This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Been printing them, just need some good locations to place my boxes
Anywhere in public is great. If you're in a place where ICE is less active, you'll want to package the whistles with instructions to alert the local rapid response hotline.
I've seen whistles with the number for the local rapid response hotline printed right on them. Must have been one of those fancy multi-filament printers.
You can do it with any 3D printer, as long as you orient the letters so they're at the top of the print, you can insert a pause in the print job just before it starts the layers with the letters. Then you do a manual filament swap and resume the print.
Another option is to print a QR code on them with a link to instructions/the organization.
Misunderstood, didn’t realize you meant color
~~Heat stamping might be quickest alternative. Should be rugged and aid low-vision use.~~
~~Full brass letterpress type sets and die can be pricy, but the cheap leather iron kits at craft shops commonly include small metal alphanumeric types that could be set (clamped) and affixed to your stamp (burning/soldering iron or pliers + hot plate/stove).~~
lol, 3d printing enthusiasts try to solve everything with 3d printing.
source: I have 3 3d printers
Printing isn't enough, but it's a piece of what needs to happen.
I also love the part when people are glittering ICE. Whistling and Glitter those bastards.
Has anyone heard of “3D GUN’T” software that’s apparently being put into new 3d printers? It can apparently block prints based off the shape or whatever to prevent the printing of gun parts, and keeps tabs on who printed exactly what. It’s basically DRM for 3d printers. Also laws in certain states demanding printers be legally required to start blocking gun parts. It may be the beginning of something worse as it adds the infrastructure needed to further block “bad shapes” down the road.
https://3dprint.com/314218/daring-am-software-advances-aim-to-curb-illegal-3d-printing-of-firearms/ https://printandgo.tech/blog/3d-gunt-solution-to-prevent-3d-printed-ghost-guns
If I understand correctly, this affects 3d printers that can read STL. What if someone, hypothetically, uses an open source slicer, like Orca, and print from gcode?
Good luck adding drm to a microwave to prevent it from microwaving "fish and fish adjacent shapes". 3d printers consist of a couple of motors and a hot bit. No computer in there, unless you go for the high end stuff and even then they can't run that sort of software. MCUs are clocked in MHz, but even a 10 year old computer is clocked in GHz. Even with a cloud connections, how much money have companies poured into "AI" only to have it still get things wrong? Do lawmakers expect a podunk garage team to figure out what Google, Meta, Apple, and literal billions of R&D haven't?
Since this is effectively a ban, it would result in "healthcare CEO shot by wooden ghost gun" if gun kits are still sold, because 3d printers don't print guns. They print the "lower" that has the serial number, which is legally, but not practically, defined to be the "gun". Any gun that doesn't have a serial is a ghost gun, but the point is moot.
More realistically, it would result in: "healthcare CEO shot by a 2026 special edition 9mm VEHHFU746582 on sale for 1984$, get it before it is banned" because for some reason the legislature is running on rich people feelings, and this shooting is special because of the gun, and not because of EVERYTHING ELSE.
Not super into guns but I'm a bit frustrated with the technical ineptitude of some of these lawmakers. Gun control existed before 3d printers did, this is just half assed. Feel free to correct me if I missed something.
What happened is that the skill requied to manufacture a lower receiver out of metal dropped quite sharply, enabling a large number of people to make weapons without serial numbers
If nothing else I feel like more people would be killed with Shinzo Abe guns and similar hardware store contraptions
IIRC that's only potentially going to be a law in Washington state (for now). It's not really enforceable. It's a law made by people who don't know what they're talking about. My printers and my slicers are blocked from communicating outside my local network. Once shape-blocking firmware gets pushed people will just revert back to the previous firmware version.
Whatever people in power try to stir up about this, it's literally impossible to legislate and block shapes from being 3D-printed. Any attempts to do so are a fool's errand, and/or just being used to justify misguided (and doomed) attempts to lock down 3DP technology for other reasons (read DRM/copyright forces in big business.) Blocking parts that might be for a gun from being printed simply cannot be done.
https://michaelweinberg.org/blog/2026/02/04/3d-printer-gun-screen/
They are armed. You should be too. And wear protective gear. They've permanently blinded people on purpose. They've already executed people in the street. Notice they aren't near anyplace where bpp is active.
An alarm won't stop a break in, and a whistle won't stop these goons from harming you.
a whistle won't stop these goons from harming you.
No it will not, but it will alert everyone around you to ICEs presence so they can have an opportunity to be somewhat prepared.
You'll at least give your neighbours a chance to put some pants on, hide, barricade, or even arm themselves; before ICE tries to kick in their door.
It also calls others to your aid; quickly forming mob that out numbers ICE, forcing them to focus on crowd control instead of targeted kidnapping.
And when lots of people are around, you have lots of cameras. Imagine how different things would be if we didn't have video from Minnesota.
Intentional deescalation does more right now than having the people closest to ICE or Border Patrol agents carrying weapons.
The standard for now is that responders with guns stay back to deter massacres.
You both make good points, but prevention is better than de-escalation or alerting. Being known as protected is a preventative measure.
Of course alarms/monitoring and response (de-escalation) are very important. But stopping it before it starts should get attention as well.
Not everyone can afford big guns and heavy armor; nor have the training/licensing required to cary/display them.
3D printed whistles are a cheap and easy aid. Every bit of resistance helps.
nor have the training/licensing required to cary/display them.
Exactly.
Recommending that random untrained people go around armed is a recipe for disaster (see: ICE's random untrained people going around armed). It's irresponsible, at best.
I read these people as if they're calling for violence but trying to skirt the line in a way that doesn't get them banned.
Really cool article and movement, thanks for sharing it. I’ve been printing whistles and leaving them in my little free library but had no idea there was this nation wide movement going on.
Thanks for sharing this. This bolstered my spirit.
I liked the bit where it discusses how, regardless of the effectiveness of whistles in deterring ICE, they have proven to be helpful in regular people feeling less alone.
We always have to remember: There are a LOT more of us than them. These whistles help us remember that.
i mean, if we're printing whistles why ain't we printing death whistles
They take forever to print and use a lot of filament.
They're printing liberty ships, not cruise ships.
