Supporters of the bill say it's necessary to thwart convicted felons who use 3D printers to develop untraceable "ghost guns."
I understand the intent, but feel that there are so many other loopholes that put much worse weapons on the street than a printer. Besides, my prints can barely sustain normal use, much less a bullet being fired from them. I would think that this is more of a risk to the person holding the gun than who it's pointing at.
I mean, kind of, yes. CNCs have been one of the big items for export controls. Especially if they can be used to build weapons, parts for nuclear subs, etc.
Generally speaking, lathes and milling machines must be licensed for export if their accuracy exceeds six microns. Grinding machines are controlled at four microns. The Wassenaar Arrangement controls all machine tools capable of simultaneous, five-axis motion, regardless of machining accuracy.
In the US you don't need a license to purchase a CNC. Even items with export restrictions like night vision goggles (Under ITAR) can be bought by anyone and shipped to your door. The export controls would only come into effect upon you exporting them.
Given that human chromosomes are on the order of 5 to 10 microns, I am thinking this export regulation doesn't apply to the hobby market. This is "use the machine in a clean room" level precision.
Hehe, I just grabbed the number off wolfram alpha's size comparison. Wouldn't surprise me if they are wrong, not sure where they scrape the data from. Anyway, my point stands, six microns is still stupidly small. Some dust or hair on the cutting edge and your precision is now out the window.
It used to be. It was called selective availability, where the DoD could dial up/down the accuracy for commercial receivers. However, it was discontinued in 2000.