Throughout the history of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, there are only a couple of really interesting case studies in which we see a market significantly disrupted and revolutionized by AM. That is to say, AM tech has, in many areas, been a bit of a slow burn. But there are a few where it has completely upended a market. The use of vat photopolymerization technology in the hearing aid sector is well-known. The spinal implant market is a little bit less tumultuous a takeover, but it is also one worth mentioning. And now, today, we are witnessing yet another moment in AM history when the technology is taking off like wildfire, with little to stop its growth.
In the past two weeks, legal challenges to the existing National Firearms Act (NFA) — under which silencers are subject to significant additional regulatory hurdles and restrictions compared to actual firearms — have been ruled in ways that have opened the floodgates of demand for silencers even further in the U.S.