Live Free or Die

Security in a World of Decentralized Arms Manufacturing

Résumé

This paper looks at the complicated legal histories behind 3D printing firearms and the effects that these open-source weapons have had due to their applications in far-right terrorism as well as being used by guerillas in the civil war in Myanmar. The legality of these weapons is complicated and varies case to case. The decentralization of the organizations that make blueprints is a means to circumvent gun control laws that bar manufacturing or ownership of guns, but also as a means to increase the share of expert knowledge to create more sophisticated technology. A few main groups have taken up so-called ghost guns for their cause; far-right terrorists and anti-junta rebels in Myanmar. This paper compares these groups using a lens of critical security studies to argue that despite the dangers of the democratization of arms production, 3D printed firearms represent a means for oppressed groups to level the playing field against the state and gain emancipation through their own means. While there are inherent dangers in allowing anyone to print a firearm, that this paper will discuss, the technology can also be liberatory for oppressed peoples facing violent oppression.