14 DAY TRIAL // It's a bit alarming how popular guns are. It was just around three days ago that the first, fully-certified 3D-printed gun came out, and its schematic has already been downloaded 100,000 times.
25-year-old law student Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed is the one that made the Liberator.
The design can easily be recreated by anyone who owns a 3D printer. All the parts can be churned out by the machine, except two metal components: the firing pin, and a 6-ounce piece of metal that will make the gun show up on metal detectors.
Seeing how quickly the world took a shine to the product, the Department of Defense has stepped in.
Now, the blueprints have been released from the DefCad website. It is possible that Distributed broke the Arms Export Control Act.
I can see why the DOD would react this way: releasing the plans provides a chance for people to get a firearm without a background check. Felons and mentally ill people could become really dangerous without anyone knowing.