Or does all of this angst over 3D printed guns remind anyone of the uproar over Napster and other P2P sharing networks. The industry eventually learned to adapt as there was no putting the genie back in the bottle; artists had the ability to receive direct compensation for their work instead of having to rely on record studios to get their product to the consumer. No more "Turtles" or "Record Bar"; but we don't deliver ice by wagon to households anymore either.

Many 2A detractors complain that gun manufacturers aren't principled defenders of the 2nd Amendment but are only in it for profit. 3D printed guns should satisfy them on that point, right?

made that have the ability to be fired using live rounds multiple times? So far the angst over the danger 3D gun proliferation seems to be more hysteria rather than about the facts.

Pretty soon the anti-RKBA folks will be wanting to ban rabbit's feet.

This will cut into their profits. Will they try to promote the idea that the Second Amendment applies only to store bought guns made by real American craftsmen?

Right now the only 3D guns are one off productions, there is yet any kind of capability for mass production of these things.

The only time gun manufacturers will have to worry is when the production costs go down, mass production becomes feasible and the reliability goes up.

Still, if they are savvy enough, they could offer official licensed patterns for download, along with a package for purchase of the few items that are still required to be manufactured by them (springs for one, I don't yet see how 3D printing can reliably create springs, but I may be wrong).

And it was a 1911 style .45 semiautomatic.

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World’s 2nd 3D Printed Metal Gun

Solid Concepts announces the successful creation of the world’s second 3D printed metal gun. Our second iteration is composed entirely of Inconel 625, a material that is stronger than Stainless Steel (and a bit heavier) save for the springs which were not 3D Printed. The gun is once again composed of thirty-four 3D Printed components. Our second gun will be stress relieved and post processing will be by hand once again.

Inconel 625 is a harder, stronger alloy than 17-4 Stainless Steel. We modified the geometry for this second iteration to incorporate different tolerances in order to make hand finishing sufficiently easier. With our first prototype, we had to hand sand to perfect a few tolerances, but our tweaks to the design should remove the need for such sanding. Our first gun is now up to 1,000+ rounds.
We’re thoroughly enjoying this research-development-improvement process for an internal project. The implications of its success for our customers’ future projects – from aerospace to medical – are very uplifting! Thanks to our followers for their support and enthusiasm, it has been quite the ride.

That stuff is pretty much the Holy Grail of firearm materials. It's basically a supermetal, used in turbine blades and bearings, nuclear reactors, race car engines and freakin' fusion reactors. It can withstand far higher temperatures than any steel; it would be a perfect barrel material if it weren't prohibitively difficult to machine. A 1911 made entirely out of it could be fired until the whole thing was glowing red and probably still function perfectly.

If these guys can do this on a production scale, I see some very lucrative military contracts for machine gun tubes in their future.