“Thank you for coming to see me today,” Harriet said. “I know you gentlemen have been busy, so I won’t keep you for long.”

“It’s no trouble,” Greg said, then yelped a little as Archie elbowed him in the ribs. “Okay, maybe it’s a little trouble. Been damned awkward here lately.”

Harriet sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. They were in her office, the doors were closed, and the blinds were down. She decided to take a risk and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of one of her desk drawers. Three even pours went into three miniature Dixie cups. 

“Believe it or not, that’s not exactly why I wanted to see you guys,” she said. “But for the record, Loretta is still beating herself up over that. I don’t know whether or not to thank you for driving her into my arms or berate you for being so hard on her. How about we split the difference at taking a shot?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Archie said. “Sláinte.”

The three tossed back the alcohol with the practiced ease of professional alcoholics. Thanks to the Project’s medical technology, the long-term health effects of both drinking and smoking were, at best, a minor inconvenience. One of the perks of having a lame duck loop, Harriet supposed. 

“Truth be told, I wanted to ask you about your 3D printing project. Some of the other researchers have expressed some concern,” Harriet said. “Now, for the record, I don’t want to tell you how to do your jobs, and ordinarily, your business would be none of mine. But, since I’m seen as something of a bridge between the mostly progressive-liberal science team and the anarchists in the basement, I’ve been asked to do a little fact-finding. To that end, this conversation will be recorded, if that’s alright with you.”

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Archie said. 

“Excellent,” Harriet said, pressing the record button on the old-fashioned tape recorder on her desk.

“Is the nature of their inquiry legal, moral, or ethical?” Greg asked. 

“Yes.”

“Let’s start with the easy one,” Archie said. “We are in compliance with all state and federal regulations, such as they apply to our work. There are some relevant patents that might prove troublesome if I were to try to sell my printers commercially, but they’ll expire in a few years. As for the 3D-printed guns, there won’t be any real attempt to legislate them for another two decades. The only real legislation that applies is the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, which, aside from being based on bad science, isn’t really a concern. Everything I make complies with their detection standards.”

“That more or less matches my assumptions,” Harriet said. “You wouldn’t have been able to operate as effectively as you did for as long as you did if you didn’t know the exact limits of the law.”

“I actually have a law degree,” Archie said. “Or rather, had. I guess it doesn’t technically apply to this timeline. But yes, I know how to operate within the bounds of the law, where the gray areas are, and how to avoid upsetting the ATF.”

“Would you mind elaborating on the topic of gray areas?” Harriet asked. 

“Not at all,” Archie said. “In the US, we operate under the principle that everything is legal until it isn’t. In much of the world, it’s common practice to look to the government for permission before trying something new, but that’s not how we roll. In theory, at least, our government is supposed to tailor restrictions as narrowly as possible, and only to protect its citizens or interests from harm. In practice, politicians are bought and paid for by special interests, and the Constitution is broadly ignored, both in letter and spirit. But on the flip side, everything is still more or less legal until it isn’t. I can anticipate that certain things will annoy lawmakers and regulators if they were to ever find out, but until an actual rule comes down, there’s fuck all they can do about it but whinge.”

“How does that affect your work with the Project?”

“It doesn’t, mostly. Thanks to the resources made available to me, particularly around the area of licensing, I don’t have to muck about with gray areas to give Greg and his boys what they need. I can manufacture fully automatic weapons, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors, or anything else that would fall under the ATF’s purview. Frankly,” Archie said, “it’s a pain in the ass, but it’s easier to mind my Ps and Qs than play fast and loose with the rules.”

“Do you agree with his assessment, Greg?”

“Broadly speaking, I do,” Greg said. “Archie and I have some philosophical points of disagreement on what the Federals should and shouldn’t be able to do, but that don’t affect our work all that much. He’s absolutely right that it’s easier to walk the straight and narrow, at least for the time being. I, however, reserve the right to go off the reservation should our enemies attempt to use Uncle Sam as a tool against us.”

“That’s a conversation I’d rather hold off on for now,” Harriet said, wincing. “For what it’s worth, the regulatory environment offered by the United States is precisely why we chose to operate here, rather than, say, Europe, or China, despite their attempts to court us in the past. If they become hostile to our endeavors, well, we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”

“Fair enough,” Greg said. 

“Now, onto the matter of your 3D-printed weapons. Could you explain a little more about that?”

“From a legal perspective, there’s no functional difference between additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing, at least on our scale,” Archie began. “The United States has a rich history of homemade firearms that predates the foundation of the country, and with the exception of regulated classes of weapons, such as machineguns or SBRs, there’s no difference in the regulatory burden required, so long as you’re not manufacturing for commercial sale. From a technical perspective, I’m trying to replicate the better part of 30 years of work from multiple different companies and thousands of hobbyists, tinkerers, and inventors. I have certain advantages in that regard, but I’m still playing catch up, and I’d wager that I’m at least a year away from being able to produce a firearm that I’d consider viable as anything more than a curiosity.”

“But that begs the question: if you can make one the old-fashioned way, why bother printing?” Harriet asked. “After the murders, most of the researchers accept that armed security is necessary for their safety, but the idea of 3D-printed firearms is scary. Speaking for myself, the idea of a gun that just anyone can make with a machine that’s completely unregulated makes me uneasy.”