{"id":13472,"date":"2015-04-28T17:08:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T22:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=13472"},"modified":"2015-04-30T08:41:36","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T13:41:36","slug":"video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race\/","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: The 3-D-printed arms race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Evan Garcia<\/p>\n<p>In May of 2013, the online organization Defense Distributed publicly released the blueprints for\u00a0a plastic 3-D printed handgun\u00a0they designed and built. Within two days, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered the group to remove this information, but it was too late. By then, over 100,000 people had downloaded the plans for the single-shot pistol, dubbed the Liberator.<\/p>\n<p>The process of 3-D printing\u00a0involves the\u00a0layering of an additive, such as plastic, to create a model based on a digital file. This technology has the potential to revolutionize several industries and sectors, including manufacturing, medical implantation and art, but some are fearing the dangerous\u00a0implications of\u00a03-D printed firearms.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The 3-D printed arms race\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/126280992?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Last year, State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) and State Representative Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) proposed respective bills\u00a0in the Illinois Senate and House\u00a0that would ban the production\u00a0of 3-D printed firearms without a Federal Firearms License. Both proposals are active in the Illinois General Assembly.<\/p>\n<p>The current federal law, the Undetectable Firearms Act, outlaws firearms that could go unnoticed by a metal detector. That means a gun must have at least a 3.7-ounce metal component.<\/p>\n<p>However, gun control advocates argue that 3-D printed firearms can be built with\u00a0a purely superficial metal piece that can be removed and still yield the gun operable. Furthermore, the guns tend to\u00a0have a short shelf life, making them particularly dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re not reliable,&#8221; said Mark Walsh, program director for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. &#8220;There are only a certain number of opportunities to fire a bullet before the weapon malfunctions and has the potential to injure the person using it or someone else.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13474\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13474\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/14579895300_9cdb4ff293_h.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13474\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/14579895300_9cdb4ff293_h-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The Liberator, a plastic 3-D printed gun, disassembled. Credit: Justin Pickard\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/14579895300_9cdb4ff293_h-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/14579895300_9cdb4ff293_h-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/14579895300_9cdb4ff293_h.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-13474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Liberator, a plastic 3-D printed gun, disassembled. Credit: Justin Pickard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Julie Friedman Steele, founder and CEO of the 3-D Printer Experience, a Chicago facility that manufactures 3-D printed objects, disagrees with restrictions placed on the technology.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The first human innovation was fire, you could either use it for good or you could be\u00a0an arsonist,&#8221; Friedman Steele\u00a0said. &#8220;No matter what innovation it is, you&#8217;re going to find people using it for good or\u00a0using it for bad, but if you take away the ability to use it, then there is so much innovation for good that we won&#8217;t be able to access.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2013, Philadelphia became\u00a0the first U.S. city to ban the production of 3-D printed firearms. That same year, the United Kingdom passed strict legislation banning all 3-D printed guns or\u00a0gun components. Violators in Great Britain could face up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>In a city like Chicago that&#8217;s no stranger to gun\u00a0violence, gun control advocates are hoping for similar legislation.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/cantv.org\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-8953\" src=\"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/CANTV_600px_Medill-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"CAN TV logo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/cantv.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">MEDILL REPORTS<br \/>\nON CAN TV<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>In Chicago, watch Medill Reports video stories on CAN-TV channel 27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Evan Garcia In May of 2013, the online organization Defense Distributed publicly released the blueprints for\u00a0a plastic 3-D printed handgun\u00a0they designed and built. Within two days, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered the group to remove this information, but it was too late. By then, over 100,000 people had downloaded the plans for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":13559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,436],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-science","category-spring-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VIDEO: The 3-D-printed arms race - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VIDEO: The 3-D-printed arms race - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Evan Garcia In May of 2013, the online organization Defense Distributed publicly released the blueprints for\u00a0a plastic 3-D printed handgun\u00a0they designed and built. Within two days, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered the group to remove this information, but it was too late. By then, over 100,000 people had downloaded the plans for the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-28T22:08:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-30T13:41:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-28-at-11.36.40-AM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1226\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan Garcia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Evan Garcia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-the-3-d-printed-arms-race\/\",\"name\":\"VIDEO: The 3-D-printed arms race - 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