10 Ridiculously Illegal Things You Can Make With A 3-D Printer

5. Guns Ammo And Dangerous Weapons

Up to this point our list has concentrated upon classes of product that are in no respect inherently illegal, but which can present severe illegality if presented unethically. Guns and related items though, if not illegal by statute in many cases, are at least highly regulated. Some weapons in some countries are just plain illegal to possess in any case. One such example in the UK would be a 'knuckleduster', a.k.a. brass knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, or knucklebusters elsewhere. Since these are built and designed purely as a weapon and have no other purpose than to injure, they are classed as an offensive weapon for possession. Also in this category are tazers, cs spray, police batons, etc. When it comes to bladed instruments then possession in a public place, at least in the UK, is the key. Having with you, in a public place any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed, (including a folding pocket knife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 7.62cm/3 inches) would be illegal.

The very beautiful Spyderco S seen here would be perfectly legal to carry in the USA. Objects such as this are getting much easier to produce at home using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), which fuses metal powder into a solid part by melting it with a powerful focused laser beam. Once an expensive industrial 3-D printing process used to make prototype metal parts for the aerospace industry, it is now within reach of the desktop hobbyist. Having the ability to print metal is a pretty big headache to law enforcement agencies, but an even bigger one would be the ability to make plastic firearms at home. These would be more difficult to detect in screening areas such as those at airport departure gates, but their big brothers have been around for decades now in any case, e.g. Steyr AUG assault rifle. The big differences are aptly summed up in this short video, (begins after the ad): Some see the tide of of weapons capable of being printed on the desktop as too great to hold back. One expert, Hod Lipson of Cornell University, reckons that regulating against the gun powders and explosives used to detonate weapons would be far easier. Also 3-D printable, these are said to be the 'unifying factor' in all guns and higher end armaments; therefore, better able to be controlled. I have my doubts, personally.