3D Gun Plans Will be Sent Directly to Customers

It’s hard to keep up with all the drama surrounding 3D-printed guns. Not that I’m saying we should necessarily care about printing ourselves an arsenal, but the story is just so oppressive that it bears examination by anyone remotely interested in civil rights — and the latest development is interesting, to say the least.

Just a brief recap of recent events: Cody Wilson won a lawsuit which meant it would be legal for him to once again post online plans for 3D-printed guns. Then, after a flurry of “ghost-gun” BS from uninformed anti-freedom folks, an overzealous judge blocked Mr. Wilson from doing so.

Shortly thereafter, someone posted the plans in a book on Amazon, under the belief that freedom of speech applies to computer code as well as any other printed language… and upon learning of it, Amazon promptly removed it.

Now, Cody Wilson has reportedly decided to cut out the server middlemen and simply send plans directly to users, rather than hosting them on the Web, citing language used by the same judge who stands in the way of him posting them publicly.

In his order, [U.S. District Judge] Lasnik said federal regulations mean “the files cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States.”

Now, Wilson is doing just that.

At a news conference Tuesday, Wilson said his company will mail USB drives to customers, who can pay whatever they want. By the end of the event, Wilson said he had already received more than 400 orders.

He also suggested Defense Distributed may send the files through email or secure transfer online.

The scaredy-cats who preach the untruth that printed guns are magically different and more dangerous than other guns will certainly be unhappy. Let them be. Heck, there are plenty of things which are perfectly legal and which people do each and every day, with which I do not agree. The difference is that I believe in freedom, even when that freedom allows people to make bad choices.

Freedom! Now where did ours get off to?

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.