The Oxford Dictionary defines 3D Printing as a process for making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many successive thin layers of a material.
Think about it. Download a file from the internet, just like you downloaded clip art in 2003 with Microsoft Word, and turn that tridimensional model into something you can physically hold in your hands all within a matter of minutes.
Technology progresses so rapidly, that laws cannot keep up. Creative minds, such as Cody Wilson, founder and CEO of Defense Distributed, has found a method, and uploaded designs needed to 3D print real, working firearms. These files are up for download on Defense Distributed’s website after being taken down for “Violation of Terms and Agreements” by a more common model sharing site, Makerbot’s Thingiverse.
Common sense tells you that downloading and making firing guns would be against many laws, well common sense would be wrong. Besides being morally wrong, weak structured, plastic firearms are very unreliable. Defense Distributed’s founder is completely aware of the possible difficulties and dangers of 3D printing weapons,
Firearms are firearms no matter what. They could be in any form, but are dangerous anyway. In my opinion, downloading them from the internet isn’t a huge deal, since the only difference between them and real guns are the ways you obtain them.