05.10.13
The Purpose Driven Nuisance
Infamous plastic 3D gun-printing schnook Cody Wilson had more good things happen to him this week when a division of the US government ordered him to take down his digital gun plan for violating the ITAR.
It was promptly rehosted on the Pirate Bay. And I am sure his many libertarian supporters banged their keyboards in joy while opening thier Bitcoin wallets for more philanthropic donations to the cause.
Anarchy! Liberty! Death to all fascists! Except us.
Wilson, who continues to call his operation a non-profit company, as if it’s performing a service to mankind had this to say to one of the tech rags:
“This is the conversation I want,??? Wilson said. “Is this a workable regulatory regime? Can there be defense trade control in the era of the Internet and 3D printing????
“The future of distributed technologies in the Internet is that no one has control of the information,” he told Mashable. “This is more than guns now, man, this is about the Internet, this is about information.”
Well, I don’t know, Cody. Can you make highly enriched uranium on your 3D printer? Perhaps a short range ballistic missile?
All right, let’s make it easy. A small plastic cluster bomb. Something that fairly easily explodes into bits of plastic shrapnel when triggered.
Previously — My Plastic Gun Kills Fascists.
Mike Ozanne said,
May 15, 2013 at 6:46 am
This story is causing all kinds of fuss well in excess of its actual significance.
USA
The investment in equipment and materials is vastly disproportionate to the quality of the result. An American citizen with a clean sheet could obtain a diamond encrusted Glock for less than this thing cost to build. Those who would fail a Federal/State check seem to have no problem tooling up on the black market. All this fuss over a third rate zipgun, really?
I’d say if anything was really worrying the Feds it would be the guy who printed an Armalite receiver. Make that reliable and shonky dealers could fabricate untraceable military grade rifles from uncontrolled spares. I don’t wish to question the wisdom of the US Congress, but in my dream licensing regime there’d be controls on the bit the bullet comes out of, just sayin’.
UK
We have quite strict controls on ammunition and smokeless propellant. Once you’d printed the thing you’d have to obtain primers and propellant to load whatever you had managed to scavenge or make in the way of brass and projectiles. To get those you’d need a bent contact with at least a shotgun certificate. If you have access to a bent shotgun owner what the f*ck are you doing with this piece of crap?
It wouldn’t be of interest to our criminal fraternity as they can already get access to real pistols and military grade explosives as shown by this case :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/feb/07/dale-cregan-trial-hail-of-bullets
Looking at the photo, I wasn’t sure which was going to burst first the “gun” or his ego…
George Smith said,
May 15, 2013 at 9:01 am
Yes, this is an exercise in using the tech press to keep his, ahem, “non-profit” for promoting social welfare biz, afloat. What does he do, though, when he runs up against the limit of his equipment? Offer a service and website of plans for parts from various selected weapons, a kind of product of the month club? Plastic knuckles with those spikes on the end might make a good offering. I think he’s three quarters of the way to a Claymore mine. Maybe even a plastic 3D pressure cooker bomb? Oh, wait.
I would be very surprised is a department of Homeland Security, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, or some intelligence arm hadn’t already made plastic 3D guns with a variety of printers and materials to see what was possible and potentials. And, right now, the results are still secret.