14 DAY TRIAL // Just as one company in the US presented the first ever 3D printed full metal gun, the Philadelphia City Council is considering banning 3D printed guns altogether.
Actually, it's worse that that. Much worse, as the council wants to regulate the sale of 3D printers because someone, somewhere, may build a plastic gun that only fires once and has a greater likelihood of injuring the shooter than the target.
"Regrettably, there have been documented cases where this remarkable technology has successfully created functioning firearms," Philadelphia police Captain Francis Healy told the City Council, according to CBS Philly.
"While these guns were made of hard plastic and are often very crude at this point, several versions have actually been able to function effectively," he added.
Of course, he didn't actually provide any actual examples of this happening. As they stand, 3D printed guns, the plastic variety, are a gimmick at best. What's more, building a gun, plastic or not, is illegal already.
But it gets better. The state of Pennsylvania has actually shot down, so to speak, gun control legislation several times before. Two attempts to ban assault rifles were rejected.
So you can legally purchase a combat-ready assault rifle in the great state of Pennsylvania, but you may soon need a license to build a RepRap. Americans couldn't be making more fools of themselves if they tried.