Tag Archives: Cody Wilson

How Legitimate and Game-Changing are 3D Printed Guns?

3D Printed Guns are Newsworthy but Are They Viable?

This is a guest post by Brian Prowse, whose bio is at the end of the article.

In a recent article online, Jeremy A. Kaplan wrote the following for Fox News, “While early models based on firearms designer Cody Wilson’s plans backfired or fired only once before breaking, the latest test appears to prove that homemade plastic guns are viable — and that the Internet may have dramatically changed how we look at regulating the trade in arms.”

Mr. Kaplan was writing about the recent controversial subculture of 3D printed firearms, and Cody Wilson, founder of a non-profit called Defense Distributed, is a central figure in that 3D printed gun controversy. Wilson’s Defense Distributed is a hyper-libertarian, “crypto-anarchist” organization committed to the distribution of open source firearm and firearm-mechanism plans, mainly plans that allow for the 3D printing of guns.

Cody Wilson Wiki Weapon 3D Printing

Like any other controversy, the 3D printed firearms debate has gone through periods of waxing and waning. Its water-cooler buzz peaked shortly after Cody Wilson produced public plans for the lower receiver of an AR-15 assault rifle- one of the AR-15’s most important and more-regulated segments- and for higher-capacity magazines. Wilson did so in response to the national consideration of assault rifle (and magazine capacity) bans or restrictions which followed the Sandy Hook school shooting.

That controversy waned, however, when virtually every one of the 3D printed weapons either exploded or failed during or after the first shot. In fact, a video (below) by Defense Distributed shows Wilson firing his ostentatiously-named Liberator once and turning dramatically toward the camera as likewise dramatic music swells. However, he only fired the Liberator once because small parts inside the printed pistol had been destroyed by the shot.

The crux of the Fox News story involved a Canadian man, identified only as “Matthew”, who purportedly fired fourteen .22 bullets through the 3D printed rifle he named “The Grizzly 2.0”. So, if the video (below) of Matthew firing The Grizzly 2.0 fourteen times is legitimate, and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t, has that “dramatically changed” the nature of the American arms trade?

As compelling as the story is that anyone can make guns at home, the 3D printed gun phenomenon won’t dramatically change the greater gun dynamic, for the moment at least.

For starters, it’s not so clear that the Grizzly 2.0 test does prove that plastic guns are “viable”.

It is no mean feat for most people to find a 3D printer and download the Defense Distributed gun design, and moreover, 3D printing the gun components is both time consuming and costly. With those components, building the gun presents its own challenges.

Keep in mind that it’s been months since 3D firearm plans were produced and released to the public. Since then, virtually all of the guns produced, even by those who specialize in their production, have been fragile or faulty enough that a rifle firing 14 shots of the lowest commonly available bullet-caliber has made news.

That’s not necessarily the fault of the 3D printers nor the 3D printer user. The fact is that fortified metal alloys is simply better suited for the stress of exploding bullets than plastic is. Gunsmiths, both licensed and illicit, have known this for years. That’s why the illicit gunsmiths who have produced hand-made guns, often called “zip guns”, virtually always did so with sturdier materials than plastic.

3D printed gun zip gun

I mention the production of zip guns because there is absolutely nothing new or revolutionary about people building their own firearms. In fact, it’s still a thriving underground industry. So as it stands, the 3D printed gun and gun-part printing subculture will likely have little effect on the national firearm landscape.

With the easy access most Americans have to guns, the money, trouble and time dedicated to the production of a 3D printed firearm could be spent on simply buying a gun that’s tremendously more reliable.

 

About the author: Brian Prowse is a writer and self-proclaimed tech geek. When he’s not blogging for tech sites like 247inktoner.com, tinkering around with graphic design or traveling, Brian enjoys selflessly sacrificing his time to play with the coolest new gadgets on the market.

 

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Michigan Tech Launches 3D Printers for Peace Contest

3D Printers for Peace Contest

3D Printers for Peace

In the wake of the Cody Wilson’s 3D printed gun fiasco, Michigan Tech is launching a 3D printing contest for good.

Below are the details of the contest and how to enter.

3D printing is changing the world. Unfortunately, the only thing many people know about 3D printing is that it can be used to make guns. We want to celebrate designs that will make lives better, not snuff them out.

What is the Printers for Peace Contest?

We are challenging the 3D printing community to design things that advance the cause of peace. This is an open-ended contest, but if you’d like some ideas, ask yourself what Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, or Ghandi would make if they’d had access to 3D printing.

  • low-cost medical devices
  • tools to help pull people out of poverty
  • designs that can reduce racial conflict
  • objects to improve energy efficiency or renewable energy sources to reduce wars over oil
  • tools that would reduce military conflict and spending while making us all safer and more secure
  • things that boost sustainable economic development (e.g. designs for appropriate technology in the developing world to reduce scarcity)

1st Prize

Fully assembled, open-source Type A Machines Series 1 3D Printer
The Series 1 recently won best in class in the Make: Ultimate Guide to 3-D Printing. It has a 9-by-9-by-9-inch build volume, prints at 90mm/sec in PLA, ABS and PVA with 0.1mm resolution.

2nd Prize

Michigan Tech’s MOST version of the RepRap Prusa Mendel open-source 3D printer kit
The RepRap can be built in a weekend. It has a 7.8–by-7.8-by-6.8-inch build volume on a heated bed, prints comfortably at 80 mm/sec ABS, 45 mm/sec PLA, HDPE and PVA with 0.1 mm resolution.

Enter the Contest

Go to the Michigan Tech website to enter the contest.

 

Image by snapies_gi used under Creative Commons license.

Even Mega’s Kim Dotcom Doesn’t Want 3D Printed Guns

Kim Dotcom 3D Printed Guns Mega

Mega Deletes 3D Printing Gun Plans

Kim Dotcom, the Internet entrepreneur and convicted cyber-criminal behind Megaupload and now Mega does not want to support 3D printed guns.

While reports came out that the US Government has removed the files from DEFCAD and whether international arms control laws may have been broken, Kim Dotcom instructed his company to delete the uploaded plans for the “Liberator”, Cody Wilson’s 3D printed gun.

 

Via Newstalk ZB.

Kim Dotcom photo by sam_churchill used under Creative Commons license.

Top 3D Printing News Last Week: 3D Printed Gun, US Government, 3DLT

3D printing news

3D Printing News

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from May 7 to May 11:

Tuesday, May 7

Thursday, May 9

Saturday, May 11

 

 

Breaking: US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Plans

US Government Takes Down 3D Printed Gun Designs

War on 3D Printed Guns

DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information.”

That’s the notice on Cody Wilson’s DEFCAD website, a self-proclaimed “makeshift response” that was created when MakerBot took 3D printed gun designs off of its marketplace Thingiverse so that Defense Distributed could provide plans to 3D printed guns online.

This comes just days after the launch of the Liberator 3D printed gun.

3D Printed Gun Website

The announcement of the takedown is trending on Reddit and designs have been replicated to torrent networks.

More as this develops…