A few years ago, people started realizing that 3D printers and small CNC mills were going to revolutionize not just general manufacturing, but firearms manufacturing in particular. How can the government regulate firearms, when you can simply print one – or a dozen – up in your own home?

Well, a way to throttle innovation has been implemented: fear.

FedEx And UPS Refuse to Ship a Digital Mill That Can Make Untraceable Guns

A small CNC mill, designed expressly to be able to mill out AR-15 receivers, is a perfectly legal device. It’s just a complex power tool. You don’t need to have any sort of license to own or operate such a thing. But FedEx and UPS have decided to chicken out on shipping them because they are afraid that they will be set upon by the government.

Couple this with the Obama administrations recent realization that while it cannot infringe on the freedom of the press it can ban ink, things are starting to look interesting in the world of organized gun-grabbing.