Some models - like the 3D-printed gun company Defense Distributed’s “Liberator” - can be made almost entirely on a 3D printer. In the simplest terms, it’s any firearm that includes components manufactured with a 3D printer.īut 3D-printed guns vary a lot.
Below, we break down the basics of plastic, 3D-printed firearms, and the controversy generated by the swelling movement to deliver them to the masses. Advancements in 3D-printing technology have yielded increasingly reliable 3D-printed firearms, many of which require no federally regulated components to function. Making a gun from scratch at home required thousands of dollars of machining equipment and years of engineering expertise.īut in recent years, that has begun to change.
For decades, weapons manufacturing has been the domain of arms industry heavyweights: Glock, Sig Sauer, Remington, Sturm, Ruger & Co.
