
Cody Wilson, the man who wants Americans to 3D print their own guns - kfullert
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/06/cody-wilson-3d-guns-printing-firearms-lower-receivers
======
Mizza
To be honest, though Cody Wilson was responsible for the initial organization
of the movement, he is largely irrelevant now, and the DIY gun community has
pretty much disavowed him and moved over to FOSSCAD.org //
[https://twitter.com/fosscad](https://twitter.com/fosscad) and IRC.

To show the difference in the developments, compare the single-shot Liberator
featured in this article to the revolving Washbear designs by FOSSCAD:
[https://imgur.com/a/M1A0P/layout/horizontal#0](https://imgur.com/a/M1A0P/layout/horizontal#0)
or the semi-auto Shuty MP-1v4
[https://twitter.com/fosscad/status/718190339090059265](https://twitter.com/fosscad/status/718190339090059265)

Cody is more of a political agitator and propagandist, whereas the FOSSCAD
community are typically much more gun-enthusiast/engineer-y - although they
share similar political opinions, their motivations seem to be much
technical/recreational rather than political.

~~~
tantalor
Thanks, this kind of perspective is useful for outsiders.

Quick comment: isn't "Free Open Source Software & Computer Aided Design" a
pretty misleading name for a group that is apparently only interested in 3d
printing firearms?

~~~
Mizza
Agreed, but it came out of evolution - Cody's organization used to be called
"DEFCAD" (Defense CAD), but it operated more as a company than as an open
source initiative, so the community forked to "FOSSCAD" to indicate that's how
they would be operating.

Maybe FOSSDEF would have made more sense but it's kind of too late now.

------
bifrost
IMHO this whole movement is out there to point out how ridiculous some
legislation is. Pretty much anyone with a brain can make a deadly weapon with
time and materials. They even make guns in prisons, so of course someone could
3d print the serialized parts of a gun. In certain types of guns those 3d
printed parts are only minorly structual so they don't receive that much
force, you could even conceivably hand carve one out of plastic.

In addition, you could mill your own parts pretty easily, those plans have
been available for decades as well.

~~~
Aelinsaar
You can make a knife from a sharpened spoon, but you can do a lot more damage,
more reliably, to more people, with a real sword. For now (although not
forever) you're not going to 3D print an AR-15 Lower.

~~~
djloche
It is easier and more economical to mill with a cnc. It is probably far
cheaper even to just walk to the gun store and buy a rifle than it is to 3D
print something similar.

~~~
Aelinsaar
A CNC is something that is pitifully easy for a regulatory agency to track, as
far as large numbers of purchases go. See: that fellow who was milling AR-15
lowers and just got busted. We're talking about the difference between
machining metal, and downloading and printing a schematic. I hope that you do
see the difference.

~~~
abakker
It is easier to track distributing a sold product. It is very difficult to
track what a person makes in the comfort of their home. I dont think the
federal government keeps a registry for the purchase of milling machines.

~~~
Aelinsaar
If everyone who wants to own (to keep using this one example) an AR-15 had to
buy a CNC, that would be quite the commitment. If the current model of people
buying many milling machines and selling their services is the only viable way
to avoid that, then you've already seen the feds start to take notice. After
all, if you can get word of mouth around enough to make money, you're making
enough noise to be heard.

3D printing is presumably going to become ubiquitous, and require no skill or
experience to operate and maintain.

~~~
int_19h
But that's the thing - with the present level of technology, you can have a
device that is, essentially, pre-programmed CNC to make AR lowers (which is
what Ghost Gunner is, for example) for under $300.

To make a fully functional firearm from there, you also need a complete upper
- can be had for another $400 or so these days; and a complete lower part kit
with buffer tube and stock - can be had for less than $100. For a total of
$800, some assembly required (or you can pay another $50 and have pretty much
any gunsmith put it together for you).

So basically, a person can take GG and produce an unregistered, untraceable,
no-background-check-required AR with it for $800-900. For comparison, the
Bushmaster AR that was used in Sandy Hook shooting costs ~$700.

~~~
hga
The Ghost Gunner drills/machines the right holes in an 80% receiver, it
doesn't start with a 0% receiver:
[http://www.80percentarms.com/products/0-billet-
ar-15-lower-r...](http://www.80percentarms.com/products/0-billet-ar-15-lower-
receiver)

But it's not very difficult to start at that level:
[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-cartel-
gunsmiths](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-cartel-gunsmiths) $25K for a
pro CNC machine isn't much in the scheme of things.

