With school starting again there is the threat of school shootings, of students getting bullied and doing life changing events that can never be fixed, this year however, a new threat is arising, a threat that can’t be detected, 3D Printed Guns.

3D Printed guns are a new threat arising because of the undetacability of them, you could easily go through an airport with a 3D printed gun and no one would notice. A law in 1988 was passed that guns without enough metal in them to trigger a metal detector were illegal.

The Undetectable Firearms Act states that it is illegal to manufacture any weapon that is not detectable through a metal detector. The H.R.3626 act was also introduced to the house to extend the Undetectable Firearms act of 1988 for another 10 years.

If you wish to manufacture a 3D printed gun then you need a license, you need the Federal Firearms License to manufacture 3D printed guns. Without one it is completely illegal and considers you as a “Manufacturer of destructive devices”.

The Liberator, the first fully 3D printed gun, is a one shot pistol. It was made to be like the one shot pistols air-dropped over France during the Nazi Occupation. The 3D printed gun is entirely printed except for a nail to be used as its firing pin. The gun itself requires 16 pieces, made in a Stratasys Dimension SST 3D printer. ($8,000)

3D guns are not as powerful as real metal guns but they still could hurt and kill someone. Since 2013 there has been zero cases of a 3D printed gun harming or killing someone, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch out for them it just means that they should be handled in the future when they’re more of a threat.

With 3D printed guns arising more and more people are getting worried over something that isn’t that scary or big of a deal. When the death count starts rising due to 3D printed guns then we should start doing something about it. For now though we should continue to worry about the real problem, metal guns.