HP says it won’t let its 3D printers make ‘ghost guns’; experts dubious

HP Inc tells that it won’t allow people to use its 3D printers to make guns until they are a licensed firearms manufacturer and making guns that can be detected by airport security. But the company is unlikely to have a significant impact on the supply of homemade guns. This is because HP’s 3D printers are primarily for the commercial market. Printing experts say that determined people could probably find the way around HP’s restrictions. Gun safety advocates have been worried for years that people could use 3D printers to produce ghost guns that are untraceable and are not subject to legal restrictions over gun ownership. The printers could use plastic or other materials to produce guns that don’t set off metal detectors and other security.

HP is against ghost guns being produced on our 3D printers. HP has a new policy which prevents the printers from being used to make guns until the manufacturer is licensed & regulated, the firearms are traceable and they are detectable by security screeners. Though its headquarters are in Silicon Valley, the company has advanced 3D research in Corvallis & in Vancouver, Washington.

HP’s letter did not explain that how it would stop from using the printers to make guns & did not respond to an inquiry seeking details. Other companies have installed software to stop printers from making guns. But Yirmibesoglu told that it’s easy to get around by modifying a gun’s blueprint so that the printer does not recognize it as a weapon. Also, he said that restricting gun blueprints online may be the most effective way of limiting 3D gun production. Nobody can print those unless they are gun specialists.