Cody Wilson Hopes to Release Files for 3D Printed Machine Gun Soon

[Brian_Krassenstein]

More news comes from the 3D printed weapons front as Cody Wilson hits the news again with inflammatory comments, and a new design for a 3D printed machine gun that he hopes to release files for by April. While the printer to do so would cost around $21,000 USD, materials for making a 3D printed machine gun would only cost about $150--information Wilson gleefully released to the public, sending officials in the UK into a tailspin as they worry about impending attacks from ISIS and expect the US government to do something about Wilson’s ‘irresponsibility’ -- and to do so quickly. As he is still embroiled in legal battles with the US over his Liberator and the releasing of files for the 3D printable pistol from 2013, it will be interesting to see what happens from here, and especially if pressure from other governments becomes an issue causing greater and even more formidable action. Read more at 3DPrint.com: http://3dprint.com/116658/wilson-3d-files-machine-gun/

[Sebastian Finke]

Sounds like a real idiot imo. Why add fuel to the fire?!

[curious aardvark]

had a client a few years back who was an actual arms & armour dealer - yep we do have them in the uk.
And he told me that for $20 you could buy a kalishnikoff and 1000 rounds of ammo in most 3rd world countries.

smuggling stuff into the uk isn't hard, we have a very long coastline.

Smuggling of arms is still a much more urgent issue than 3d printing them.

[schmots]

More over, the printers required to do this are very expensive. His 'tiny' one is still over 20K USD. You try to do this with a standard FDM/FFF printer and it will blow up in your hands, possibly taking part of said hands with it. Additionally, a 'zip' gun can be made for less than 5 dollars worth of stuff at a hardware store. The freak out over 3d-printed guns is simply because people don't understand technology. When Glock handguns were first released in the US most areas made them illegal because someone said they were all plastic and didn't show up on a metal detector or x-ray. None of those statements are true. People focus on things that look or sound scary and not on actual fact or realistic possibility.

[ServiceXp]

The notion of some, thinking that creating laws to control the actions of bad people is somehow going to stop said bad people from doing bad things is just ridiculous.

[freethink]

The recent election (regardless what you think of it) may be great news for makers, builders, innovators, and yes, those of us who finish and maintain our own (unserialized, unregistered) receivers, which is a LEGAL tradition as old (or older) than the United States itself (239 years if we count since July 1776).

I would point out that Cody Wilson has really been targeted merely for providing an interesting tool that makes finishing an eighty-percenter easier (and also for making useful information available online) - and that his "ghost gunner" is not even a 3-D printer, it's more like something that has the functionality of a drill press (but which does the movement for you...) that "looks like" a printer.

If you have a drill press in your home of course you can for around two hundred bucks or less get an eighty percenter and a jig kit from 80percentarms or a similar online or local shop and finish your own receiver with no need to serialize or register it. Much less expensive than a "ghost gunner" type solution but what he is doing is supporting people's basic right to spread information and build what they want.

Here is a petition for those interested specifically relating to Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed. (Note: I don't have any particular interest, financial or otherwise, in DD or anything Cody Wilson is doing, except that I support the idea of our basic freedoms and Constitutional rights.)

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...defdist-vs-usa

Another one, similar:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/pet...pport-builders

Anyway, cheers all!

[ralphzoontjens]

I agree, weapon smuggling is a bigger issue and I strongly disrecommend creating any contraption on a 3D printer requiring to consistently handle high loads and pressures.

[harrybrowns]

It's scary and nothing more. The illegal sale of weapons has been and will be, and ? 3 D machine will not change the scale.