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

And Wilson is not the first person to do this. “At least dozens” of websites have been providing “kits” of metal parts for do-it-yourself guns, said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Some sites sell sets to make 10 guns at a time, which Skaggs called “a gun trafficker’s dream come true.”

Wilson said plenty of businesses in Texas already sell many of the parts he works with. Even the digital blueprints he uploaded prior to the Tuesday court order had already been publicly available, some for as long as 10 years.

“Dude, what’s so great about Texas is you walk into any of these little machine shops, and these nondescript metal buildings, they’re all making gun stuff, they’re all making oil stuff,” Wilson said. “That’s all that’s happening out here.”

But Skaggs said Wilson’s operation is singular in its accessibility. Skaggs said with technology like Wilson’s Ghost Gunner, it will be easier for felons and other people restricted from owning guns to get their hands on firearms. The mills, which sell for about $2,000, make the transformation from metal parts to functioning gun far easier than a normal consumer could do with standard hardware tools, he said. The high price also incentivizes customers to produce multiple guns with the mill, which Skaggs said could lead to greater distribution of ghost guns.

Mike Bazinet, director of public affairs for the pro-gun National Shooting Sports Foundation, said homemade guns without serial numbers represent a tiny portion of the firearms in the United States. Though he said home manufacturing is not itself dangerous, his organization advocates purchasing firearms through retail gun manufacturers to ensure quality.

During an interview Thursday, Wilson spoke with a nonchalant cadence in his deep voice and never broke his somber expression. He wore a black T-shirt and dark, fitted pants, kicking his legs up onto the table as he declared the futility of gun control legislation in the 21st century. Behind him was a cut-out of California state Sen. Kevin de León, a Democrat whom Wilson credits for first coining the expression “ghost gun.” Wilson calls him their patron saint.

Wilson is driven by a libertarian ideology, talking at length about his desire to prove that gun control is impossible with modern technology such as the internet. He has written a book, his manifesto published by Simon & Schuster, on the business of DIY guns, and copies line a bookshelf in the office’s entryway.

He started manufacturing and selling the mills in 2014 to finance a lawsuit he filed after the federal government blocked him from uploading digital blueprints for 3D-printed guns. He said he would continue to sell them so long as the legal battles continue. During the Thursday interview, he celebrated the second straight day without someone suing him.

“That was really tense, man,” he said referring to the cascade of lawsuits across the country brought down on him to stop the release of digital gun blueprints. “I’m not staffed to show up on 45 minutes notice at any venue in the fucking country.”

Despite the ideological rhetoric, the office was akin to a college shop class. Still, gun parts littered the shelves and the employees worked under a looming black flag. The staffers were inquisitive and affable, but some balked at requests to smile for the camera.

The organization has seen a lot of media file through the office, and Wilson said his “whole media [persona] is to be the chain of destruction or whatever.” When told he looks mean in a photo, Wilson retorts: “Yeah dude, it’s what I’m going for.”

Matthew Choi is a reporting fellow at The Texas Tribune. This story is published courtesy of the Texas Tribune, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.