Colegrove believes that 3D printers have passed the "disillusionment" phase that comes when a new technologyfails to match the hype of inflated expectations.
Possibilities include directing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to prod states to submit more records, upgrading technology to automatically notify law enforcement when someone fails a background check and improving incentives for states to submit records.
The Context Reflux experiment highlights one of the most important questions in IT security: what technology do we trust and what happens when it fails (or is manipulated)?
Gartner, an information-technology research-and-advisory firm, has coined the term hype cycle to describe exactly this sort of phenomenon: a new technology is introduced with enthusiasm, only to be followed by an emotional low when it fails to immediately deliver on its promise.