Listen. I am not a gun guy. I think this country has a big issue with guns right now. But I also get annoyed when stories are sensationalized. I'm sure you have at least seen a headline similar to the effect of "On August 1st It Will Now Be Legal To Print 3D Guns". I took shock to this, as I'm sure many have been. But then I actually looked up what is going on, and I learned about the laws that are in place about guns and gun making. So let me break the recent news down.

There is a company called Defense Distributed which aimed at making guns more accessible. Back in 2012, the company put 3D printed blueprints for weapon receivers to be 3D printed (I will explain what a "receiver" is later on). In 2013, the State Department made the company take the files down. It wasn't because anyone could make a gun at home. It was because people outside the US would be able to download these files and that is considered exporting firearms outside the country without legal permission. So Defense Distributed sued the State Department on the grounds that it violates their First Amendment Rights. Their First Amendment Right was violated because they were not allowed to share information (on the blueprints). Recently, the State Department (who usually handles foreign gun exports) has decided that they will be allowed to post these files starting August 1st, 2018. It was really a technical legal battle about sharing files in regards to foreign countries. The issue is not that the blueprints will be released in the US.

To my surprise, it isn't illegal to make homemade guns.

Yeah. Read it again.

OK, come back now.

Yeah, the laws surrounding guns are about buying, selling, and distributing already-made guns. You would not run into too much legal trouble making your own gun. The laws surround buying and selling already-made guns, but some parts are very easy to buy. Before I mentioned "receivers," and these are basically the main component of the gun which houses the mechanical components and actually shoots the bullets.

Fully-made ones are traced and have serial numbers.

Fully-made ones are traced, not unfinished ones.

If one of these is only, say, 80% completed, they are not regulated by the Gun Control Act of 1968 (a law about needing a license to sell firearms, which I linked above). So what people do is buy these 80% finished receivers which you can buy online or at gun shows, and then finish them at home (and to finish these, you only need to drill a few holes and to be a little bit crafty). After that, you add everything else a gun needs; a stock, a barrel, a trigger, and a magazine (can all be bought online). Boom. You got yourself an untraceable gun, otherwise named a "ghost gun". So, 3D printing does not seem to be the biggest issue. 3D printers are quite expensive and are a harder way to make a gun than buying that unfinished receiver.

There are tons of articles online explaining how-to's on this process of making a homemade gun. Just look at these: "I Built an AR-15 in My Kitchen (Without Telling the Government)," "How to Build Your Own AR 15 - Legally and Unregistered," there is even a whole website for this, such as https://gunplans.com/homemade-guns. It is pretty insane how this is pretty much legal and just all over the internet.

So, guns can be made at home with very little trouble.

This 3D printing thing with Defense Distributed is not a new issue.

3D printing gun receivers and homemade guns have been a thing. It is really crazy to me how many politicians are jumping on this as if it is something new. I did not know anything about the subject, but less than 15 minutes of research has shown me that the Defense Distributed suit isn't the real problem. At least to me, I think the legality of homemaking guns is the real problem (some will disagree). But that really isn't what this article is about. I really wanted to

1) shed some light on the 3D printed guns, and

2) show the media is sensationalizing this story.

Ever since that incident with PewDiePie which took his jokes out of context purposely, I really notice when the media does this.