Downloads for 3D-printed Liberator gun reach 100,000

[lostinblue 1,989]

Downloads for 3D-printed Liberator gun reach 100,000

Groups looking to tighten US gun laws have expressed concern

Continue reading the main story Related Stories

• World's first 3D-printer gun fired
• Pirate Bay for 3D printing launched
• Firm pulls 3D gun-parts print plans

The blueprint used to produce a 3D-printed plastic gun has been downloaded about 100,000 times since going online earlier this week, according to Forbes.

Defense Distributed told the news site it was surprised by the amount of interest its Liberator gun had generated.

Earlier in the week, the company demonstrated the firearm being fired

But even before any more guns come off the DIY printing presses, there are moves afoot to ban it.

Metal detectors

Californian senator Leland Yee said he wanted a law passed to stop the manufacture of 3D-printed guns.

"I plan to introduce legislation that will ensure public safety and stop the manufacturing of guns that are invisible to metal detectors and that can be easily made without a background check," he said in a statement.

According to Defense Distributed, most of the 100,000 downloads have been in the US, followed by Spain, Brazil, Germany and the UK.

The blueprint has also been uploaded to file-sharing site the Pirate Bay, where it has become the most popular file in the site's 3D-printing category.

Firing pin

It took Defense Distributed eight months to produce the firearm, which was assembled from separate components produced on an $8,000 (£5,000) 3D printer bought from auction site eBay.

While downloading the blueprints may not be illegal, any UK citizen who made and owned such a handgun could face arrest, according to the UK's Metropolitan Police.

"To actually manufacture any type of firearm in the UK, you have to be a registered firearms dealer (RFD)," it said in a statement.

"Therefore, unless you are an RFD, it would most definitely be an offence to make a gun using the blueprints. It may be legal for an RFD to manufacture a gun this way, as long as they had the necessary authorities."

One of the biggest headaches for law enforcers is the fact the gun is made from plastic - with only the firing pin made from metal.

New York congressmen Steve Israel and Chuck Schumer have sponsored legislation aimed at adding a 3D-printing provision to the US Undetectable Firearms Act, which requires all guns to be detectable.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Feds shut it down already.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/05/14818-feds-shut-down-3d-plastic-gun-manufacturer/

[lostinblue 1,989]

Defcad is hosted by Mega in New Zealand.

The files are on Pirate Bay.........Shut Down..... It's to late. feds can't stop it. a quick google search has already turned up a working file for the liberator Now other people will have access to the files to work on and improve it.. The file is out there and that is a pretty big deal.The mags and other accessories are still up and ready for download..

[MyLittlePony 340]

Can i do a 3-D of my #######? Has anyone else tried it i bet that would look huge.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

So, much like child porn, something for the Feds to search your hard drive for.

Edited May 10, 2013 by The Patriot

[lostinblue 1,989]

Within a week you will see a milion or even 10 million downloads world wide because of what the feds did today.

[himher 634]

Patriot is one of those deluded souls who would have believed to the end that the feds could enforce the 18th ammendment, just because it was written on paper and passed as law.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Within a week you will see a milion or even 10 million downloads world wide because of what the feds did today.

How many folks are going to spend $80,000 for the hardware necessary to build a crappy plastic gun that may or may not even fire the first round?

Notice the broken trigger?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Patriot is one of those deluded souls who would have believed to the end that the feds could enforce the 18th ammendment, just because it was written on paper and passed as law.

But you're all for enforcing the 2nd amendment, aren't you? Just pick and chose the ones that fit your point of view?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

But you're all for enforcing the 2nd amendment, aren't you? Just pick and chose the ones that fit your point of view?

Just more proof gun nutters are not the lily white law abiding citizens they profess to be.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

How many folks are going to spend $80,000 for the hardware necessary to build a crappy plastic gun that may or may not even fire the first round?

Notice the broken trigger?

Misfits like this one will.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

How many folks are going to spend $80,000 for the hardware necessary to build a crappy plastic gun that may or may not even fire the first round?

Notice the broken trigger?

There are probably a few here who would spend the money if they had it.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Can i do a 3-D of my #######? Has anyone else tried it i bet that would look huge.

You may have to go to INTEL for that. They can print Nano circuit boards, surely they could do that for you.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Back in the 70's a computer cost a few million dollars and took up a whole room...A 3D printer will cost less than a thousand in a few years. You willl use it for things you cannot even dream of yet.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Cody Wilson Talks to TTAG About the Department of State Takedown Letter

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Nick Leghorn

As soon as Robert texted me to let me know that Defense Distributed had been targeted by a Department of State letter to take down their files, I gave Cody a ring. I figured he’d be knee-deep in crisis management mode, but when he came on the line he sounded like the same calm, cool and collected Cody we had dinner with only a couple of days before. I asked him about this latest development, and the plan going forward and he laid his cards on the table for me . . .

What’s happened is that the State Department Defense Office of Trade Controls believes that Defense Distributed’s publishing of their Liberator files constitutes a breach of the ITAR regulations. These laws keep American-designed firepower from leaving U.S. shores without the approval of the State Department, kind of like a “prime directive” for information about firearms that keeps high tech guns out of the hands of developing nations. In theory.

In the mind of State, by publishing the technical details of a firearm on the internet, Defense Distributed violated one of the provisions of the ITAR regulations. In response, they drafted a letter to Cody and requested that he remove the files from his website. “Requested” being the operative word — there was no forced removal of those files by government hackers from DefDist’s site, and their website’s DNS remains unchanged. In other words, nothing on their website was touched by anyone but Cody and his crew.

In response, Cody decided to comply with the government’s request. For now. But as he noted when we talked, this isn’t the end of the road. The government has provided a period of time for Defense Distributed to reply and prove that their actions were lawful. And according to Cody, he thinks he has this rap beat. Apparently there’s an exemption from the ITAR regulations for non-profit organizations working in the public domain, which is exactly what they are doing.

What’s their next step? Cody said he’s reaching out to the EFF and some other California-based lawyers for help. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is to civil rights on the internet as the Second Amendment Foundation is to gun rights out here in meatspace. They’re a massive organization of lawyers and fundraising geniuses that have fought and won some important cases regarding privacy issues and copyright protection on the internet, and a fight like this one would seem to be right up their alley. However, since this involves guns and the majority of EFF donors seem to be of the Democratic persuasion, Cody might get the cold shoulder and have to resort to other lawyers to help him out.

Either way, this ain’t over. Not only is it impossible to undo the damage that’s already been done (over 100,000 downloads from Defense Distributed’s site, plus untold thousands via P2P torrents), but there’s no way to stop someone else from advancing Cody’s work.

Cody believes that this is a purely political move, one that will eventually be beaten. Though he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he’ll end up in jail anyway. I asked him if he had any plans as to which books he’ll read. He said, “I already have my reading list picked out. It’s just a question of how many will be allowed in, and how many will be branded as ‘subversive material’.”

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/05/foghorn/cody-wilson-talks-to-ttag-about-the-dod-takedown-letter-path-forward/#more-226135