In 2012 there were quite a few shootings in the United States, including several of the crazy guy goes on a killing spree type of situations. In the wake of all this human suffering the NRA began putting out their usual message in their typically loud and obnoxious voice that no gun laws ever fixed a gun problem, and that the only solution is for more 'good guys' to have guns.
Of course the reality behind the NRA is that all they want to do is funnel massive amounts of cash into the hands of the gun industry. They don't actually care about the Second Amendment, your rights, my rights, or anything else. It's just about money and greed. The fewer restrictions on guns, the more you can sell. And if you happen to stir up some unprecedented fear you can create gun sales so high manufacturers literally cannot keep up with demand.
But a new technology is emerging fast, and that's the concept of the 3D printer. A device capable of producing with incredible accuracy objects that have been designed on a computer.
In the future you will be able to produce a three dimensional object almost as easily as you can print out a letter today. The technology has moved quickly and fast, and is already at a stage where people are producing usable weapons.
It is really only a matter of time before highly dangerous weapons can be produced by any person with a computer and a 3D printer, and that begs a very interesting question...
The year is 2016, I turn off the news after hearing with interest that President Hillary Clinton has just appointed President Bill Clinton to the Supreme Court. I go online and order up a 3D printer from Amazon.com and the next day it arrives.
I set it up, and within a week, my printer has produced all the parts to create a fully working Glock replica. I then proceed to print a dozen more over the coming weeks, and sell them to my friends for $200 a pop.
Now remember the NRA opposed background checks, restrictions on me selling my guns to my 'good guy' friends, and believe that when it comes to guns, the more the merrier.
So I wonder what position they will take when the source for those guns is no longer the gun industry who support them, but me and people like me, printing guns from a public domain design source.
This scenario isn't as unrealistic as it sounds. Live testing has already taken place with real guns produced with a 3D printer. As time goes on such printers will become more affordable, and have a wider variety of materials they can print with.
So the NRA have an interesting road ahead of them. And I for one can't wait to see the self-serving arguments they make when we see that their true desires all along wasn't looking out for my rights, or pushing their second amendment interpretation as carte blanche for civilians to own whole gun arsenals.
My prediction is that when we can make our own guns cheaply and easily, and we no longer have to plonk down $600 to buy a Glock from a gun dealer, we might start to hear a different tune from the NRA.
