3D Printing Guns, an ethical perspective

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." this is what the second amendment of the constitution of the United States of America reads, an amendment that has been receiving much attention recently. Well, 3D printing has recently added even more confusion to this subject.  Now anyone with a 3D printer can theoretically print out their own guns. Obviously this could raise quite a few alarms for the federal government. Below is a picture of the parts of a gun manufactured with a 3D printer.

The Argument For

Under current law any person older than 18, who is not:

• currently under indictment for a crime punishable by more than a year in prison
• previously convicted of such a crime
• a fugitive
• a user of any controlled substance
• committed to a mental institution or deemed mentally defective
• an illegal alien
• dishonorably discharged from the military
• renounced his or her U.S. citizenship
• currently under a restraining order against him or her from an intimate partner or child of said partner
• been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor

can own a gun. If I'm allowed to own and purchase my own gun, why can't I build my own gun? In a country built on freedom, and a right to privacy of what goes on in your home, why shouldn’t I be able to make my own gun?

 The Argument Against

Imagine being able to download your own gun. No background check to go through, no licensing process, just download and print. Unregulated this means I could go home and print off whatever gun I wanted, with the proper equipment. This would make owning a gun even easier, in a country where we already have some of the most relaxed gun laws in the modern world. 

When the fathers of our nation wrote the Constitution, they could never have imagined the technology we would possess today. When the second amendment was drafted, the best guns of that day were muskets. Everyone had a musket because it was necessary to survive. In today's world having a gun is not a necessity to survive. Having a gun should be a privilege not an assumed right. As an engineer who would be responsible for manufacturing 3D printed guns, the fact that someone could steal my design and use it at home for their own printer is frightening. In recent times, gun shootings have become much more frequent. With the new ability to print firearms in your own home, this trend seems that it would only increase.