Summary

Americans are posting videos about 3D-printed guns on the Chinese video app RedNote, despite the content being illegal in China.

While some users are uncomfortable with the topic, others see it as an opportunity for cultural exchange.

The future of TikTok remains uncertain as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the ban.

  • yamper@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    look, this content isn’t getting censored! it must be because rednote is Good, not that it didn’t have the english speaking moderation resources

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    3D printed guns are a meme. Most of them require parts of functional guns such as the barrels, And they require regular ammunition.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      The part you can easily print, however, is the receiver.

      The receiver is the part that’s legally a firearm. While I think it’s neat I can customize my firearms, I do acknowledge that someone who is prohibited from owning a gun can very easily print a receiver and order the rest of the parts from Palmetto State Armory to get a perfectly-functional firearm without any background check being performed.

      I also don’t know the solution to the problem though. As 3D printing, desktop CNC, and other forms of DIY manufacturing improve in quality and decrease in price, it will be very hard to regulate home-brew weapons.

    • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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      11 hours ago

      Electro chemical machining can make a barrel.

      But, idk how any of what you said makes them a “meme”. You can buy a barrel online for cheap, also ammo, and I don’t have to go through a government check. That’s what a lot of these people want to avoid.

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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        11 hours ago

        In most countries, the barrel or other pressures bearing parts are the regulated piece. We are the weird ones for regulating receivers instead.

        • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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          11 hours ago

          Well, the article references Americans, I’m American, so okay?

          Europeans can also get guns mailed to their front door, are we just comparing gun laws?

          • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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            9 hours ago

            Europeans can also get guns mailed to their front door, are we just comparing gun laws?

            I mean, there’s a lot of context surrounding licensing and pre-approval to get that mail order heater in Europe. Local laws vary, yadda yadda

            And if you collect old guns and have a C&R license, you too can get guns delivered to your door in America.

            • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              In the UK you can also purchase a pistol with bitcoin on the dark web and have it delivered to a train station locker, but that is not legal at all.

            • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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              9 hours ago

              Oh yeah, 1000%. Also, with a C&R license, you’re not legally purchasing a “firearm”. It’s a curio or relic, but yeah, point still stands.

              Also, none of that has anything to do with the discussion at hand, which was sorta my point.

          • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            It mentions sending videos about them to China. Where most of those videos are useless because the parts and ammo are not sold there.

              • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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                10 hours ago

                Okay so a lot of work to create the barrel, but the gun still takes 9mm ammunition. And if someone in China can get their hands on ammo they can get their hands on a gun.

                • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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                  10 hours ago

                  Okay? I don’t know what you’re arguing here? 3D printed guns aren’t a meme. Some don’t require any regulated parts. I don’t care if the average Chinese person can or will get their hands on one. You can just say you didn’t know what you were talking about when you said 3d printed guns are a “meme”. It’s not that deep

      • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        Barrels require rifling. It is fairly difficult to manually create the groove as it requires a lot of tooling. Not impossible. But not something people will do to create a single gun. Only the barrel would be more work than assembling the rest of the gun.

        Purchased ammo and other parts are specific to the US. 3D printed guns give people the illusion that they can make the entire gun using a 3d printer and off the shelf consumer parts. But most 3d printed guns are made by buying all the required metal parts for guns and printing out the exterior.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️@yiffit.net
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      11 hours ago

      You could print an entire functional gun if you only intend for it to be fired successfully once. And no shit they require ammo. Ammo is easier to source than filament for the 3D printer. I can’t walk into a Walmart and buy printer filament; but I can get ammo.

    • lorty@lemmy.ml
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      11 hours ago

      Which you can get without the same screening process for buying an actual gun.

    • Breezy@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Now do &%$!@$+×# &%;%$.

      Second time I’ve seen this in a day. Wow what are you guys talking about?

    • Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      12 hours ago

      Idk why you americans think that you have soo muuuch freedom, lol. You can talk about Tiananmen square, sure, and that somehow suffice to make y’all think you live in an utopian country with unlimited freedom, lol

      • yeather@lemmy.ca
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        49 minutes ago

        It may not be a utopian country with unlimited freedom, but at the end of the day we are still more free than China with the insane focus on our policies and problems.

