Free Republic

The revolutionary concept of 3-D printed firearms has been building momentum for months now. Online observers, innovators, investors and the generally curious celebrated as the first completely 3-D printed handgun became a reality. Since the blueprint for “The Liberator” hit the web, the file was downloaded thousands of times in just a few days. Today, the government shut it down. Cody Wilson, the 3-D gunsmith, law student, and founder of the non-profit innovation outlet, Defense Distributed, broke the bad news in a tweet to his followers.

Eight months ago, Cody Wilson set out to create the world’s first entirely 3D-printable handgun. Now he has. Early next week, Wilson, a 25-year University of Texas law student and founder of the non-profit group Defense Distributed, plans to release the 3D-printable CAD files for a gun he calls “the Liberator,” pictured in its initial form above. He’s agreed to let me document the process of the gun’s creation, so long as I don’t publish details of its mechanics or its testing until it’s been proven to work reliably and the file has been uploaded to Defense Distributed’s online collection...

On a hour long interview with Alex Jones, Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed states that they will be releasing files for a functional, completely 3D printed pistol within a month. Cody states "We have found some ways to make printable guns work." Defense Distributed has already shown that they can make workable, usable magazines and lower receivers. This will be the first completely printable firearm. Expectations are not high, but Cody Wilson believes that it will be capable of a few shots before it becomes inoperable. It will be a modern day Liberator pistol, delivered by the internet rather than...