Cody Wilson and Gun Printing

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Cody Wilson and Gun Printing

As was mentioned several times here on OL, it is now possible to print fully functioning plastic guns with a 3D printer. The first person in the world to do so is Cody Wilson.

Here's a section from the Wikipedia article on him I just linked:

In 2012, Wilson and associates as Defense Distributed started the Wiki Weapon Project to raise funds for designing a 3D printable gun.[8] Wilson is to date the only spokesperson on behalf of the organization, of which he describes himself as a "co-founder" and "director."[9][10]

Learning of these plans, manufacturer Stratasys threatened legal action and demanded return of the 3D printer it had leased to Wilson.[9] On September 26, 2012, before the printer was assembled for use, Wilson received an email from Stratasys claiming that he was using the printer "for illegal purposes".[9] Stratasys immediately cancelled its lease with Wilson and sent a team to confiscate the printer the next day.[9][11] Subsequently, Wilson was questioned by the ATF when visiting the ATF field office in Austin to inquire about legalities and regulations relating to the Wiki Weapons project.[9] Since then, he has been granted a Federal Firearms License which allows him to manufacture and distribute his created pieces.[12]

In May 2013, it was reported that Wilson was successful in manufacturing and conducting a test firing of a gun made by use of a 3D printer bought on eBay.[13] After test firing in May, Wilson also released blueprints of the design on the internet.[14]

I went ahead and left in the footnote numbers to encourage interested readers to go to the Wikipedia article itself and look at the references. There are some really cool articles linked at the bottom.

Glenn Beck just interviewed Cody if anyone wants to see what he's like in person. They both raise some interesting freedom ideas.

People in our subculture should be all over this. Some are to some extent, but this issue cuts so deep, it will have far-reaching consequences on the future in a high-tech world and the kind of government we will eventually have.

Michael

[Robert Baratheon]

I was somewhat surprised when the 3-D printed gun became such a national sensation. When I first heard about it, I didn't regard it as anything more than an interesting YouTube clip or passing technological curiosity. What it is the major concern here? We learned as recently as a couple of months ago in Boston that all it takes to kill or permanently injure scores of people are some common household items. It makes psychological sense, though. People want to feel like they can be protected, that weapons can be controlled. To admit that someone intent on killing them will find a way is a disconcerting thought to many.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

RB,

It puts a major monkey-wrench in the plans of the gun-control people.

They know all too well that when video came out, people were able to record TV shows and no one could do anything about the copyright infringements except ban videos. And they couldn't.

Ditto for 3D printers. They can ban guns all they want, but if all a person needs is a 3D printer and a blueprint (and we know blueprints will proliferate like crazy on the Internet over time), they won't be able to stop it. They will not be able to ban 3D printers. Ever. Ban them in the USA and Japan or Russia or Brazil or whatever will make them. And so on.

The situation will be very similar to the war on drugs if they ban or restrict guns. Nowadays, people keep getting drugs illegally and using them, no matter how many laws are in place. And if there are no drug dealers, there are recipes all over the Internet and people get high regardless.

What this means is, there will be no gun control in practical terms.

Ever.

Drugs don't scare these folks. A person on drugs can't operate too well when they bully drug users. So no biggie there.

But a person wielding a gun no one knows about can shoot them if they show up in bullying mode...

Michael

[Southern Capitalist]

This is very interesting. You know the government will do their best to "take, steal, require" his idea. So he has a fight ahead.

I also will like to say Beck has been doing good work lately. Granted, I obviously disagree with a lot of his religious thoughts and other topics, but what can I say, he's doing good work. Its also nice he stands behind and promotes Atlas Shrugged and Rand's ideas.

[Jerry Biggers]

I was somewhat surprised when the 3-D printed gun became such a national sensation. When I first heard about it, I didn't regard it as anything more than an interesting YouTube clip or passing technological curiosity. What it is the major concern here? We learned as recently as a couple of months ago in Boston that all it takes to kill or permanently injure scores of people are some common household items. It makes psychological sense, though. People want to feel like they can be protected, that weapons can be controlled. To admit that someone intent on killing them will find a way is a disconcerting thought to many.

I believe that one of the major concerns stated about 3D-printed guns, is that they would likely be constructed out of a plastic, or other, material that would be non-detectable by metal detectors, such as those we all have to pass through to board a flight. I don't know about you, but I would not view making life easier for a terrorist-wannabe to carry a concealed nonmetal gun onto a flight , as a positive contribution to my, or anyone else's, personal freedom.

It may be that some other technological advance will be developed that can screen for the possession of nonmetal guns. Whether that is viable or cost-prohibitive, I do not know. In the meantime, I do not see anything beneficial about the capability to "print" guns.

[Robert Baratheon]

I believe that one of the major concerns stated about 3D-printed guns, is that they would likely be constructed out of a plastic, or other, material that would be non-detectable by metal detectors, such as those we all have to pass through to board a flight. I don't know about you, but I would not view making life easier for a terrorist-wannabe to carry a concealed nonmetal gun onto a flight , as a positive contribution to my, or anyone else's, personal freedom.

It may be that some other technological advance will be developed that can screen for the possession of nonmetal guns. Whether that is viable or cost-prohibitive, I do not know. In the meantime, I do not see anything beneficial about the capability to "print" guns.

Similar fears were expressed about the damaging potential of the printing press. 15th century abbot Johannes Trithemius argued in his work De laude scriptorum manualium (“In Praise of Scribes") that the printed word would empower the everyman beyond his capacity for responsible application. It would, the monk argued, become a grave threat to literate elite and strike at the very authority of the state over its people as the unwashed masses gained capacity for disseminating just any old information amongst themselves - without permission from their societal betters. By and large, he was correct about this. We know that literacy has been a key subjugation tool throughout the vast majority of human history in much the same way that firearms are now. We are all very fortunate, at this later stage in history, that his advice of banning the press wasn't adopted if it were even possible to do such a thing.

[Selene]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/08/07/Report-3D-Printed-Rifle-Successfully-Fires-14-Rounds

This was back in Breitbart today.

[BaalChatzaf]

Print me up a revolution!

[Selene]

Lol...

The white rifle video reminded me of a Minuteman loading a musket.

A...

[william.scherk]

Cody Wilson is wanted by the police ... 

... but here is Styx suggesting that Wilson was entrapped by law enforcement in Texas.  Does he have any evidence of that?  Well, you gotta give it a listen to find out: