
The $1,200 Machine That Lets Anyone Make a Metal Gun at Home - kevination
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/cody-wilson-ghost-gunner/
======
mercwear
I have to agree with the initial comment on the article, this is a fear
mongering piece. Anyone that has a working knowledge of firearms can put
together a usable weapon using readily available parts. In fact, a trip to
home depot is all you need in order to build a crude (and pretty dangerous)
shotgun. I also think it goes without saying that a criminal would probably
opt to spend the $1,200 required to buy this CNC device on a weapon (or
weapons) that have already been assembled.

~~~
mcmancini
And to underscore how a usable rifle may be constructed with readily available
parts, I present a personal favorite, the AK-47 built from a receiver recycled
from a shovel:
[http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DI...](http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DIY-
Shovel-AK-photo-tsunami-warning)

~~~
gknoy
I will admit that I rather wish I had the skills and knowledge necessary to do
something like that. Amazing.

~~~
ctdonath
Easily acquired. Your new hobby awaits you.

------
buro9
This looks awesome.

For $1,200 you could set up as a company making little things for others, earn
enough to pay for the machine and then benefit from it yourself.

What I would do with such a machine is to solve the problem of bike
accessories and mounts. i.e. every light has a different mount, as do GPS
devices, and cameras, and bag attachments. Yet you could manufacture some
common clamp, and then adaptors for each thing. Perhaps standardise around
something like the GoPro bracket for an even wider market (it would allow
flashes and other accessories to be mounted using existing GoPro segments).

There's so many things you can do.

And they make a gun! Who cares about guns! It's all the other stuff that make
this awesome.

~~~
exDM69
This isn't a general purpose CNC milling machine.

If you read the whole article, this is specifically designed to mill and drill
the lower receivers of AR15, from a piece of aluminum stock called the "80
percent stock", which is a non-functional metal part that is only missing a
few holes.

If you have grand ideas about bike accessories and other metal objects, you
can buy a proper CNC mill which is a bit more expensive than this. Or pay for
CNC machining service at your local machine shop. It's not super expensive.

~~~
joshu
[http://Othermachine.co/](http://Othermachine.co/)

It is a tiny cnc mill. I have one and I love it. I mostly make wooden arty
thinks, but I did successfully mill an aluminum car part for some friends.

~~~
rev_bird
I've been thinking about getting into milling (wood, or freaky candles) for a
while now, but I can't tell if my lack of familiarity with CAD software is
going to mean I stink at it forever. How hard was it to get into? Do you have
special training from a trade or anything, or did you just pick this up as a
hobby?

~~~
joshu
No training except for googling stuff and pestering their customer service
folks.

I learned openscad from the tutorials. I use meshcam to generate tool paths.
Mostly I use python to generate the source art and just cut that out.

------
alricb
The main reason this allows you to build an AR-style rifle is that US firearms
law focuses on receivers (per U.S.C. Section 921(a)(3), which are in many
cases quite easy to manufacture. For instance, many Kalashnikov receivers are
made of stamped sheet metal.

The pressure-bearing parts, like the barrel or the bolt, are much harder to
manufacture, at least for rifles. Most European countries will therefore
regulate these, but they won't necessarily regulate ancillary parts like
receivers or stocks. AFAIK, a full-auto AR receiver, which is highly regulated
in the US, is treated as nothing more than a chunk of metal under UK law (as
long as you don't illegally assemble it with a barrel and other parts).

[I was wrong; according to the 9th report of the Firearms Consultative Comity,
Annex D, receivers are controlled as "component parts"]

~~~
Someone1234
Plus the way the law is structured in the UK, you cannot out-clever it. It is
a "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it
probably is a duck."-type of law.

So for example, a farmer (without a firearm licence) tired of people stealing
created a trap, a thick cardboard tube, hung on a string pointed at the
doorway, set to ignite and shoot shrapnel when the door was opened.

