3D-Printed Gun Becomes a Work of Art

[roseofbattle]

3D-Printed Gun Becomes a Work of Art

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From "terrorist threat" to work of art, the world's first 3D-printed gun is bought by London's V&A museum.

After outcry over the hazards over the manufacturing of the world's first 3D-printed gun but also about the availability of blueprints for the guns online, London's Victoria and Albert museum of art and designed has decided to purchase the two printed guns made by Texan law student Cody Wilson. The guns will be a part of the museum's Design Festival. Purchased through the Design Fund to Benefit the V&A, the purchase strays far away from the pieces of furniture the fund has been used for in the past.

Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed, released the blueprints for the Liberator gun online. The US government then forced Wilson to remove the blueprints from the internet. The gun has sparked debate over manufacturing technologies and internet sharing. Senator Chuck Schumer called Wilson a "terrorist," and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence described Wilson as a "hardcore insurrectionist."

The V&A purchased the guns because of the intense debate. "Ugly and sinister objects demand the museum's attention just as much as beautiful and beneficial ones do," Kieran Long, the V&A's senior curator of contemporary architecture wrote in a column. [http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/12/opinion-kieran-long-on-contemporary-museum-curation/] "Museums should be topical, responding quickly to world events when they touch our areas of expertise."

Wilson was pleased to see the V&A treat the gun as an "incendiary political symbol." "I don't see it as an art project, but it has an artistic sensibility about it," Wilson told Forbes. "It's kind of demonstration, proof of the direction of our technical future."

Source: Forbes [http://www.dezeen.com/2013/09/15/va-museum-acquires-first-3d-printed-gun/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dezeen+(Dezeenfeed)]

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[Xan Krieger]

It's an amazing technological accomplishment with a ton of potential, glad to see it getting the respect it deserves.

 

[Xan Krieger]

It's an amazing technological accomplishment with a ton of potential, glad to see it getting the respect it deserves.

Funnily enough, the exact same words were written by Will Wright about Spore back in 2008/2009.

And both were downloaded by countless people for free

Seriously though, unlike spore this has serious real world implications.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

Seriously though, unlike spore this has serious real world implications.

What? Like making it much cheaper for terrorists to mass produce guns?
I'm not going to start the whole 'guns for personal defence' debate again, I don't care how easy it is for Americans to acquire guns, as long as it stays in America, but there is a real problem when that ease of availability stretches to organised nutcases. Previously the armies that won a war were the ones with the funds to develop and mass-produce advanced weapons, and this is no longer the case. It's harder to intercept the download of a blueprint than a shipment of physical weapons.

And please, the term 'art' these days seems to stretch to anything man made.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

This is certainly an interesting accomplishment. Though I don't share the extremist views that some may hold, warranting the "terrorist" labels, I do feel these need to be regulated to some extent. While it's not very likely your average everyday criminal will be able to get there hands on these, the potential is still there, and I wouldn't imagine it to be inexpensive to get your hands on a 3D Printer or even build one, however the potential is there for what can and will be built to be abused (note I'm not saying what will be built will be built to be abused, just saying it's possible). I understand that criminals will criminate (I know, improper use) and no regulation is going to prevent abuse from ever happening, but it will, like many regulations before it, will act as a deterrent and may dissuade potential abusers of the system.

In short, anyone with intent to sell or distribute any weapons built from a 3D Printer should be licensed to do so, much like any proprietor of a licensed-to-sell establishment.

EDIT: Kinda went into my own tangent there, but ethics aside, that's an interesting look for the gun. Regardless of its aesthetics, I think a museum is an appropriate place for this (widely recognized) first of (what most certainly will be) many.

 

[JamesBr]

snip

And please, the term 'art' these days seems to stretch to anything man made.

Nobody called it "art", it's being shown as part of a Design Festival. Regardless of your view on the subject, clearly these objects are worth a place in a museum due to their controversial nature. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "art" (though one could argue that the design involved has artistic merit, I remain unconvinced), but I would definitely say it belongs in a museum. We are talking about the original 3D-printed guns here, ethics aside, that's quite the statement and worthy of any collection.

