OFF THE WIRE
Defense Distributed has removed the blueprints after receiving a warning letter from the State Department.
By Kim Peterson
The idea of people printing their own guns at home is not sitting well with the
U.S. government.
A Texas nonprofit group that developed the gun has taken down its blueprints from the Internet after receiving a letter from the State Department. Defense Distributed has received plenty of attention for developing a design that lets people print their own guns using a 3-D printer. The guns are made of plastic and need only a small metal firing pin to work.
"I immediately complied, and I've taken down the files," Cody Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed, told Betabeat. "But this is a much bigger deal than guns. It has implications for the freedom of the Web."
It may be a little late. The instructions for how to make a 3-D printable handgun called The Liberator have been downloaded more than 100,000 times and can be found on other websites, according to The New York Daily News. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, as the saying goes.
The website that previously hosted the files, Defcad.org, has posted a banner notice saying that "files are being removed from public access at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."
It's a bit tougher to make this gun than you might think. Gizmodo reports that you need a decent printer, something like the $8,000 Stratasys machine that Defense Distributed used at one point. You also need a metal firing pin. And you need a 6-ounce piece of steel in the body to keep the gun legal under the Undetectable Firearms Act.
In other words, Smith & Wesson (SWHC +1.03%) and Sturm Ruger (RGR -0.08%) aren't exactly sweating this one.
The gun in the photo, by the way, is not The Liberator but a different 3-D printed gun from Defense Distributed.
A Texas nonprofit group that developed the gun has taken down its blueprints from the Internet after receiving a letter from the State Department. Defense Distributed has received plenty of attention for developing a design that lets people print their own guns using a 3-D printer. The guns are made of plastic and need only a small metal firing pin to work.
"I immediately complied, and I've taken down the files," Cody Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed, told Betabeat. "But this is a much bigger deal than guns. It has implications for the freedom of the Web."
It may be a little late. The instructions for how to make a 3-D printable handgun called The Liberator have been downloaded more than 100,000 times and can be found on other websites, according to The New York Daily News. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, as the saying goes.
The website that previously hosted the files, Defcad.org, has posted a banner notice saying that "files are being removed from public access at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."
It's a bit tougher to make this gun than you might think. Gizmodo reports that you need a decent printer, something like the $8,000 Stratasys machine that Defense Distributed used at one point. You also need a metal firing pin. And you need a 6-ounce piece of steel in the body to keep the gun legal under the Undetectable Firearms Act.
In other words, Smith & Wesson (SWHC +1.03%) and Sturm Ruger (RGR -0.08%) aren't exactly sweating this one.
The gun in the photo, by the way, is not The Liberator but a different 3-D printed gun from Defense Distributed.
