“Alright. One…two…”
Before “three” arrives, a shot reverberates across the overcast central Texas landscape. A tall, sandy blond engineer named John has just pulled a twenty-foot length of yellow string tied to a trigger, which has successfully fired the world’s first entirely 3D-printed gun for the very first time, rocketing a .380 caliber bullet into a berm of dirt and prairie brush.
“Fuckin’ A!” yells John, who has asked me not to publish his full name. He hurries over to examine the firearm bolted to an aluminum frame. But the first to get there is Cody Wilson, a square-jawed and stubbled 25 year-old in a polo shirt and baseball cap. John may have pulled the trigger, but the gun is Wilson’s brainchild. He’s spent more than a year dreaming of its creation, and dubbed it “the Liberator” in an homage to the cheap, one-shot pistols designed to be air-dropped by the Allies over France during its Nazi occupation in World War II.
Unlike the original, steel Liberator, though, Wilson’s weapon is almost entirely plastic: Fifteen of its 16 pieces have been created inside an $8,000 second-hand Stratasys Dimension SST 3D printer, a machine that lays down threads of melted polymer that add up to precisely-shaped solid objects just as easily as a traditional printer lays ink on a page. The only non-printed piece is a common hardware store nail used as its firing pin.
Wilson crouches over the gun and pulls out the barrel, which was printed over the course of four hours earlier the same morning. Despite the explosion that just occurred inside of it, both the barrel and the body of the gun seem entirely unscathed.
Wilson scrutinizes his creation for a few more seconds, then stands up again. “I think we did it,” he says, a little incredulous.
Last August, Wilson, a law student at the University of Texas and a radical libertarian and anarchist, announced the creation of an Austin-based non-profit group called Defense Distributed, with the intention of creating a firearm anyone could fabricate using only a 3D printer. The digital blueprints for that so-called Wiki Weapon, as Wilson imagined it, could be uploaded to the Web and downloaded by anyone, anywhere in the world, hamstringing attempts at gun control and blurring the line between firearm regulation and information censorship. “You can print a lethal device. It’s kind of scary, but that’s what we’re aiming to show,” Wilson told me at the time. “Anywhere there’s a computer and an Internet connection, there would be the promise of a gun.”
The Latest Bing News on:
3D-Printed Gun
- 3D-printed gun 'just a toy', says terror plot accusedon May 10, 2024 at 1:08 am
A man who used a 3D printer to produce gun parts did not believe he was making functional firearms, his trial on a terrorism-related charge has been told.
- Dealer allegedly caught with $10k of drugs, instructions to 3D-print gunson May 9, 2024 at 9:55 pm
A Warrnambool district drug dealer has allegedly been caught with $10,000 worth of ecstasy and instructions to create seven types of 3D-printed firearms, including handguns and shotguns.
- Three teens facing charges in Wayne County after police seize 3D printer used to make gunson May 9, 2024 at 4:20 pm
Three teenagers in Wayne County face gun-related charges following a "lengthy" investigation. New York State Police executed search warrants Tuesday morning at three homes, uncovering multiple guns, ...
- State Police: 3D printer used to make guns found in Wayne Countyon May 8, 2024 at 4:30 pm
New York State Police say they recovered a 3D printer used to make guns, along with guns and gun parts, during a raid at multiple homes in Wayne County.
- Three Wayne County teens face charges after police seize 3D printer used to make gunson May 8, 2024 at 5:34 am
New York State Police and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office SWAT team executed search warrants Tuesday morning at each of their homes, uncovering multiple guns and gun parts. In one house, police also ...
- Federal judge denies effort to block Colorado’s ghost gun banon May 3, 2024 at 5:57 pm
A federal judge on Thursday denied an effort to block Colorado's ban on ghost guns, finding that the law does not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
- Illinois man allegedly manufactured firearms, machine gun conversion devices using 3D printers: Sheriffon May 2, 2024 at 9:24 am
A Grayslake man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly manufacturing firearms and machine gun conversion devices, utilizing 3D printers.
