There is a lot of content out there about 3D-printed firearms, but you'd be limiting yourself dramatically if you only used them for that purpose.

Is a 3D printer a panacea? By no means. It's a piece of equipment.

But it is capable of a lot. Following, find a few examples of ways they could be used.

Shortages are just one reason.

Let's say that you work at a factory that needs a specific component to make an essential piece of equipment work. That component breaks, and because of trade embargoes with China (because they invade Taiwan), because of supply chain problems (because of strikes, gas prices, inflation, new geofence laws, etc.), and because of factory issues, nobody can get you that component anymore.

Or, at the least, that component now has a five-week waiting list, and you can't not have that piece of equipment for five weeks.