Summary

Americans are posting videos about 3D-printed guns on the Chinese video app RedNote, despite the content being illegal in China.

While some users are uncomfortable with the topic, others see it as an opportunity for cultural exchange.

The future of TikTok remains uncertain as the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the ban.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    As much as I hate people going to an even more security disaster of an app, the amount of “fuck you” energy I’ve been seeing from everyone that’s moved over there is so god damn funny.

    • Sabata@ani.social
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      30 days ago

      If it keeps going maybe they will start roaching out of Facebook and Twitter too. The network effect works both ways.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        30 days ago

        Oh for anyone not actually on Tiktok, there is a huge movement to delete their FB and other Meta accounts on Sunday… we will see how huge it really ends up being.

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          30 days ago

          It will be relatively small, but every person who does it is a win regardless.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      I have been told that China pushes NO PROPAGNADA on RedNote because they have a NO POLITICS policy.

      And the person who told me that did not see the issue.

    • Breezy@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Now do &%$!@$+×# &%;%$.

      Second time I’ve seen this in a day. Wow what are you guys talking about?

    • Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      30 days ago

      Idk why you americans think that you have soo muuuch freedom, lol. You can talk about Tiananmen square, sure, and that somehow suffice to make y’all think you live in an utopian country with unlimited freedom, lol

      • BetaBlake@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Not sure who is saying any of that, seems like you’re jumping to conclusions that no one has said

        Also as a southern American I’d appreciate it if you stopped saying y’all, it’s cultural appropriation

        • GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social
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          30 days ago

          I’m with you in the first half, but complaining about using the word y’all and calling it cultural appropriation is a strange take to me. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe in cultural appropriation (in the general sense of the term). Culture that’s shared is strengthened and grows. Rome became the strongest civilization in history on the basis of incorporating foreign people into their society (against their will most often) and through long distance trading. I’m less educated on dynasties in the far east and how they functioned because there’s far less documentation of their history, but that kinda proves my point.

          This seems like a super long response to just a throwaway comment, but I’ve been really thinking lately about what it means to be human and I think I’ve narrowed it down to one word. Sharing. Sharing information, culture, land, resources, experience, fortune, pain, ideas…etc. So maybe I helped convince you to share aspects of your culture or not, but I at least wanted to try.

        • Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          30 days ago

          Idk, that was just the vibe i was feeling. And since when “y’all” is cultural appropriation? Or are you ironic? I’m not sure

            • Mrfiddles@feddit.nl
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              28 days ago

              Even if they are legitimately pissed-- ignore them. Fusing the singular and plural second person pronouns was a mistake and “y’all” has come to deliver us from misery and confusion.

      • yeather@lemmy.ca
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        29 days ago

        It may not be a utopian country with unlimited freedom, but at the end of the day we are still more free than China with the insane focus on our policies and problems.

  • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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    1 month ago

    americans and bringing guns places they absolutely shouldn’t be, name a better duo

  • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    China mods:

    I was not ready for this flavor of shitposting

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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    30 days ago

    3D printed guns are a meme. Most of them require parts of functional guns such as the barrels, And they require regular ammunition.

    • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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      30 days ago

      Electro chemical machining can make a barrel.

      But, idk how any of what you said makes them a “meme”. You can buy a barrel online for cheap, also ammo, and I don’t have to go through a government check. That’s what a lot of these people want to avoid.

      • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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        30 days ago

        In most countries, the barrel or other pressures bearing parts are the regulated piece. We are the weird ones for regulating receivers instead.

        • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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          30 days ago

          Well, the article references Americans, I’m American, so okay?

          Europeans can also get guns mailed to their front door, are we just comparing gun laws?

          • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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            30 days ago

            Europeans can also get guns mailed to their front door, are we just comparing gun laws?

            I mean, there’s a lot of context surrounding licensing and pre-approval to get that mail order heater in Europe. Local laws vary, yadda yadda

            And if you collect old guns and have a C&R license, you too can get guns delivered to your door in America.

            • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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              30 days ago

              In the UK you can also purchase a pistol with bitcoin on the dark web and have it delivered to a train station locker, but that is not legal at all.

            • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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              30 days ago

              Oh yeah, 1000%. Also, with a C&R license, you’re not legally purchasing a “firearm”. It’s a curio or relic, but yeah, point still stands.

              Also, none of that has anything to do with the discussion at hand, which was sorta my point.

              • nerdyshades@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                I have my 03-FFL, and “Curio & Relic” is a classification that firearms can fall into, defined as firearms manufactured 50-years or more ago. Legally, by definition, you are still purchasing a firearm. You’ve just had more background checks to bypass some of the rules in most states about transfers, if the firearm you are buying qualifies as a “Curio & Relic”.

          • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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            30 days ago

            It mentions sending videos about them to China. Where most of those videos are useless because the parts and ammo are not sold there.

              • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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                30 days ago

                Okay so a lot of work to create the barrel, but the gun still takes 9mm ammunition. And if someone in China can get their hands on ammo they can get their hands on a gun.

                • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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                  30 days ago

                  Okay? I don’t know what you’re arguing here? 3D printed guns aren’t a meme. Some don’t require any regulated parts. I don’t care if the average Chinese person can or will get their hands on one. You can just say you didn’t know what you were talking about when you said 3d printed guns are a “meme”. It’s not that deep

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        29 days ago

        Electro chemical machining can make a barrel.

        Yes, but that’s not 3d printing any more.

        It’s a separate process requiring separate tools, materials and skills.

        • Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world
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          28 days ago

          But you can make anything with that additional process. SO it’s going to be difficult for a government to lock down those additional processes.

          • mycelium underground@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            I can make barrels and stuff like that on a milling machine and a lathe. Not just shitty parts but better than most big manufacturers put out. Government can’t control manufacturing.

            Still not 3d printing.

            edit: Typo

      • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Barrels require rifling. It is fairly difficult to manually create the groove as it requires a lot of tooling. Not impossible. But not something people will do to create a single gun. Only the barrel would be more work than assembling the rest of the gun.

        Purchased ammo and other parts are specific to the US. 3D printed guns give people the illusion that they can make the entire gun using a 3d printer and off the shelf consumer parts. But most 3d printed guns are made by buying all the required metal parts for guns and printing out the exterior.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      The part you can easily print, however, is the receiver.

      The receiver is the part that’s legally a firearm. While I think it’s neat I can customize my firearms, I do acknowledge that someone who is prohibited from owning a gun can very easily print a receiver and order the rest of the parts from Palmetto State Armory to get a perfectly-functional firearm without any background check being performed.

      I also don’t know the solution to the problem though. As 3D printing, desktop CNC, and other forms of DIY manufacturing improve in quality and decrease in price, it will be very hard to regulate home-brew weapons.

    • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮 🏆@yiffit.net
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      30 days ago

      You could print an entire functional gun if you only intend for it to be fired successfully once. And no shit they require ammo. Ammo is easier to source than filament for the 3D printer. I can’t walk into a Walmart and buy printer filament; but I can get ammo.

    • lorty@lemmy.ml
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      30 days ago

      Which you can get without the same screening process for buying an actual gun.

    • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Home made guns are legal (for the most part) as long as you are making them for yourself.

      Until very recently, making a decent gun took a lot of skill, and was pretty dangerous if something wasn’t done correctly.

      Part of the issue with gun laws is that gun parts, by themselves, are fairly unregulated. You can buy a gun barrel off the Internet with zero paperwork. You can buy optics, grips, springs, pins, etc without any regulations.

      So you can print a gun frame, then buy everything else online, and it’s all perfectly legal… In most states… If you don’t resell, or do anything illegal with it.

      The main catch is, if you can legally buy a gun, you can legally make that same gun.

      If that gun would be illegal to buy, it’s also illegal to make (full auto, suppressed, high capacity, etc.) but the biggest problem is, with the rise of CNC machines, and high quality 3d printing, how would anyone know?

      • 5in1k@lemm.ee
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        30 days ago

        I used to lurk in s homemade gun forum back in the 00’s. My favorite was the yooper assault rifle made out of 2x4’s and hydraulic tubing with a grease nipple primer holder.

      • kate@lemmy.uhhoh.com
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        30 days ago

        Yes, that’s my concern too. I’m in the UK and I have friends with 3D printers. Of course I know they wouldn’t 3D print a gun, but I’d also never know if they did and it’s a much bigger issue here

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Until very recently, making a decent gun took a lot of skill, and was pretty dangerous if something wasn’t done correctly.

        We haven’t seen a lot of 3D printed gun usage yet, but I would bet that they aren’t exactly safe to use themselves. We’re talking about things that are generally made with milling to a much greater precision than your standard 3D printer is capable and which contain something explosive.

        It might work for its intended use or it might blow up in your hand. The old fashioned ‘Saturday Night Specials’ that people would make in their garages had that issue.

        (Also, I’d be really careful where you downloaded the plans from, because unless you know the source, it might be designed to blow up in your hand.)

        • Hathaway@lemmy.zip
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          30 days ago

          We have seen a lot of 3D gun usage. Not sure why you think we haven’t or what scale constitutes “a lot”. But, yeah. They’re out there. I have one, and they’re only improving. Here’s an entire PDW.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            30 days ago

            Well for one thing, as far as I know, we have no way to collect statistics on them right now because they aren’t being used very much. They learned the dangers of the old Saturday Night Special thing because they kept being used in crimes.

            Not that I’m suggesting these should be used in crimes.

            • PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              30 days ago

              The FGC-9 is being used a lot though? Myanmar’s rebels have been using them for at least three years.

              Granted that most of that use is broad use, as opposed to long use. As is customary for insurgents in seeking more robust weapons.

              Beyond that, it’s really hard to collect statistics on safety of even one particular model of 3D printed gun thanks to the inherent variations between builds: different filament plastics will yield differently, as will different layer orientations.