3D
Printing
3 D Printin
“Laws need to keep up
Reginald Leathers.
with
technology”
By: Nicole White
A Ticking Time bomb
public. The most affordable 3D printers have
a price range of $900 -$10,000.
Imagine yourself sitting in your living room
on your sofa watching television while your
11 and 12 year old children are in their
rooms making swords, knives, guns, and an
unlimited supply of bullets. This sounds like
a nightmare to some. Others may not be
phased by this scenario at all because they
think that it is impossible for children to
manufacture weapons. However, this person
would be wrong.
Consumers can literally make “anything they
can imagine” with these printers according to
Reginald Leathers, a professor and expert in
3D technology.
3D printers are neat but it doesn’t take a
rocket scientist to figure out that some
regulation of this technology is needed.
Laws need to keep up with technology.
Chuck Hull patented 3D printers in March
11, 1986. Since then these printers are
becoming smaller, cheaper, and more precise
thus making them more accessible to the
There should be no way a mentally unstable
person, criminal, or child should have the
capability to whip up grenades and guns in
their garages. Lawmakers need the ability to
quickly enact laws that would protect the
public from this technology.
The benefits of 3D technology isn’t just
limited to humans.
Animals are also
benefiting from this groundbreaking wonder.
Ducks that were missing beaks can have them
easily
fabricated
by
veterinarians.
Wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs are giving
animals a chance to walk and run pain free.
It is unfortunate that instead of using 3D
technology for one of its many goods some
people would rather use it to destroy others
and wreak havoc on the world.
3D technology, like any other technology,
must be regulated. Just because someone
thinks of a gun and prints it should not give
them the right to own and use it.
I guess we as a people must just accept the
bitter with the sweet.
3DPinting
Thankfully everyone isn’t planning to take
over the world by amassing an arsenal of 3D
weapons. The Medical and Dental fields have
been forever changed by this new technology.
Prosthetic limbs, organs, and even tissue can
be fabricated using 3D printers. Surgeries that
use to take hours literally now can only
minutes. Also, people who could never afford
prosthetic devices now have affordable
customizable options.