Printed ones are great - I'd never say not to. But cheap whistles bought in bulk are way less expensive.
this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2026
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Sadly it's not just a question of expensive anymore, it's also a question of whether they can track your purchases (they can) and whether those purchase records will eventually have ICE banging down your door in the middle of the night to have you disappeared for your seditious act of buying justice-obstructing terrorist whistles.
3d printing is not impossible to track either but it's certainly a lot harder to track when you are using basic internet hygiene and money isn't changing hands.
Counterpoint: Flock cameras also exist. Surveillance police state dystopia is already here and it's spreading much faster than I think most people are prepared for, we have to take it seriously.
Counter-counterpoint: The less cash you spend today, the more ammo you will be able to buy tomorrow.
So if you aren't going to leave your house and protest fkr fear of Flock, what are the whistles for?
These are 25 cents each. Printed whistles are like 4
I mean, we live in a time when 3d printed guns exist, I'm pretty sure having a 3d printer and ordering filament is probably about as likely to get you on a list as ordering some whistles
But whistles are readily available and cheap, without looking too hard I can get a dozen from them at target for less than $5 with lanyards. Leave your phone at home, pay cash, take a bus or park in the next shopping center over or wear a mask like you're getting over a cold and a baseball cap and you're about as anonymous as you can get.
Can probably get them even cheaper if you shop around a bit, if you have a party store around you I'll bet you can get a bunch there for cheap as party favors for a children's birthday party goody bag or whatever.
At the end of the day everyone's got to do their own risk analysis, but ICE is also pretty reactionary and stupid in their gestapo tactics, and people aren't regularly shooting ICE with 3d printed guns at this point. The whistles probably (hopefully) irritate them though, and they tend to aggressively lash out at things that irritate them.
I don't care if they track my purchase of whistles. There is nothing wrong or illegal.
That's the problem with authoritarianism: it no longer matters what is legal or not (the repressive state does as it pleases), and even if it did matter what's legal, too bad that's not up to you to decide anymore.
Still couldn't give a shit
Precisely, and you giving one or not doesn't change the outcome when they come pick you up and you have no recourse.
Sure I do. Its just not legal
And which state apparatus do you expect to come to the rescue when all powers are practically consolidated, and the one supposed to protect your rights is the same that oppresses you? Or the oppressor changes/makes-up the rules on a whim? You just don't seem to understand what authoritarianism is about, and how the deal is changing. Haven't you been taught history? People generally don't bring up words like "fascism" for fun and giggles...
Your having a fantasy conversation
Do I? I'm just giving you textbook facts about authoritarianism and the consequences of living under one.
Whether you believe that this relates to your situation is something else. I'm not here to play mind games with you, all I can do is encourage you to simply look at the traits and definition of it, and bring your bingo card with you. Here it is, unaltered from Wikipedia:
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law.[1][2] Authoritarian regimes may be either autocratic or oligarchic and may be based upon the rule of a party, the military, or the concentration of power in a single person.[3][4]
Also, I gain nothing from this "fantasy conversation" besides the hope that it might help the reader navigate through what's happening (and that they will avoid the worst of it).
What you are doing is jumping to conclusions with barely any context with my relatively vague statement.
Sure, did I also make up this whole story about people being brutalised by the ICE from which it all derived?
Printed whistles are like 4 cents each. I haven't checked but I'd be surprised if you could buy them for cheaper than that. Also, I have so many points on Makerworld that filament is free
Huh, really? $100 for a bucket of 50 with lanyards does come out more expensive, then, assuming people have some spare yarn/cord/old lanyards around. I assumed there was no way bulk production wasn't more expensive, but maybe the supply chain / middle men catch up.
Those are expensive… just a quick search on aliexpress and I found 50 whistles for 5€ including lanyards.
/edit: free shipping if you go over 10€, so 100 whistles.
Not only is that still more expensive than printing, you have to wait a week to ship instead of waking up to a print bed full of them
You are right. You can beat the prices on alibaba though. Then you could even get metal ones for 11 cents a piece.
It may end up being faster too.
I did some math and the ones I printed probably came out cheaper than the online listing for 100 that a friend pointed me to.
The advantage of printed whistles is being able to put the phone number on the whistle. Trying to get a phone number on a bulk whistle is not easy.
I missed a phone number part? What number?
To the org that provides support to those abducted by ICE. Each state or geographical area has a different org and number, so unless you print blank whistles, you need to ensure that you have the correct info.
You can check it out here: https://linktr.ee/wa.whistles
I am very much of the opinion that ICE whistles should sound like those Aztec Death Whistles.
Oh man, can you imagine like 50 of them at once? That would be nightmare fuel.
I'm planning on printing up quarter-page sheets on the importance your community plays in getting ICE to leave, and starting a Signal group for my neighborhood and including the QR code on there. Then printing a bunch of whistles and putting them with the flyers in mailboxes in my neighborhood.
I've printed a ton of these for a protest in the spring and they're super loud: https://makerworld.com/models/502788?appSharePlatform=copy
I printed a dozen of these and they're fast and cheap but maybe not as loud as the other (they're designed to print on their side): https://makerworld.com/models/2245044?appSharePlatform=copy
When I get home after the weekend I'm going to print these two to see if they're louder or cheaper/faster to print (or both!). If they are I'll use them for the above exercise.
flyers in mailboxes
Regarding putting anything in mailboxes - it is actually a federal crime to put something in a mailbox unless it is properly addressed for delivery through the postal system, or you are a postal worker. I would refrain from doing that.
I have printed a few
I want to print some more and make little bags with a whistle and a zine in it and start taping them to utility poles around town
That is a great whistle, but way too much filament and print time compared to the ICE whistles that have been optimized for print speed, noise volume and size for easy carry.
Any links to the models?
I apologize for not getting back sooner.
Start here: https://linktr.ee/wa.whistles
No problem, thank you!
I just printed a few hundred and donated them to a local organization in town. A friend of mine is working with them and I asked if they wanted whistles and they were happy to get them.
That's great! Thank you!
You can buy plastic whistles crazy cheap on AliExpress. But yeah you can print them.
As a piggyback comment. I designed a reusable retractable protest sign handle that uses very little filament. It's free. On printables, makerworld, and thingiverse.
Just search "protest handle" on the sites. Only one that exists as far as I know.
FREE model. And low filament use. Cost about $1 to print.
I will say in windy Chicago I did have 2 snap. But because of the way it's made, I only had to reprint one piece and re-assemble.
They are of decent durability.
But a big sign and Chicago wind was a challenge to the design which I prioritized printing time and low filament use.
I've made about 8 total and none of those broke for other people using them or myself.
https://makerworld.com/models/1139730?appSharePlatform=copy
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6958673
https://www.printables.com/model/1203296-protest-sign-handle-extendable-telescopic
No but I bought 500 to give out
That's great! Thank you!
I decided to get my piece of shit Monoprice printer out of the box to try to help with this and it ended up in an even sadder state. I've never had a good experience with this thing and now the print bed is completely fucked so I give up on this one.
Feel free to shoot me some recommendations on printers <$1000 while I start shopping around.
Edit: I'll start with the recent recommendation post. https://lemmy.world/post/41165129?scrollToComments=true
I am partial to Prusa printers, but if you want an easy out-of-the-box experience, the Bambu printers are hard to beat.
Nope