MUSCATINE--Every gun inside Big River Guns in Muscatine comes from a manufacturer and has a serial number.
But shop owner Scott Lucas says that wasn’t always the case.
“Before there was serialization and regulation there were a lot of manufactures that hopped up and made their own guns,” says Lucas.
Now, with the help of 3D printing, making your own gun, could once again gain popularity.
A Texas based company plans to release downloadable instructions to print a 3D gun, which would make it easy for people to make one in their own homes.
The plastic firearms will not have a serial number, which Lucas says would make them untraceable, which is why he has mixed feelings about the idea.
“I’m not objecting to it but there are a certain amount of people out there that should not have guns, and that’s the bad thing about not being able to track it,” says Lucas.
A federal judge temporarily stopped the release of blueprints for the 3D guns, which were supposed to be available online Wednesday, August 1st.
Attorneys General from 21 states including Iowa and Illinois worked to block those efforts, after claims of safety concerns.
Lucas says the danger lies in the person with the gns and not how the guns were made. He also says that blocking the new technology will not stop guns from getting in the hands of those who should not have them.
“More than likely for somebody who should not have a gun, there are other avenues that they might pursue to get a gun verses buying a two-thousand-dollar printer,” says Lucas
Experts say 3D guns normally last only a few rounds before falling apart, and they are usually not very accurate.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General says more than a thousand people already downloaded plans to print an AR-15 style semiautomatic assault rifle despite a court ban this summer.
