I understand what you’re trying to do jtur88 but that’s a false equivalence. The police did not suddenly fire into 20,000 people at a party. You’re talking about hundreds of separate incidents, with hundreds of different stories and backgrounds. Apples to oranges.
Or in this case, oranges to tangerines.
So, let’s allow for advances in 3d printers to the point where you can actually manufacture something akin to a modern rifle. That’s actually one hell of a big hypothetical, because we’re not even close to 3d printing that could create a barrel capable of handling the temperature and pressure you’d see firing 30 rounds off quickly, especially something with rifling, etc, and you’ve also got the whole issue with the receiver, gas port, yadda, but let’s just say you could.
How are you going to get the ammo? You can’t print propellant, or the explosive for your hypothetical grenade or artillery round.
This 3 year old article from theregister is still very valid:
It does raise quite a valid point when one considers that the side of the political spectrum most likely to stockpile guns to combat the gub’mint are also the side of the political spectrum most likely to support a right-wing dictatorship. Just consider the vocal support for Joe “I run my own concentration camps” Arpaio - years of massive abuses of his power characterized as “he was just doing his job”. It certainly Can Happen Here but the folks claiming to be willing to come out and fight it are the ones most likely to stay at home posting “Suck it, libtards!” on Facebook threads.
What makes you think laws would become futile? If the punishment for homemade automatic weapons is so severe that the average person wouldn’t even consider taking the first step toward it, then the law will have done its job. You can’t stop crazy – agreed. But you can put up roadblocks and hurdles that make it for more difficult for crazy to cause mass casualties.
I accept the fact that there will, from time to time, be mass casualty events such as these – nobody who is arguing with you seriously believes otherwise. But it’s past time to reject straw man and slippery slope fallacies to avoid having serious conversations about how we can reduce the likelihood and/or frequency of these events.
Aye; and you’re not the only person who noticed this aspect of things.
But you might also posit that they needed all those guns against a potentially tyrannical government, because they knew they’d be electing one.
Or perhaps even, have elected a potentially tyrannical government to demonstrate the importance of the right to own guns!
It makes as much sense as “We have to go buy AR-15’s to protect ourselves from Obama taking them away”, while not noticing the manufacturers laughing with glee.
“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.” ~P. J. O’Rourke
Public Announcement
If I am ever a victim of a mass shooting, I hereby request that all advocates of stronger gun control laws honor my memory by politicizing the fuck out of my death and using the occasion to shame the NRA and affiliated assholes to the greatest extent possible. No need to wait for the body to cool. Thank you.
Hey, I don’t know enough about 3D printing to have even an uninformed opinion, that’s how total my ignorance is. This was what Lumpy was saying will happen. I was just saying that, given his assumptions, a pro-gun type like him has nothing to worry about.
There are 3D printed metal guns that work just fine. Of course that gun costs $12,000 so…
That said recent advances have brought the cost of metal 3D printers way down. It’s still not cheap equipment but within the realm of approachable now. Presumably further advances will lower the price more.
Printing a gun is not easy though. You cannot print the gun as a single item. You need to print all the separate pieces and assemble it all. Clearly it can be done but it is slow compared to modern weapons manufacture which will make it more expensive.
But is it really possible to print every single part of a gun ?
I would assume it prints something like cast metal and my understanding is that while a gun is mostly cast steel, a firing pin and the springs must be wrought steel.
( And as someone said, you really can’t print ammunition. )
The thing american gun control advocates (a.k.a. sane people) fail to understand every time:
You don’t have to argue how guns should be regulated; doing so lets the gun nuts bog you down in endless details about designations and tweaked statistics. Let them figure it out: We know noting about guns, You’re the experts. Go do your thing
It is not your problem to create sane gun regulations. Let the NRA figure it out. Give them a simple ultimatum: Propose any regulations you like and after 5 years there has to be significant reduction in gun deaths. If said reductions do not materialise it is someone else’s turn 
Define “significant” as 25% reduction.
Define “gun deaths” as “people who are dead because someone(or themselves) shot holes in them.”
Your guns, your problem.
As for pools/cars/alcohol/whatever; let them propose any regulations they think will save lives, implement those as well, no questions asked. (after 5 years those will be reevaluated as well)
Do not get involved in ANY discussion about ANY detail. Stop feeding the goddamn trolls. Demand a solution.
Since apparently there is nothing to be done, maybe we can start a new national holiday where we celebrate the folks who have selflessly given their lives while just trying to live. Price of Freedom Day!
Good point. From now on, I will think of those who are shot dead or injured not as victims of gun violence, but as heroes sacrificing themselves to protect the second amendment.
Maybe we can get Wayne LaPierre to read the honor roll of those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for his freedoms, and give thanks for their selfless defense of the Second Amendment.
When will the President put accountants on the no-fly list?
I initially read this as “lead the honor roll” and let out a loud “Hell Yeah!,” scaring the cat.
Did you get a hard-on? I"m guessing you got a hard-on.