The juvenile arrested in the recent Seattle Space Needle shooting was reportedly carrying what the media breathlessly calls a “ghost gun.” Right on cue, the scary music starts, the headlines get bigger, and the public is once again encouraged to panic and demand another round of gun bans. For those who haven’t been keeping up with reality, a “ghost gun” is simply a homemade firearm without a serial number. The dramatic nickname makes it sound like it floated out of a haunted house. In truth, anyone paying attention knows that modern CNC machines and 3D printers have made manufacturing a functional firearm far less complicated than politicians and television commentators pretend. That technology is not going away because someone passes another statute. The uncomfortable fact is that governments cannot legislate away knowledge. A law is still just words printed on paper. It only affects people who choose to obey it. Washington State has already outlawed just about everything imaginabl...

The Glorious Futility of “Technology-Proof” LawAh yes, technology-based laws. The shining dream of bureaucrats everywhere. Because clearly, if you just write the right words on a piece of paper, the laws of physics and human ingenuity will bow in reverence. Let’s pretend for a moment that we’ve achieved the impossible utopia: no one can legally make, sell, or even touch a firearm. Victory, right? Crime solved! Cue the triumphant music! Except, oops, anyone with a few thousand dollars and an internet connection can buy a CNC machine, click a few buttons, and suddenly a shiny new handgun appears like magic. CNC machines, those cold, efficient robots that carve and fabricate with eerie precision, do not care about your laws. They do not care about politics. They just do what they are programmed to do, often better than the humans who write the legislation.  Imagine the radical task of rounding up the 400 million guns that are already in America’s Homes. And if CNCs sound too “high-...

Any hope of effectively controlling firearms in the United States is dead. While politicians can continue drafting restrictive gun laws, advancements in technology and pivotal court decisions have rendered such efforts largely meaningless. Today, anyone with access to a $200 3D printer can easily manufacture firearm components. These devices, guided by downloadable computer programs, can produce a perfect frame for a semi-automatic pistol. Since polymer-framed guns like Glocks require no traditional machining, they are particularly easy to replicate. The frame of a firearm is the regulated and serialized component under federal law, but a homemade frame bypasses these regulations entirely, allowing individuals to produce guns in secret. Importantly, 3D printers are common among hobbyists and are used to make a wide variety of items, further obscuring their potential use for firearm creation. In addition to these technological advances, legal developments have further dismantled gun ...