The farmer winds up forgetting about his trap and sets it off injuring
himself. He was charged with having an illegal firearm because even though it
was something he built himself, it was still similar enough to a gun to be
considered one.

~~~
fragmede
> Plus the way the law is structured in the UK, you cannot out-clever it.

Funny, that. The US has a similar on the books with regard to drugs - the
Federal Analog Act
-[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Analog_Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Analog_Act)
\- if some compound is "chemically similar" to a schedule I or II drug, then
it can be treated as if it were also on those schedules.

------
InfiniteRand
There is a potential here for there to be a change similar to the 18th
century. Suddenly, non-governmental forces or fledgling governments can
quickly equip a lightly armed force. For the last 1-2 centuries you needed a
manufacturing infrastructure under your control, but a 3-D printer device like
this (if I am understanding the article correctly, and perhaps I am not).

In the 18th century, relatively low-cost and reliable rifles became available,
and this fundamentally changed the balance between established governments and
small armed groups. This changed contributed to the American Revolution, the
French Revolution, and the downfall of the Mughal Empire (where small regional
rebellions suddenly became more viable and central control began to break
down).

This period eventually ended in the 19th century, when is debatable, but once
you had a gatling gun, a professional heavily armed force could mow down
lightly armed forces without large casualties.

Chances are this development will be the final word (and certainly it has not
had a huge impact yet, so maybe my speculation is premature), eventually there
will become some expensive but exceptionally effective weapon only large
governments can afford or supply, but 3-D printers making guns could have
serious effects on the course of politics and warfare within the next few
decades.

As the old curse goes, may you live in interesting times...

~~~
na85
>eventually there will become some expensive but exceptionally effective
weapon only large governments can afford or supply

This already exists. Ubiquitous air presence via unmanned drones armed with
air-to-ground rockets, missiles, or guided bombs.

Sometimes I feel like libertarians and NRA types seriously believe that they
(a bunch of angry right-wing hunters or whatever) could actually throw off
what they feel are the chains of oppression emanating from Washington, if only
they could be sufficiently organized and motivated to rise up together.

Any _serious_ armed rebellion in the United States would be deftly crushed.
I'm not convinced that a peaceful/political rebellion would not be crushed
also.

The System exists to perpetuate itself.

~~~
hga
You're assuming we'd play by some set of rules that would allow these drones
to make enough of a difference.

~~~
na85
You're kidding, right?

~~~
hga
Not in the least. E.g. there are those who are making concrete plans to kill
large, Blue cities wholesale [http://www.bob-owens.com/2014/02/i-swear-you-
write-one-littl...](http://www.bob-owens.com/2014/02/i-swear-you-write-one-
little-post-on-how-to-bring-down-the-electrical-grid-and-you-never-hear-end-
of-it/)

For the Drone Menace, well, the people who make, maintain, supply, operate and
fly them have to sleep somewhere, sometime. The US has never fought a war
where it didn't have a safe and secure far rear area, modulo the Civil War at
times, and for the South at the end. No drone can detect someone carrying a
concealed firearm, or a small anti-personal IED.

For more, check out this book written after the brutal suppression of the 1956
Hungarian revolution by a Swiss officer at the behest of the nation's Non-
commissioned Officer's Association : [http://www.amazon.com/Total-Resistance-
H-Von-Dach/dp/0873640...](http://www.amazon.com/Total-Resistance-H-Von-
Dach/dp/0873640217/)

If our betters try this sort of stunt, they'll experience _Total Resistance_ ,
alright.

------
cpwright
Mother Jones did a story on this a while ago, and I was under the impression
that if you had a drill press it would be enough to get an 80% receiver
usable.

Either way, I'm glad Defense Distributed is moving the ball forward on this
issue.

Edit to add: This company makes plastic ones that a drill, chisel, and Dremel
are enough to finish, no CNC machine necessary.
[http://www.ammoland.com/2014/02/ep80-ar15-rifle-lower-at-
hom...](http://www.ammoland.com/2014/02/ep80-ar15-rifle-lower-at-home-with-
common-tools/#axzz3EuOmGCCg)

------
NoMoreNicksLeft
> ill your own lower receiver at home, however, and you can order the rest of
> the parts from online gun shops, creating a semi-automatic weapon with no
> serial number, obtained with no background check, no waiting period

Besides the 6 months it takes to learn to make one that won't blow up in your
face when you pull the trigger?

Alarmist drivel.

