3D printers offer the promise of a world in which anyone can manufacture anything but, as with all technology, there are upsides and downsides. Last week we learned that handcuffs could be unlocked with a 3D printed key; now "HaveBlue", a member of the AR15.com gun enthusiast forum, which is named after a common semi-automatic rifle, claims to have carried out the first successful test-firing of a 3D-printed gun.

Mark Gibbs in Forbes is lamenting the death of gun control. I think we'll always be able to restrict felons from legally getting guns (not so much illegally, but that's a different story).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2012/07/28/the-end-of-gun-control/

I think we should be celebrating the ingenuity. The decentralization of design is no longer exclusively in the hands of long-process manufacturing. Guns, like everything else, is an area ripe for innovation.

Outnumbered, but not outgunned, ..."After maybe two hours of intense combat, some of the soldiers’ guns seized up because they expelled so many rounds so quickly." I think decentralized innovation is a good thing. Imagine some new design coming from someplace completely unexpected. Rather than dying on the scrapheap of ingenuity, you could actually have a testable model that increases the chances it can actually go someplace and be used.

http://www.stripes.com/news/soldiers-recount-deadly-attack-on-afghanistan-outpost-1.81141

Only the lower receiver was printed. While it's a vital component of any firearm (basically holds/is the mechanism), metallurgy is just as vital as mechanics. I'll give props when we're able to print barrels, triggers, and firing pins.

Also, what the guy did was remove a step from the process and directly use a 3d printing as a receiver, instead of using it to make a more durable cast.