The gun industry appears to be “sitting out the fight” over print files for 3D guns and gun parts, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg’s TicToc reports the industry is taking this posture partly due to the cost of buying a printer advanced enough to actually make such guns. The same goes for the cost of acquiring a CNC machine with the capacity of finishing an 80 percent lower for an AR, 1911, or any other gun.
Other reasons for the lack of interest springs from concerns over durability.
Bloomberg Business quotes National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president Larry Keane addressing the cost and the reliability, saying:
It’s always been possible for someone to DIY a firearm in their garage, using traditional machining methods. We don’t think it at all likely that people will spend $10,000 or more to obtain a 3-D printer and the materials to print with, and download the files, to make an item that is not reliable, doesn’t work very well, and will probably fall apart in short order.
Rommel T. Dionisio is a gun industry analyst at Aegis Capital Corp., and he suggests firearm makers are focused on their own “brand identity and product quality,” rather than delving into 3D guns and gun parts.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.