> eople sitting in refugee camps on the edge of hotzones won't have have difficulty getting access to them.
I am sorry but really - people in a refugee camp, with no sanitation, insufficient food and clean water, and yet working 3D printers with plentiful supplies of plastic dust?
3d printing of guns is a "first world problem" and will remain so forever. By the time a refugee camp has turned into a place that worries about 3d printing of anything, it has become a suburban utopia and the soccer mums can deal with the 3d printing labs.
Interestingly enough, Peter Hamilton, in "Great North Road", envisions and interesting future in which they had an expedition, which for the most part relied on their 3D Printers and base printing material. Tents, Vehicle Repairs, components - they just kept churning them out.
So, while I agree that 3D Printing of guns is likely, for the near future to be a "First world problem" - I don't think I would make that prediction 30 years out, and certainly would never be so bold to say "Forever". I can certainly see a future in which Refugee Camps don't have Water, Food, or Sanitation, but do have a broad array of 3D Printers and base printing material.
I am sorry but really - people in a refugee camp, with no sanitation, insufficient food and clean water, and yet working 3D printers with plentiful supplies of plastic dust?
Refugee camps are by defintion, walkable from the worlds worst trouble spots, Access to weapons in the worlds worst trouble spots is not hard (http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-43343/police-recover-...).
3d printing of guns is a "first world problem" and will remain so forever. By the time a refugee camp has turned into a place that worries about 3d printing of anything, it has become a suburban utopia and the soccer mums can deal with the 3d printing labs.