 

[Xan Krieger]

Seriously though, unlike spore this has serious real world implications.

What? Like making it much cheaper for terrorists to mass produce guns?
I'm not going to start the whole 'guns for personal defence' debate again, I don't care how easy it is for Americans to acquire guns, as long as it stays in America, but there is a real problem when that ease of availability stretches to organised nutcases. Previously the armies that won a war were the ones with the funds to develop and mass-produce advanced weapons, and this is no longer the case. It's harder to intercept the download of a blueprint than a shipment of physical weapons.

And please, the term 'art' these days seems to stretch to anything man made.

Pretty sure they have an easy enough time getting old weapons and making copies, making guns from plastic requires a higher level of technology than they have easy access to. I think it's easy enough to have a few guys making guns from metal in their homes, a 3D printer costs more than a few crates of cheap AKs (heard you can get an AK-47 for about $50 in northern africa).

As for art to me it's anything aesthetically appealing. I'm a bit of a gun nut so to me the liberator is prettier than any woman.

 

[Alexander Kirby]

snip

You have a point, it is currently cheaper to hammer a bit of metal and a bed spring into a gun, but I hardly expect 3D printers to remain the expensive and futuristic technology they are now for very long. To produce reliable working firearms you still need a small production facility and several workers, while to make one of these guns all you need is a power socket and some desk space. My point is that the weapons black market is already large enough and this would allow weapons to be made completely in secret, no smuggling required, just make them in your own home.

 

[Smooth Operator]

3 facts about 3D printers people should know by now:
- very slow (something of that size would take about a day to print)
- very expensive material (unless you want the part to disintegrate immediately it will take around a grand per gun to print it)
- very very brittle prints (yes you can get a shot off, after that the most likely casualty will be the shooter)
Meanwhile you can buy cold war throw away guns for $30 in just about any shady shop, probably cheaper in bulk and those will work just fine for a very long time.

Honestly the only upshot of printed guns is that idiots will get their hands blown off, some need to learn the hard way.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Seriously though, unlike spore this has serious real world implications.

What? Like making it much cheaper for terrorists to mass produce guns?
I'm not going to start the whole 'guns for personal defence' debate again, I don't care how easy it is for Americans to acquire guns, as long as it stays in America, but there is a real problem when that ease of availability stretches to organised nutcases. Previously the armies that won a war were the ones with the funds to develop and mass-produce advanced weapons, and this is no longer the case. It's harder to intercept the download of a blueprint than a shipment of physical weapons.

And please, the term 'art' these days seems to stretch to anything man made.

Pretty sure they have an easy enough time getting old weapons and making copies, making guns from plastic requires a higher level of technology than they have easy access to. I think it's easy enough to have a few guys making guns from metal in their homes, a 3D printer costs more than a few crates of cheap AKs (heard you can get an AK-47 for about $50 in northern africa).

As for art to me it's anything aesthetically appealing. I'm a bit of a gun nut so to me the liberator is prettier than any woman.

Really? Sorry to offend you, but you have some odd tastes in women guns.

The thing looks like an uncool toy, and from what I've heard it doesn't even operate that well.

As for the concern of terrorism? I don't think this is the gun for them. You can buy better guns for cheaper. There could be an issue maybe with assassinations. Seeing as it's made of plastic. However, it doesn't look too easy to hide, and you still need metal bullets I assume.

Also,

Spoiler: THIS is a beautiful gun.

Warning spoilers!

 

[Xan Krieger]

Seriously though, unlike spore this has serious real world implications.

What? Like making it much cheaper for terrorists to mass produce guns?
I'm not going to start the whole 'guns for personal defence' debate again, I don't care how easy it is for Americans to acquire guns, as long as it stays in America, but there is a real problem when that ease of availability stretches to organised nutcases. Previously the armies that won a war were the ones with the funds to develop and mass-produce advanced weapons, and this is no longer the case. It's harder to intercept the download of a blueprint than a shipment of physical weapons.

