Newest piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Some realities to consider before passing more gun-control bills”

My newest piece in the Inquirer starts this way:

The new year has brought yet more gun-control regulations. President Obama announced new executive orders on background checks. Connecticut citizens stood in long lines to register their guns, and, next door in New York City, registration lists are used to confiscate them.

While the research by criminologists and economists keeps showing that gun control doesn't work, technological advances and practical problems mean the laws are increasingly likely only to disarm the law-abiding. 

In the era of 3D printing, you won't be able to ban guns and it will be even more difficult to stop unapproved people from obtaining them. A part metal/part plastic gun printed from a 3D printer will be completely indistinguishable from a traditionally made gun, even down to whatever serial number you want. 

3D printers have consequences for the gun-control laws Obama and other Democrats are pushing. If AR-15s are banned, anyone could borrow a 3D printer and make one. If magazines holding more than 10 rounds are banned, and you don't have access to a very simple set of tools, print one off. 

Can the government stop 3D-printed guns? Unfortunately, no. . . . .

The most important parts of the piece deals with Interpol Secretary General Ron Noble’s comments on stopping mass public shootings and that gun control disarms the law-abiding, not the criminals.