Once again the law is lagging technology.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-10/fyi-it-legal-3-d-print-handgun
In case you missed it, the next big thing is 3D printing. Imagine your old dot matrix printer that paints a page going side to side. Instead of ink, it squirts a polymer that will harden. As it creates the “page”, it moves the table down a bit and repeats printing the next layer.
After a few hours, you have a complete object ready to use. The original sponsor of this technology was NASA which wanted the ability to be able to fabricate a special tool at the ISS or in outer space. All you need is a supply of the polymer.
Couple a 3d scanning device with a 3D printer and you have a machine that can create exact duplicates of an existing object.
So what if there was a 3D model of a handgun that would permit you to “print” a handgun with no serial#, no government registration or ability to know who has one.
It can’t yet print gunpowder though.
Whoa!!! Major leap in technology.
Slide over to the research and implementation of genome research and you will be miles ahead.
DARPA, Defense Agency Research Project Agency – talk about a ‘black hole’ ops.
DARPA – “We bring good things to Life.”
Believe it or not, according to the BATF, it is legal to build and use your own gun (well, a rifle anyhow) as long as it’s for your own use and as long as you don’t sell it. When you get into pistols, you are looking at your local laws dealing with concealed carry or permits so you may have to add it to your licence if you wanted to carry it.
That being said, those 3d printers are still pretty expensive and you can see that the Wiki weapons project themselves can’t even afford to buy their own. Private users doing this is way off into the future but I do see it happening.
BUT…people are actually doing this right now…you can order everything you need to build an AR through the mail or from a good gun shop, except for the receiver. You can buy 80% receivers through the mail and finish the milling with a 150 dollar drill press from harbor freight, all legal as long as you don’t sell them…
And legal to brew untaxed beer in the White House