And please, the term 'art' these days seems to stretch to anything man made.

Pretty sure they have an easy enough time getting old weapons and making copies, making guns from plastic requires a higher level of technology than they have easy access to. I think it's easy enough to have a few guys making guns from metal in their homes, a 3D printer costs more than a few crates of cheap AKs (heard you can get an AK-47 for about $50 in northern africa).

As for art to me it's anything aesthetically appealing. I'm a bit of a gun nut so to me the liberator is prettier than any woman.

Really? Sorry to offend you, but you have some odd tastes in women guns.

The thing looks like an uncool toy, and from what I've heard it doesn't even operate that well.

As for the concern of terrorism? I don't think this is the gun for them. You can buy better guns for cheaper. There could be an issue maybe with assassinations. Seeing as it's made of plastic. However, it doesn't look too easy to hide, and you still need metal bullets I assume.

Also,

Spoiler: THIS is a beautiful gun.

Warning spoilers!

Well the way I see it a gun I can get, I'll never have a woman. Also I agree with the video, I love revolvers. Kinda helps that I'm a fairly good shot with one, I'm actually better with a .357 magnum than an AR-15. I even once told a friend I'd rather take an M-60 out to dinner instead of a woman.

 

[Olas]

Seeing as how this gun fires only one (small) bullet at a time, with virtually no accuracy, and gets deformed to the point of being unusable after a single shot, looks less intimidating than most toy guns, and can't even be used as a melee weapon after that one shot, and costs considerably more to produce than a real gun, I think it's safe to say this isn't going to be revolutionizing the way we see firearms any time soon.

It's cute though, I'll give it that.

 

[Mr.Savage]

snip

You have a point, it is currently cheaper to hammer a bit of metal and a bed spring into a gun, but I hardly expect 3D printers to remain the expensive and futuristic technology they are now for very long. To produce reliable working firearms you still need a small production facility and several workers, while to make one of these guns all you need is a power socket and some desk space. My point is that the weapons black market is already large enough and this would allow weapons to be made completely in secret, no smuggling required, just make them in your own home.

The thing is, unless we develop some kind of super plastics that can replicate the characteristics of steel, which can then be easily used by a 3D printer, these printed weapons are essentially nothing more than a glorified zip gun. In fact, I'd argue a zip gun would be more effective, seeing as it wouldn't break immediately after 2 or 3 shots.

Also, according to this short 9 minute documentary, it seems to be pretty easy to just make regular weapons instead, even with limited technology. So without those super plastics, there's really no reason for anyone to adopt 3D printers, even if they were very affordable.

 

[Strazdas]

The thing is, unless we develop some kind of super plastics that can replicate the characteristics of steel, which can then be easily used by a 3D printer, these printed weapons are essentially nothing more than a glorified zip gun. In fact, I'd argue a zip gun would be more effective, seeing as it wouldn't break immediately after 2 or 3 shots.

we do. you have to realize that palstics is a VERY broad term. it goes from the polyster bags that breka apart after a signle use to material you can use to break walls in. now granted it is hard to use the more heavy duty plastics, but there are 3D printers that can manage that. i dont think any of them are "you can buy one on ebay" type of deals but 3D printers technology will get better quite fast seeing how its moving forward.
ANd heck, letsn ot forget liquid wood, that works too. In fact there was a push to make liquid wood change rela wood for many places because apparently it feels like wood, looks like wood, but is much stronger than real wood. and cheaper. dont know if it went anywhere really since that dropped of the map kind of.

The question of 3D printer weapons is not "if" but "When".

 

[Mr.Savage]

The question of 3D printer weapons is not "if" but "When".

I can agree with that, I'm sure eventually it will be a viable method. But honestly, I see affordable, personal CnC machines coming into use, before 3D printers are able to compete with standard weapon manufacturing.