~~~
Aelinsaar
For a cartel? It's nothing. For most people who want a particular gun, and
don't intend to monetize the purchase, never mind the time taken to learn how
to work and maintain it? That's a hell of a thing to be honest.

~~~
hga
The real barrier is the knowledge, you don't need a relatively new CNC machine
like that if you're just going to make a few for yourself. And old but high
quality non-CNC machines are sufficient for that, and require a somewhat
different set of skills.

But that's not the scenario I'm thinking about, nor is it relevant as of now
in a country which has more than doubled its gun production since Obama was
elected, with > 100 million being sold in that period (obviously not all those
were new).

~~~
Aelinsaar
If the barrier to a decent firearm is knowledge of how to work and maintain
and older CNC, that seems like a pretty excellent means of limiting firearms.
"You're free to have what you can make from scratch, up to a certain point."

------
TheLarch
With the advancement of technology it's harder and harder to sympathize with
the idea that firearms in the US could effectively combat governmental
tyranny. Situations such as Ruby Ridge and Waco could be handled by drones
now. It's hard to believe that there is a principle at play here deeper than a
simple love of guns.

~~~
jonstokes
Yeah, you're right. See, for instance, the way that the West totally put down
the Taliban in Afghanistan and pacified the entire country, which is now
peaceful to this day. The Taliban were just a bunch of illiterate goat herders
with AKs, so there's no way they could stand up to the America's more
technologically advanced army, plus the drones.

And then look at Iraq, and Syria, and all of the other insurgencies involving
irregular combatants armed with nothing but improvised explosives and small
arms, that have now been totally put down by the drones...

Except that none of the above is true :p

~~~
kiba
In case of unbearable government tyranny, the civilians are going to have an
insurgency against their own fathers, sons, and brothers?

~~~
maxerickson
It happened in the civil war:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_against_brother](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_against_brother)

And that was with the sides largely being split geographically.

~~~
dragonwriter
The idea that the sides were split geographically has some truth, but is
overstated and a result of looking at the decisions of state governments --
there were supporters of the Union cause in states that seceded (and, in fact,
there were union _regiments_ raised from every state in the Confederacy except
South Carolina), and supporters of the rebel cause in states that remained in
the Union. The illusion of a clean geographic split is the result of the fact
that a state government's choice to secede and join the confederacy or not was
starkly binary.

~~~
maxerickson
According to [1] and [2] about 5% of Union soldiers were from southern states.
"Largely" works for a split like that.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Unionist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Unionist)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Army)

------
scrollaway
I heard about this before on a documentary that was recommended on HN, so I'll
pass the recommendation on:

Print the Legend, from 2014, on the story of 3d printing.
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3557464/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3557464/)

------
fudged71
It's really interesting when I tell people that I'm in the 3D printing
industry and their first reaction is to tell me someone 3D printed a gun. So
many people know about it now, and I don't think it's a bad thing either. It
gets people thinking about what complex things can be created with this
technology. I believe the story has been an overall positive educational tool
for the industry and the mainstream's understanding.

~~~
Taniwha
I run a small Makerspace, I see a teenage boy come in the door every month or
so, eye the printers, and ask if they can print a gun .... that gives me a
good chance to explain that making your own hand gun is illegal and that using
a printer doesn't change that.

~~~
donw
You can manufacture firearms for personal use across the US -- even in
California -- provided those arms otherwise comply with the law[1].

[https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/does-individual-need-
license...](https://www.atf.gov/firearms/qa/does-individual-need-license-make-
firearm-personal-use)

~~~
Taniwha
again you assume that California laws, or even US laws apply everywhere on the
planet, they don't - the 2nd amendment is historical curiosity everywhere else

------
serge2k
> The theory is that for the first time ever, publication to the internet,
> apart from generating data, amounts to an export of technical data related
> to defense services.”

wasn't this the case with crypto 2 decades ago?

> “No,” says Wilson. “It does not register on my meter. Whatsoever.”

Seems like this could be phrased better at least.

------
ajmarsh
...or you could just go to the hardware store and make a better one.

[http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Zip-Gun](http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Zip-Gun)

------
whatgoodisaroad
I'm going to pedantically nitpick the title, but surely "3D" should apply to
"print" rather than "guns". Printing 2d guns isn't a big deal.

~~~
mbil
Imagine a paper cut at 370 m/s

~~~
DigitalJack
That is the stuff of nightmares.

------
millzlane
Everyone has a natural right to self defense. But by what means? We understand
the laws of sciences like physics and thermodynamics, but we still can't agree
on how humans should live. Why is that?

