Plastic gun blueprints censored by U.S. government
By Dänk 42Ø
12 May 2013
The U.S. Defense Department has ordered the removal of 3D-CAD blueprints
on Defcad.org for all the components needed to "print" a working firearm
made from plastic.
DoD claims it violates arms export laws, which is the same argument it
uses to prohibit export of cryptographic software, with the predictable
effect of causing everyone to download it from non-U.S. servers,
effectively destroying the American digital security industry. (In fact,
there is so much paranoia about American encryption software containing
NSA backdoors that it has become an international pariah.)
Pirate Bay lists torrents for all the files removed from Defcad.org, and
now they are more widespread than ever! The attempt to censor this
information has only made millions of people who might not have cared
before more curious than ever to try it for themselves!
The hysteria that passes for the American gun control "debate" is now
moot, because anyone with access to a 3D printer (which are getting
cheaper by the day) can construct a working firearm. I'm sure that
plastic guns are not nearly as durable as metal ones, but even if they
can only fire a single round before destructing, it doesn't matter
because you can just print another one!
I'm not sure this is such a great thing, but science, technology and
especially information can't be stopped. Censoring these blueprints only
makes people want to try printing their own guns even more. Banning 3D
printers won't work, because all the components (liquid acrylic, lasers,
and robotic control) are readily available on the open market.
There is an episode of "Outer Limits" called "Final Exam" which deals
with a similar subject, cold fusion. Everyone believes cold fusion is
impossible until a student takes a college class hostage and tells them
that he has discovered the secret of cold fusion and shows them a device
which claims is a thermonuclear cold fusion bomb. The secret was so
obvious that he was surprised nobody thought of it before! And so simple
that even a child could make a thermonuclear bomb with materials found in
any household in the world.
He explains that scientific discovery is inevitable, that even had
Einstein died before discovering relativity, that someone else would have
a few years or decades later. Once the science and math reach a certain
stage, it is impossible to avoid reaching a conclusion from it, which is
why so many scientific discoveries occur almost simultaneously around the
world.
Authorities don't believe him, so he gives them one of his bombs to
examine, and it explodes in the underground lab (technicians who didn't
believe it was real started to tinker with it) and NOW they take him
seriously and agree to his demand to execute five people who had wronged
him in the past. As he waits, he rambles on about how the reason we
never hear any radio signals from space is because sooner or later every
intelligent alien race reaches roughly 20th century earth technology,
discovers cold fusion, and blows itself up!
The story ends with him being killed by a sniper, and as he lay dying
they ask him the secret so they stop others from building bombs, and he
tells them it is too late; the materials are too common, and someone else
will soon have the same realization.
Flash forward several years, in another college science class where the
students are taking a final exam with the question: "Explain in your own
words why cold fusion is impossible." One guy reads it, thinks for a
moment, then gets up and walks out. The professor asks him where he's
going, and he tells him not to worry, that he'll be seeing him again real
soon! Bwahahahahaha!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Exam_%28The_Outer_Limits%29
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
But what of the man who possesses too much knowledge?"