What is the cost of freedom? Is it safety? What is our moral duty in the face of increasing technological abuse? These are questions and challenges we the people must answer when it comes to the relatively new but dangerous reality of ghost guns.

Ghost guns are guns without serial numbers, and because of new technology they can be 3D printed from low-cost materials like plastic. These weapons are untraceable, however the real danger is how easily they can be assembled, because of open source blueprints making it easier to be able to assemble 3D-printable guns.

While these weapons are currently not very accessible due to cost of 3D printing it does not mean they are not accessible through other means, such as libraries. Coincidentally, NC State has a 3D printer in the makerspace in both D.H. Hill and Hunt Libraries, although they have policies in place to prevent weapons being printed on campus.

NC State is home to many resources for inventive minds such as the Makerspaces in both campus libraries which students can use to turn their ideas into life. The brilliant minds here on this campus have many tools; these can be used to make technological progress. However, the value of this progress needs to be observed from a moral standpoint, specifically how much social good an idea or technology actually produces.

Cody Wilson, a crypto-anarchist, who believes access to a firearm is a human right, is the center of the 3D-printed gun movement. In 2013 he invented the first working 3D-printed gun and through his nonprofit organization Defense Distributed wanted to share his blueprints through open source files that can freely be downloaded into 3D printers to produce weapons.

This attempt to distribute these blueprints was blocked by the Obama administration, which leveraged International Trade in Arms Regulations — specifically export laws — to block Wilson’s attempts to distribute his blueprints. He ended up having to shut down his website facing fines and jail time. Wilson decided to sue the government, but the case did not favor him. It seemed like an open-and-shut case in favor of the government.

So all’s well that ends well right? Well no, because America has had a change in administration and the Trump administration, with its gun-friendly policies, decided to settle with Wilson, including paying his legal fees and giving him the green light to distribute his blueprints.

Aug. 1 was the date set to be the start of this 3D printing revolution, however a Seattle judge blocked the plan for the blueprints to be posted online with a follow-up hearing on Aug. 10. Wilson has stated he will not upload any new blueprints until September while going through the legal processes.

This leaves the movement towards 3D-printed weapons stalled. However, the reality of 3D-printed ghost guns is not a question of if, but when. Already it is perfectly legal to home-manufacture firearms, and there are numerous guides on the internet for doing so. There is no stopping technological progress; however, we as human beings must ask: Are we ready for such technological progress? Are we ready for the natural challenges that come with progress? Is our moral fiber strong enough to stand the current of change?

I would currently say no. America, and really the world at large, still perpetuates and is plagued by many issues of morality — racism, sexism, classism, just to name a few. I am daunted with imagining a reality where anyone, no matter their mental fitness or morality, has access to a firearm. I cannot help but think about how Charlottesville would look in this new reality. What would have happened if the neo-Nazis had access to this technology? How many lives would be lost under the justification of one man’s idea of progress?

Let’s take account of history. During the times of World War II, western nations developed many advanced technologies that shape the modern western world today. From telecommunications to transportation, the western nations were transformed by these new technologies, but there was also the abuse of technological power.

The most famous abuses were the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The technology of the world advanced, but our humanity did not. A quote by Albert Einstein captures this notion perfectly: “The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking … the solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker. (1945)”

The reason I bring all of this up is because NC State, as a place of higher education, prides itself on engineering, innovation and technology. I want the dutiful engineering students (or any other student) to start thinking about what type of impact they want to have, and I want them to start thinking what type of world they want to live in.

But more directly, I want them to start questioning the morality of their work. I want them to start asking whether it is just to create this invention? How will this invention affect society both negatively or positively? Progress for the sake of progress is a road that is empty and hollow.

Progress no matter what will march on, but are we as a people ready for it? New challenges are coming in the technological age and we must be ready for them or risk perpetuating a cycle of inequality and violence.