~~~
RyJones
I agree the article is alarmist drivel, but you greatly overestimate the
difficulty of assembling a lower. Furthermore, there is pretty much no way to
misassemble one in a way that would cause an explosion.

------
viggity
I'm very much a libertarian, pro-gun kind of guy and I'm glad this project
project exists, but I do have to say I'm reluctant about it. There isn't
really anything (that I can see) that can stop this movement. I abhor gun
registries and most restrictions on firearms but I'm glad that there is at
least a small hurdle to acquiring a firearm (purchase permits). Hopefully the
trend towards more and more CCW holders increases as responsible people
carrying guns will be a big line of defense against crazy people. See:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/dgu](http://www.reddit.com/r/dgu) for a sampling of
recent defensive gun uses, it is a very common occurance.

~~~
RyJones
I don't know what a purchase permit is. In Washington, Oregon, and Idaho guns
are cash and carry.

~~~
molecules
Michigan use to require a purchase permit for pistols. You had to go to the
Michigan State Police, take a little quiz, and they would issue you a purchase
permit. The permit had an expiration date. You bought the pistol with the
permit and then had to take the pistol back to the police station for a safety
check.

~~~
RyJones
I'm glad I haven't lived with these shenanigans.

------
metafex
Is this thing really a $1200 CNC-mill? What are the dimensions it takes? Also,
materials, aluminium only?

This thing could be really nice for hobby projects (not gun related, that is).

~~~
exDM69
No, it is not a general purpose CNC mill. It is specifically designed for the
task of making the receiver parts from almost ready but non-functional gun
pieces ("80% receivers").

It might be adaptable something else but it wasn't designed for that.

------
CapitalistCartr
The author has no understanding of CNC machines and didn't do his homework.
This is all completely wrong:

"Like any computer-numerically-controlled (or CNC) mill, the one-foot-cubed
black box uses a drill bit mounted on a head that moves in three dimensions to
automatically carve digitally-modeled shapes into polymer, wood or aluminum."

CNCs use drill bits for drilling, but not cutting. They use a carbide router
bit. Look like a drill bit, but isn't. His machine might use a drill bit, but
it's not the norm and "any CNC" doesn't.

CNC routers, or mills, divide into those that cut steel and those that cut
everything else, not "polymer, wood or aluminum". From this article, I can't
tell nearly as much as I'd like to about this machine, and I do this for a
living.

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kelvin0
Don't even need a CNC machine (or any hi tech device) to build lethal
automatic weapons:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FinRqCocwGE)

Craftsmanship, experience and raw materials only are needed.

------
gao8a
I wish it could make this into 100% :)

[http://www.80percentarms.com/products/0-billet-
ar-15-lower-r...](http://www.80percentarms.com/products/0-billet-ar-15-lower-
receiver)

------
Sn1PeR
Or I could buy ~12+ lower receivers...

~~~
shiftpgdn
Try 24. $50 seems to be the new floor for AR15 lower receivers. I've seen some
as low $38 + shipping to an FFL dealer.

------
thisjepisje
So... it's a CNC machining apparatus? Why are people making such a fuss about
that?

------
quux
Or you can do what some people have done and carve an AR-15 receiver out of
wood. Making your own receiver isn't really news.

------
bambax
What does it mean to sell a machine the sole purpose of which is to exploit a
"legal loophole"? Can't the machine be made illegal the minute it's available
to the public?

You can't sell all the ingredients, tools and instructions to build a meth lab
( _" Breaking Bad in a Box"_!) so what's so different with a gun?

