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You can trace back every regulation to its inception a corresponding precedent where someone was being a dick. Of course now comes along the sharing economy skirting many regulations, and of course there are dicks here who abuse the system (which would have been caught by the original regulations which were in effect before this 'sharing economy' disruption).

Systems can be abused through many mediums. If hobby CNC machining had gotten big like 3d printing earlier, certainly we would have seen exactly the same kind of rebuke as some in the 3d printing circles are receiving now. I think now it's particularly hard to come up with good answers. Regulating 3d printers seems difficult. After all, building one yourself from scratch isn't that hard (indeed, many do do this). So you don't know if and when the bad actors with intent to harm are making weapons. I'm an anti-gun person, so I think the answer is having no regulations of 3d printers, but coming down hard on people who misuse 3d printers in making very dangerous things.



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