People are weird. In my area, saying you run Linux because you hate ad tracking and don’t have a Facebook account makes people think you’re a child molester.
And the 3D printing thing is crazy. I’ve had 3D printers for well over a decade because I started out building my own before you could buy them, printed thousands of parts of varying degrees of toughness, but I would be damned if I would ever shoot a gun I printed off of one. I haven’t heard a word about banning lathes and mills though.
I just ignore the drone thing, our nearest neighbor is 2 miles away so I do what I want. I built a crop scouting drone that goes for a tour every morning and flies a 7 mile route unmonitored. Never heard a word about it from the neighbors.
It’s so weird how a lot of society went from “WOAH, government can’t use these things to track me, I have a right to privacy!” to “WOAH, you try not to be tracked by every single company on the planet and 16 major governments? What are you some kinda criminal?”
I can tell you from experience you can use a garage worth of basic tools to make a gun, but not one that will be “print, assemble, fire” without extra parts.
I’d say about 4/10 times I go flying my 240g drone in the local park someone comes over to tell me I’m breaking the law. Weirdly they can never name a specific one, and it’s always just “the law says you cant use that here”. Never had cops called yet. Mostly people want to ask me how much it was and how I like it. A few have asked if I’ve tried dropping “something the size of a baseball” from it.
I have a buddy who works in a bank, says a ton of ag loans these days are for drones and renewable energy equipment. Even the owner of the field I live next to has one. I think it lives in his shed, it has 8 rotors. Looks like it could lift a skinny short person. I have exactly 0 concerns they will use it to spy on me or drop explosives on my house.
I’d love to have a drone with thermal/night vision. We get a lot of animals around here and I’d like to be able to see them (and figure out what they all are) without spooking them.
The lathe & knee mill thing is being nibbled away under the ‘ghost gun’ fears - yes 80% is a weird line in the sand but we have to define it somewhere between “non-descript block of metal” to “legally now a gun”. Not sure how that’s going to survive legal test, the law there needs a refresh tbh
I’m really more surprised to see 3D printing not being targeted/trolled by copyright and IP lawyers. There was some limited activity with Games Workshop and people scanning wargaming miniatures to cheaply 3D print instead of paying (exorbitant) retail prices, but hasn’t gone far beyond banning non-official minions at official events
