Cody Wilson from a screen-grab of a promotional video posted on his Defense Distributed website. Source: Supplied
Designs for a 3D printed pistol from a promotional video posted on the Defense Distrubted website. Source: Supplied
A STUDENT'S bid to make and test-fire a 3D printed pistol and then distribute it via the internet have suffered a setback. His printer has been confiscated.
University of Texas law student Cody Wilson has had the lease on his sophisticated 3D printer revoked and officials from the company that built it knocking on his front door to reclaim the device.
Wilson is the director of Defense Distributed, an online group responsible for the controversial Wiki Weapon Project which seeks to make printable designs for everything from assault rifles through to fighting knives freely available on the internet.
Wilson has reportedly said he wants to confront governments with the reality of a population that has the freedom to bear arms.
"How do governments behave if they must one day operate on the assumption that any and every citizen has near instant access to a firearm through the Internet? Let's find out," he writes on the group's website.
But desktop-printing company Stratasys disagrees with his controversial ideals.
It sent a team to repossess the $20,000 printer from Wilson's home less than a week after delivering it.
Wilson received an email from Stratasys last Wednesday outlining their concerns about his project.
The Wiki Weapon pistol project aimed to build a completely printed weapon for the first time. However, it is expected the gun would only be able to fire one shot before the barrel melted.
But Wilson is not deterred by the gun's limitations.
``You dont need to be able to put 200 rounds through it,'' Wilson told Forbes magazine. "It only has to fire once. But even if the design is a little unworkable, it doesnt matter, as long as it has that guarantee of lethality.''
This project takes the "open sourced" weapons project one step further than the partly printed AR-15 rifle that was distributed on the internet by Michael Guslick (Have Blue) earlier this year.
Wilson insists the project breaks no US federal laws relating to at-home weapons because the gun was not for sale.
According to a letter reproduced on Wilson's site, Stratasys wrote back: "It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes. Therefore, please be advised that your lease of the Stratasys uPrint SE is cancelled at this time and Stratasys is making arrangements to pick up the printer."
Contractors arrived to remove the printer the next day.
Wilson reportedly approached the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to determine if he had, in fact, broken any laws. The ATF is investigating, highlighting concerns that the all-plastic gun breaches the Undetectable Firearms Act.
Wilson is not deterred, saying he will continue to find ways to create an open-sourced library of weapon blueprints.
0 comments:
Post a Comment