14 DAY TRIAL // Two 3D printed guns have been purchased by the V&A Museum in London. We wouldn't have easily expected the world's first 3D printed gun to so quickly become a museum piece, yet that is precisely what happened.
There are museums with lots of different themes, and some that touch on all of them, but all exhibited items usually have one thing in common: they represent a significant change in the human condition. Not counting animal and plant exhibitions anyway.
Apparently, 3D printed guns are considered a big deal. The price paid for them is unknown, and it is not clear why the museum didn't just commission a pair of copies, or printed them itself, instead of buying a pair from Texan law student Cody Wilson.
The way the buy was described, however, suggests that the gun earned its place by sparking an intense debate about the benefits of new manufacturing techniques, among other things.
“The invention of this so called ‘wiki weapon’ sparked intense debate and upended discussions about the benefits of new manufacturing technologies and the unregulated sharing of designs online,” said Kieran Long, the V&A's senior curator of contemporary architecture, design and digital.
“The V&A has acquired two Liberator prototypes, one disassembled gun and a number of archive items to enhance its collection of 3D printed objects and represent a turning point in debates around digital manufacturing.”
We feel we should make sure people don't get the wrong idea when they read the words “3D printed gun.” The gun isn't actually 3D printed.
What happens is that the individual parts are printed one by one, then assembled like one would the original deal.
There are also a couple of metal parts included in the product. One is the trigger, and another is inserted in the barrel or somewhere else, to ensure the gun doesn't just pass through metal detectors at airports and such.
So far, the endurance of these things has proven poor. The first one broke after the second shot, and later models failed after a dozen or so. Still, even one bullet can do a lot of damage, so we'll thank V&A for not loading their exhibit pieces.