogun now?!

Just FYI, you can't buy a firearm at a dealer outside of your home state without having it shipped to an FFL holder in your home state. E.g., I can't drive to Family Firearms in Alabama from Georgia--where i live--to buy a gun. I have to order from them, and then have it shipped to an FFL near me, and then fill out the paperwork in my own state. In states that allow private, p2p sales (which is most of them), you could buy a firearm with cash from an individual, and they'd never do a background check or fill out a 4473.