3D print anything, but a gun!

Life’s full of surprises. One moment you’re receiving something amazing and the next you’re losing out on the precious little. This is a lot like what happened to one Cody Wilson, a second-year law student who had the idea of starting a site called Defense Distributed. The site would propose designs for 3D-printible guns, called ‘Wiki Weapons’. After much effort the group responsible for the effort managed to gather $20,000 for a uPrint SE 3D printer, from Stratasys. However, on learning about the use of the printer, Stratasys sent Cody a letter asking for its equipment back. Now, it remains to be seen whether the activity that Cody was involved in is actually illegal or not.

3D printing opens doors to new innovations. You cannot however ‘manufacture’ a weapon, unless it is for sale. All else is deemed illegal. The conclusion we can draw is that Stratasys is just being cautious. This may spark a new set of laws though.