      • BetaBlake@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Not sure who is saying any of that, seems like you’re jumping to conclusions that no one has said

        Also as a southern American I’d appreciate it if you stopped saying y’all, it’s cultural appropriation

        • Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 hours ago

          Idk, that was just the vibe i was feeling. And since when “y’all” is cultural appropriation? Or are you ironic? I’m not sure

        • GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social
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          11 hours ago

          I’m with you in the first half, but complaining about using the word y’all and calling it cultural appropriation is a strange take to me. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe in cultural appropriation (in the general sense of the term). Culture that’s shared is strengthened and grows. Rome became the strongest civilization in history on the basis of incorporating foreign people into their society (against their will most often) and through long distance trading. I’m less educated on dynasties in the far east and how they functioned because there’s far less documentation of their history, but that kinda proves my point.

          This seems like a super long response to just a throwaway comment, but I’ve been really thinking lately about what it means to be human and I think I’ve narrowed it down to one word. Sharing. Sharing information, culture, land, resources, experience, fortune, pain, ideas…etc. So maybe I helped convince you to share aspects of your culture or not, but I at least wanted to try.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    As much as I hate people going to an even more security disaster of an app, the amount of “fuck you” energy I’ve been seeing from everyone that’s moved over there is so god damn funny.

    • Sabata@ani.social
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      11 hours ago

      If it keeps going maybe they will start roaching out of Facebook and Twitter too. The network effect works both ways.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Oh for anyone not actually on Tiktok, there is a huge movement to delete their FB and other Meta accounts on Sunday… we will see how huge it really ends up being.

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          6 hours ago

          It will be relatively small, but every person who does it is a win regardless.

  • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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    20 hours ago

    americans and bringing guns places they absolutely shouldn’t be, name a better duo

  • kateA
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    18 hours ago

    are 3D printed guns legal in the US?

    • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Home made guns are legal (for the most part) as long as you are making them for yourself.

      Until very recently, making a decent gun took a lot of skill, and was pretty dangerous if something wasn’t done correctly.

      Part of the issue with gun laws is that gun parts, by themselves, are fairly unregulated. You can buy a gun barrel off the Internet with zero paperwork. You can buy optics, grips, springs, pins, etc without any regulations.

      So you can print a gun frame, then buy everything else online, and it’s all perfectly legal… In most states… If you don’t resell, or do anything illegal with it.

      The main catch is, if you can legally buy a gun, you can legally make that same gun.

      If that gun would be illegal to buy, it’s also illegal to make (full auto, suppressed, high capacity, etc.) but the biggest problem is, with the rise of CNC machines, and high quality 3d printing, how would anyone know?

      • 5in1k@lemm.ee
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        12 hours ago

        I used to lurk in s homemade gun forum back in the 00’s. My favorite was the yooper assault rifle made out of 2x4’s and hydraulic tubing with a grease nipple primer holder.

      • kateA
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        13 hours ago

        Yes, that’s my concern too. I’m in the UK and I have friends with 3D printers. Of course I know they wouldn’t 3D print a gun, but I’d also never know if they did and it’s a much bigger issue here

      • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        3d printing guns is a gimmick. You have been able to buy 80% lowers for years and years, it requires as much effort as setting up and dialing in a 3d printer, and the end result is a real gun made of real steel that will last forever.

        • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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          11 hours ago

          It’s also more expensive. The use-case for 3d printed guns isn’t as an heirloom that you’re passing down. It’s either a niche hobby, a way of doing something illegal, or you’re running an insurgency(which I guess falls into the illegal territory lol) in which case, you don’t need something that’ll last forever, you need a tool for a job.

    • 5in1k@lemm.ee
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      12 hours ago

      For personal use, if you sell one you need to serialize and register it.

  • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Americans are posting videos about 3D-printed guns

    Cultural Exchange

    It’s always cute seeing yanks try and act like one of the big boy countries, talking about their “Culture”