National
3D Printed Guns and Gun Control Zachary Sorenson, staff writer | Artwork by Leslie Liu, assistant design director
I
remember watching the Vice documentary, “3D Printed Guns,” six years ago. The documentary followed the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting where 26 people, most of them children, were killed — the bloody capstone of what was referred to by some as “the year of the gun.” The documentary itself covered the existence and development of 3D printed, plastic firearms by Defense Distributed, a company that seeks to distribute these firearm designs online, free of charge for anyone with the equipment and materials to produce them. This open source distribution would also enable individuals to edit those designs and then redistribute them. These guns have no serial number and no registration, making it difficult, if not impossible, to track them like we track conventionally manufactured and regulated guns. The documentary introduced Cody Wilson, co-founder of Defense Distributed, and the rapid pace of development of gun parts and then actual 3D printed firearms. The first 3D printed gun, the “Liberator,” (a terrible single-shot pistol) was published online May 6th, 2013 and was available for two days before the Department of State ordered the retraction of the plans, arguing that publishing those plans violated weapon export rules. Defense Distributed challenged that order, arguing that since they are distributing information about how to make guns, not guns themselves, they are protected by the First Amendment the same way a book about gun making might be protected. Even after Defense Distributed complied with the State Department, copies of their files continued to circulate across torrent sites. Last year, the State Department settled with Defense Distributed, who then posted designs once again to their website before being promptly sued by 25 states and having to desist once more. Soon after, Cody Wilson was replaced by Paloma Heindorff after he was arrested for an alleged statutory rape. The New York Times notes, that ironically, he “could be blocked from owning a firearm for life if convicted.” The debate over whether, and to what degree, we should regulate guns and gun ownership is still churning onward, but that debate is being outstripped by emerging technologies. Gun
control is being challenged by people like Cody Wilson who work to render regulation irrelevant. When discussing his team’s efforts to design high-capacity magazines, he stated, “You can’t ban a box and a spring”. Likewise, bump stocks, which as of March 2019 are illegal, are easy to fabricate with the aid of a 3D printer (a Google search shows designs already circulating). This brings us to why Cody Wilson is even doing this—he understands that 3D printing and other emerging technologies could “kill” the efficacy of current and prospective gun control measures. Technology has advanced since the first 3D printed gun six years ago, and 3D printed firearms are significantly more effective and safer to use. Defense Distributed has now shifted to creating low cost CNC machines (machines that use an electronic design to cut down a block of metal, or other material, into objects) that would allow individuals to create handguns easily and secretly in the comfort of their homes and sell their designs “pay what you want” style. The online communities that develop and share innovations in 3D printed firearms have also grown. Darren Booth, a member of one of the online communities, worked to create the Shuty AP-9 a semi-automatic firearm (with some basic storebought parts) that is capable, reportedly, of firing at least five thousand 9mm rounds over its lifespan. The designs are available to the public free of charge on GitHub along with printing and assembly instructions. None of this is currently illegal. An individual can manufacture a firearm for personal use if that firearm can be detected by x-ray machines, metal detectors, and if the individual receives permission and pays appropriate taxes on any firearm covered by the National Firearms Act. Two decades ago the proposition to make a safe and usable firearm as an individual would have been difficult for anybody other than an
experienced gunsmith or machinist. Now the barriers have diminished greatly and will continue to do so as additive and subtractive manufacturing becomes cheaper and more pervasive. This reality provides a challenge for people concerned with gun violence on how to keep certain firearms and accessories out of the hands of criminals when making those firearms is easier than ever. Regardless of the legal challenges hamstringing Defense Distributed, the government has been outflanked in the realm of gun control by private initiative and a growing community of techsavvy gun enthusiasts. It remains to be seen if legislators will be able or willing to act in any meaningful way to protect existing regulations and the future of gun control. Unfortunately, we may reach, or have already reached, a point where many gun control proposals will simply be ineffectual. Cody Wilson’s first words in that 2013 documentary still stick with me: “Gun control for us is a fantasy…people say [we're] being unrealistic about printing [a] gun. I think it's more unrealistic now, especially going forward, to think you could ever control this technology.”
Zachary Sorensen ‘21 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at zacharysorensen@wustl.edu.
23