Printable gunsBlocked from distributing plans for 3D-printed guns, "crypto-anarchist" is still in the DIY gun business

By Matthew Choi

Published 6 August 2018

Cody Wilson’s group Defense Distributed is known for attempting to upload the digital blueprints for 3D-printed guns. But he also helps customers make unregistered, unserialized conventional firearms, from Glocks to AR-15s.

Behind a North Austin industrial office park lies a satirical headstone engraved with the words “American Gun Control.”

It rests behind the headquarters of Defense Distributed, the internationally-known weapons manufacturing organization of self-described crypto-anarchist Cody Wilson. Last week, Wilson was blocked by a judge from publishing digital blueprints for untraceable plastic guns that could be printed at home by anyone with a 3D printer. The court order was celebrated by activists who feared the guns would be undetectable by metal detectors.

But late last week, Wilson and his colleagues remained convinced their resistance to restrictive gun laws could not be stopped. The group, he said, hasn’t printed the 3D-printed pistol that sparked the controversy in years. Even though plans for a range of 3D-printed guns are no longer on Defense Distributed’s website, many of the plans have been available online for a while, he said.

And besides, Defense Distributed has been focusing lately on a much more tangible way for its customers to build an unregistered gun.

The group’s primary product is the “Ghost Gunner 2,” a machine the size of a classroom trash can capable of milling gun-shaped metal parts into legal firearms. Wilson and his coterie sell the Ghost Gunner and metal parts to the public, who can use the materials to create a fully functional firearm at home.

Federal law does not require any tracking information or serial numbers for guns made at home that are not for commercial sale. They are unregistered “ghost guns,” essentially indistinguishable from a store-bought M1911, Glock or AR-15 except for their lack of digits.

“Plug it into the machine, machine takes it the rest of the way, a magical metaphysical line is crossed where it went from being a piece of metal to legal firearm,” Wilson explained, holding a sample frame that had recently been converted to a legal gun.