Tell The Vatican & Bishops We 're Printing Guns - 3-D Printing to Make Church Gun Policy Obsolete ?

I guess one can do that after you tell your mom.

One has to be living under a rock not to have heard the so called " National Discussion " on guns the United States is having. This is of course related in many ways to the worldwide discussion on guns and their role in intrastate, interstate, and international commerce.

In fact some folks used their contacts to bring the complex gun control issue into the Right to Life March against abortion this past weekend.

U.S. Catholic correctly in this piece Gun control: Church firmly, quietly opposes firearms for civilians note in various documents the Catholic Church gun policy at both the national and Vatican level.

As to the American Church this issue has been muted as of late. Even during this " National Discussion " the Bishops have been careful here. This is a heated topic among the American faithful. I also suspect that over the last 25 years the opinions of some Priests and perhaps even a few Bishops have like the general public perhaps shifted on this matter .

Regardless  Vatican, Catholic Bishops , Network, and various concerned Catholic Social Justice groups meet second year  Texas Law Cody " printable gun " Williams. He has just perhaps made the established gun control plan of action as obsolete as the steamboat.

As the founder of of 3DPrinter.net said in his post Gun Control? Here’s what the “printable gun” guy thinks about that "People like to say that 3D printing will change everything. This is part of everything."

I don't think this is on the Churches or other Catholics that advocate for very limited gun rights  radar at all.

The saying that if you outlaw guns only criminals will have guns becomes even more true. Heck go ahead and bring on a nationa handgunl gun . The gang down the street will just down load a gun design and in minutes here it comes out of the 3-D printer. In essence the key component to gun control policy that being the manufacturer is well out of the picture..

I guess one could say well we will just  outlaw folks from put down loadable gun designs on the Internet . Well as our fascinating law student Texas has correctly noted  GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

To get a sense of what the "new reality" is See Forbes article Gunsmiths 3D-Print High Capacity Ammo Clips To Thwart Proposed Gun Laws . Right now we are just talking plastic but 3 d printers using metals are not only here but we can expect a dramatic price decrease over the coming years.

Chicago boyz is correct to note in their post The 2nd Prohibitionists vs Reality – When Gun Control Politics Meets The Free Market that we are about be mugged by a " reality moment” . Furthermore they correctly notes  current gun control strategies with this technology might have quite the opposite effect than their advocates wish.

The U.S. Catholic article notes :

The Vatican's justice and peace council is working to update its 1994 document, "The International Arms Trade," to further emphasize the importance of enacting concrete controls on handguns and light weapons, he said.

If the updated Vatican document does not consider the reality of 3 D printing then for all practical purpose its already a relic.

Further the Vatican should perhaps think about how it wishes to use resources. If 3 D printers can have the average person produce a gun imagine what else it might produce. These things might be more worrisome than the average civilian owning a handgun. At some point we need to what the government should be really concerned about.

The Vatican and the Church in light of this technology should assess if they now should perhaps take a different route in gun control policy. That is restrictions that are very narrowly tailored to a certain problems and perhaps a new emphasis on responsible gun ownership.

That seems to be the possible new reality.