HAD Long Post on 3D Printed Guns

argh, I've tried to look up such statistics in the past and they are not easy to sift through. Robberies, violent robberies, and murders are all in a different class. Obviously, when the criminal has a gun, it is almost always a murder. Violent crime involving guns makes up something like 10% of cases. Not surprisingly, something like 10% of murders do not involve firearms. Although, I should point out that criminal use of any gun other than a handgun is incredibly rare. When we hear talks of bans, it's always "assault weapons". That baffles me, but is beside the point. I go to a large urban university and I'm going to estimate that a student gets robbed once every 3 weeks during the school year based on university alerts. There are generally less than 2 gun related incidents near campus each year. It’s improbable that someone stealing pocket change will have a gun, it happens but it’s rare. If you have a gun (for better or for worse, we as students are not permitted to) chances are that you will have an edge over criminals if you carry. And, once again, you should not use a gun unless you feel legitimately threatened, but chances are that you do if you are being robbed. It's not all robberies either. A TA of mine landed a trip to the hospital when a bunch of hooligans decided to beat him up on his way to his apartment. They didn't take a penny from him, just wanted to watch him suffer. You can never avoid a mugging. They have been happening long before there were firearms. Mass shootings are a statistical anomaly amongst gun deaths and accidental discharges which cause harm are also incredibly rare. Both are tragic when they do happen, but are very uncommon. I would definitely agree with your last sentence, especially with regards to the situation here in the US. Even mass confiscations, as was with the case with Australia, would not get guns out of criminal hands very fast.

Greenaum, what you say is likely true, but there are many other painless ways to commit suicide and there are certainly less messy ways to do it. The one thing that I will say is that I can't think of anything as immediate as a gun. Most other methods of suicide would force the person to think about it more. I don't want people to commit suicide (I realize that you weren't insinuating I did, you were just sharing a factoid), but I also don't want to see people's rights taken away.

Token, you are lucky to have such a good friend and were wise to console in him. Too many people are unwilling to get help. I'm glad that you are one of the ones who did choose to pursue help.

I don't want people to commit suicide and I don't want common criminals to die either, but I also don't want to see people's means of defending themselves taken away, or even their right to own a gun simply for the sake of having one. Do realize that most guns are never used to inflict harm to anyone. Also realize that, if anything, this article is a sign of things to come. Items which may do us harm are going to become more difficult to restrict, not easier. In the near future, we may find ourselves asking how much of our freedom and privacy we are willing to give up to support government restrictions. 3D printed metals could be a reality in the future.

I think I've gone way off track at this point. I usually don't discuss these types of issues on HaD. Both of you have made some good points and I respect your opinions, but I don't think we stand to convince each other that we are the ones in the right.