- Grayslake man used 3D printer to make guns, gun parts, sheriff’s police sayon May 2, 2024 at 4:44 am
Once Best was under arrest, police searched his home and seized 64 machine gun conversion devices that appear to have been manufactured using a 3D printer, as well as pistol frames and rifle parts ...
- Why is YouTube suggesting ghost gun videos to young people watching video games? Officials want changeon April 25, 2024 at 1:30 pm
More young people are learning how to make ghost guns online after watching videos about subjects like video games, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said.
- Des Moines' first case linking untraceable 3D-printed guns to a crime raises concerns for policeon April 15, 2024 at 1:24 am
3D-printed guns are a form of "ghost gun," a homemade weapon with no serial numbers for sellers to track their purchase, making it difficult for authorities to connect the weapons to specific crimes.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
3D-Printed Gun
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D-Printed Gun” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
3D-printed firearms
- 3D-printed gun 'just a toy', says terror plot accusedon May 10, 2024 at 1:08 am
A man who used a 3D printer to produce gun parts did not believe he was making functional firearms, his trial on a terrorism-related charge has been told.
- Dealer allegedly caught with $10k of drugs, instructions to 3D-print gunson May 9, 2024 at 9:55 pm
A Warrnambool district drug dealer has allegedly been caught with $10,000 worth of ecstasy and instructions to create seven types of 3D-printed firearms, including handguns and shotguns.
- Three teens facing charges in Wayne County after police seize 3D printer used to make gunson May 9, 2024 at 4:20 pm
Three teenagers in Wayne County face gun-related charges following a "lengthy" investigation. New York State Police executed search warrants Tuesday morning at three homes, uncovering multiple guns, ...
- State Police: 3D printer used to make guns found in Wayne Countyon May 8, 2024 at 4:30 pm
New York State Police say they recovered a 3D printer used to make guns, along with guns and gun parts, during a raid at multiple homes in Wayne County.
- Harrisburg City Council discussing possible ordinance to crack down on ghost gunson May 8, 2024 at 2:44 pm
“It’s not illegal to print these because you have a right to bear arms but the unlicensing of it is the danger," added Lamont Jones, who serves as public safety chair on Harrisburg City Council. City ...
- Three Wayne County teens face charges after police seize 3D printer used to make gunson May 8, 2024 at 5:34 am
uncovering multiple guns and gun parts. In one house, police also found a 3D printer used to produce ghost guns. They were unable to share if or what the suspects intended to do with the weapons and ...
- ‘Prevented bloodshed in our community’: Grayslake man arrested for manufacturing firearms, machine gun conversion deviceson May 2, 2024 at 9:32 am
A tactical response team arrested a Grayslake man who authorities say was illegally manufacturing firearms and machine gun conversion devices using 3D printers at his home.
- Illinois man allegedly manufactured firearms, machine gun conversion devices using 3D printers: Sheriffon May 2, 2024 at 9:24 am
A Grayslake man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly manufacturing firearms and machine gun conversion devices, utilizing 3D printers.
- 'This problem has exploded exponentially': ATF sees 1,000% increase in 'ghost guns' linked to crimeson May 2, 2024 at 5:00 am
FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES SAW IN GHOST GUNS LINKED TO CRIMES AND A MAJORITY OF THE HOMEMADE WEAPONS ARE THE RESULT OF TECHNOLOGY. THE 3D PRINTED FIREARMS ARE BECOMING A, YOU KNOW, ONE OF OUR PRIMARY ...
- Grayslake man used 3D printer to make guns, gun parts, sheriff’s police sayon May 2, 2024 at 4:44 am
Once Best was under arrest, police searched his home and seized 64 machine gun conversion devices that appear to have been manufactured using a 3D printer, as well as pistol frames and rifle parts ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
3D-printed firearms
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D-printed firearms” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]