~~~
hga
Meth is illegal, full stop. Guns are not, that "legal loophole" is referred to
by others as the Constitution, which makes gun manufacturing subject to laws
and regulations, but not bans in the US.

~~~
maxerickson
Meth is schedule II. I think "illegal, full stop" really only works for
schedule I.

~~~
hga
Oops! You're right, I was under the incorrect impression it had been put on
Schedule I.

------
infinity0
$1200 machine that can print arbitrary metal objects and the journalist
focuses on a gun? What is wrong with you people...

~~~
NoMoreNicksLeft
It's a mill. Doesn't "print", it's a subtractive process... give it a block of
metal and it cuts away the pieces you don't want.

------
jmscharff2
I believe that there are laws in place from making the barrel at home. You can
make a gun with a lot of the 3d printers as well.

~~~
ctdonath
There aren't. It's a long piece of hardened steel with a hole drilled in it
and a groove added thereto. No laws prohibit such manufacturing (assuming USA,
I haven't so extensively studied such laws of other countries).

------
mentos
I'm pretty sure the lethal part of the equation isn't metal receivers but gun
powder and bullets.

Why aren't we limiting the sale of bullets (explosives)?

edit: Chris Rock said it best:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA)

~~~
hga
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution)

Except for some "slave states" as I've taken to calling them, you can buy ammo
mail order, often with a statement of age or perhaps a photocopy of your
drivers license. Powder, bullets, cases and primers by mail, although there
may be limits to the amount of powder you can hold before the BATF wants a
license, safe(r) storage, etc. And similarly your local fire department
prefers or may demand limits.

And this stuff is stable, lasts a long time. My father has several 25 pound
casks of powder he or his father bought before or after WWII that he's still
reloading from, and ammo manufactured in WWII is still being used (although a
lot of it has corrosive primers, requiring much more thorough cleaning).

~~~
mentos
is taxing ammunition unconstitutional?

~~~
hga
Absolutely not:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Fede...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittman%E2%80%93Robertson_Federal_Aid_in_Wildlife_Restoration_Act)

~ 10% is fine (although those of us who don't hunt want more ranges built with
this money, which is happening).

Amount that are clearly so much they're intended to hamper access are
unconstitutional. Ones that are structured differently have been held
unconstitutional:
[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vo...](http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=460&invol=575)

------
stevemck
Guns scare the shit out of me.

When I grew up in Australia where there is basically no guns. I used to walk
on streets even on a drunken Friday / Saturday night without fear.

I moved to the US a few years ago and since then every corner I turn, I see
people and I worry.

I don't worry about getting robbed. No. I worry about a gun fight somewhere
and a stray bullet hits me. I worry that someone drunk might hold me at
gunpoint and at a moment of misjudgement he/she shoots me.

It is pretty hard to get killed by being punched. On the other hand, it is
pretty easy to lose your mind for a second and shoot someone

I hate this project, because now the barrier to entry of owning a unregistered
gun is so much lower

~~~
Shivetya
I see the opposite, I see a world where the predator on the street corner
cannot be sure I am armed, who has to pause and think before he mugs me or
another, are they armed? They have to think twice about that home invasion as
well.

You vastly over exaggerate the issue here, this level or paranoia needs
medical assistance.

Gun laws will not make people safer, making an already illegal act; using a
gun against someone/something; even more illegal solves nothing.

We have a major problem with drugs. There is too much money in this because of
the illegal nature of it. From the use and sale of drugs to prosecution,
treatment, and imprisonment. The establishment has too much to lose to give it
up and those in that system have too little to lose to not resort to violence.

Fix the drug laws, find good work for those who have too much idle time, and
then we can work on the culture of violence that pervades many inner cities.

~~~
dmix
> They have to think twice about that home invasion as well.

As a simple supporting point, home invasions while _the tenants are currently
at home_ is much higher in Canada where firearms are significantly less
common. In America, burglars make sure noone is home before breaking into it.
This has been correlated to gun ownership and castle doctrines.

