So you downloaded these gun plans from the internet?

There is currently a bit of a brouhaha over the plans for 3D printed guns.  Many fear that criminals – even terrorists – with access to a 3D printer will be able to make untraceable guns they will use to do horrible things with.  Many want these plans banned.  But in all likelihood, if you dug into the dark web far enough, various plans are already out there.  There’s no putting the genie back in the bottle; thanks to the internet, the bottle is smashed.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that many who want these plans banned are probably also anti-NRA.  Something I’ll point out to these people is that some years ago I read that the NRA was against 3D printed guns.  The reason being that if people could make their own guns, they wouldn’t have to buy them from gun manufacturers.  And if the gun manufacturers lost money, they’d have less money to give to the NRA to lobby politicians.  If responsible gun owners start making their own guns, some of these manufacturers may even go under.  It’s unlikely they’ll take the NRA with them, but without the fear of “the government taking all the guns” and a dying industry to lobby for, what will the NRA do?

Anyway, the point of this blog was to share an idea for a story I had a few years ago.  I thought it an interesting idea, but one I never got around to working on.  Which sucks because it would be perfectly topical right now.  The idea was this anti-gun group would flood the internet with plans for 3D printed guns.  Why would they do that you ask?  The plans would have defects in them.  Some might be obvious – the barrel turned around so it shoots whoever pulls the trigger – but many would have subtle defects.  Instead of blowing up in your hand the first time you shoot it, maybe every shot increases the chance of a crack forming in a critical component, eventually leading to it jamming.  With thousands of plans out there, how will people know which are the goods ones?  And if you see a glowing review for the Boomstick 4000 from TrumpJesusUSA47, how will you know if it’s a true review of an actual gun and not from someone hoping this junk gun will blow up in the face of anyone dumb enough to print it?

Downloaders beware.