National chatter about 3D-printed “ghost guns” has heated up again as one was apparently used in the ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Wyomingites, however, remain unimpressed and unconcerned with the plastic weapons.
“Will it fire? Yes. Will it fire numerous times accurately and reliably? 3D printed guns frequently don’t do that,” firearms enthusiast Nic George of Sheridan told Cowboy State Daily.
Leo Perez, manager of Dave’s Guns in Laramie, told Cowboy State Daily that his shop has never bought or sold 3D printed guns because of their poor quality and shady legal status.
“We decided that’s not something we wanted to get involved with,” he said.
Murder Shocks The Nation
Brown was shot three times and killed in New York City on Dec. 4. Video of the incident shows a man ambushing Brown from behind.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is suspected of being the attacker in the video. He was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania and is being held without bail.
Authorities reported that they’d seized the gun Mangione is suspected of using in the slaying.
Both the 9 mm pistol and suppressor (silencer) it was equipped with might have been made with a 3D printer, according to law enforcement.
That’s reignited the national debate over 3D printed weapons, as well as “ghost guns” in general, or firearms that don’t have registered serial numbers.
It’s legal in the U.S. for people to build their own firearms for personal use. And up until two years ago, it was legal to do so without a background check and regardless of the age of the person making the gun.
After reported surges in crimes committed with ghost guns and homemade firearms, the Biden administration moved to apply some regulations to them in 2022. That includes an age limit of 21 to make or possess the firearms and also requiring background checks.
Perez said that even before more restrictions were placed 3D printed guns, his store didn’t want to mess with them. Since the regulations have been added, the legal status of such guns seems even shakier.
Simply put, it’s not worth risking the loss of the store’s federal firearms dealer license to buy, sell or trade guns made by 3D printers or from do-it-yourself kits, he said.
80% Kits
Kits that allow people to assemble their firearms at home are legal, George said.
The overarching rule is that the kit must be 80% manufactured parts, meaning the builder may legally do only 20% of the work of assembling it into a functioning firearm.
“Glock 80” kits remain popular in some circles, George said. In some cases, “all you have to do is drill four holes” in the polymer parts of the firearm to finish assembling it.
Like many modern pistols, Glocks have frames that are largely polymer — a lightweight, durable plastic. But key functioning parts, such as the gun’s barrel and slide, are metal.
3D printed guns are usually made entirely from polymer, which means that their quality, durability and reliability can be terrible, George said.
Shooting them also can be a gamble, he added.
“You might shoot it one time, and it might blow up. You might shoot it 10 times and it will work flawlessly,” George said.
You Can’t Use Our Printers For That
State-of-the-art 3D printers are available for public use at the AREA 59 Gillette College Center for Innovation & Fabrication in Gillette.
But that doesn’t mean anybody can just walk in off the street and start making whatever they want, including a gun, center director Ellen Peterson told Cowboy State Daily.
A 3D printed gun “is not something that we would allow,” she said.
People can submit designs for things they want made, but only the center’s staff is allowed to operate the printers, she said.
Approved designs have included car parts, board game pieces and bobble-head dolls, Peterson said.
Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led into the Blair County Courthouse for an extradition hearing Dec. 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen, Getty Images) 
3D printed “ghost guns” are back in the news, as one might have been used in the ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO. Wyomingites say plastic 3D printed guns aren’t worth the trouble. (NYPD)
Goes ‘Pew’ But Doesn’t Cycle
The video of the Thompson’s murder shows the killer having to cycle the gun’s slide manually after each shot.
In other words, as a semiautomatic pistol, it didn’t function properly by cycling the slide on its own to load the next round into the firing chamber.
George said that could have been for any number of reasons, including that it might have been a poor-quality 3D printed gun, he said.
The weight of the suppressor mounted on the muzzle might have also kept it from cycling properly.
Or, the killer might have been using “subsonic” ammunition which, when coupled with a suppressor, can make a firearm about as quiet as possible, he said.
Most ammunition fires bullets at supersonic velocities, so part of the noise a gun makes when it’s fired is the crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier.
Subsonic ammunition uses a reduced powder charge to slow the bullet down to less than the speed of sound.
That’s enough to send the bullet out the muzzle, but it might not create enough force to fully cycle the pistol’s action, George said.
“The gun goes ‘pew’, but it doesn’t cycle,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
