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Despite His Criminal Record, Cody Wilson Is Back In The 3D-Printed Gun Business
Cody Wilson, the self-described anarchist and figurehead of the 3D-printed gun movement, led investigators on an international manhunt last year before being arrested and charged with having sex with a minor. In August, he struck a deal with Travis County prosecutors, pleading guilty to a lesser charge of injury to a child, which is a felony.
He received seven years of probation and is now a registered sex offender, banned from being within 500 feet of playgrounds, schools and any other “child safety zone.” He can no longer carry a handgun in public and, under federal law, he is barred from buying and selling weapons at gun stores.
Despite that, Wilson says he is getting back to the business of 3D-printed guns. And according to interviews with state and federal authorities, there’s nothing standing in his way.
Wilson’s return coincides with the upcoming release of the Ghost Gunner 3, the latest iteration of a controversial gun-manufacturing machine produced by Defense Distributed, the company Wilson founded in 2012. The product is advertised to be bigger and faster, and its promoters boast that it can produce parts for AK-47 rifles. The machine is the latest product to capitalize on the growing trend of homemade weapons, which can be acquired without a background check.
Right after his arrest, Wilson announced he would step down as Defense Distributed’s CEO. Late last month, he told the Washington Free Beacon his criminal history isn’t enough for anyone to stop him from returning. He said he is “definitely not a prohibited person” in Travis County, which has faced criticism for its lax approach to sexual assault prosecutions. For Wilson, this means he can own guns and even run a business that sells guns – despite admitting guilt to a felony.
Wilson confirmed that’s how he views his status, saying it's consistent with what his probation officer told him. He declined to offer further comment.
Turns out, he may be right. Wilson’s plea deal – known as a deferred adjudication – is more or less a frozen indictment.
If he meets the court’s terms in full, the felony charge is wiped. And while on probation, the state doesn’t view Wilson as a prohibited person.
“The answer right now appears to be that [the deal] does count as a deferred and is not a hard conviction,” Assistant District Attorney Joe Frederick said. “And if that is the case, then he would be able to maintain possession or ownership of [a] firearm.”
In other words, though Wilson shouldn’t be able to pass a background check, he is free and clear to own a gun under state law, if he owned it before the plea deal. And because he can own a gun, Frederick said, he can also run a firearms business.
Under federal law, however, Wilson’s status is murkier, he said.
“If he's on probation and he somehow registers new firearms or somehow gets new guns or, you know, purchases a new gun as part of his business, that could violate his probation and that'd be a gray area,” Frederick said.
Wilson clarified that he didn't surrender any of his firearms as part of his plea deal, despite reporting to the contrary, and he said he wouldn't necessarily have to purchase a firearm to run his company.
According to the Texas Secretary of State, Wilson is currently listed as the director of Ghost Gunner Inc., an offshoot of Defense Distributed that manufactures the so-called mills that print gun components from design files available online. Wilson confirmed he directs Ghost Gunner.
However, Wilson is not officially on board at Defense Distributed, the company he started as a UT Austin law student and that partly sparked the DIY, 3D-printed firearms movement. State records show Paloma Heindorff, who has carried Wilson’s mantle since his resignation, is still the director of Defense Distributed.
Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman / KUT
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KUT
Defense Distributed manufactures 3D printers designed to produce firearm parts.The firm made international news in 2013 when it designed the Liberator, the first completely 3D-printed gun, and subsequently released the designs for at-home gun-makers to re-create across the world. The Department of State ordered the company to take down the files, citing international arms trafficking laws.
Wilson and Defense Distributed sued the State Department, claiming it was violating his First Amendment rights. The Trump administration negotiated a settlement clearing the way for Defense Distributed to drop 10 additional gun blueprints before a restraining order was issued.
Defense Distributed – and the future of 3D-printed guns overall – is far from secure. Last week, a federal judge reversed the settlement after Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued, arguing it was illegal.
“It is baffling that the Trump Administration continued to work so hard to allow domestic abusers, felons and terrorists access to untraceable, undetectable 3D-printed guns,” Ferguson said in a press release.
Defense Distributed is appealing the decision.
According to a Nov. 6 email blast, Defense Distributed has sold more than 500 copies of the Ghost Gunner 3. It expects to start shipping the machines in January. Wilson said the company would continue to develop new products and maintains that his legal status allows him to be involved in its operations.
Frederick, the assistant district attorney, cautioned that while he is on probation, Wilson’s ongoing involvement with homemade guns could put him at risk for additional legal trouble.
“I mean, he can make any argument you want, you know? It's America. Whether or not it withstands legal scrutiny is something different," he said. “He's on the cusp of something that could go one way or the other, and he should probably tread very carefully.”
This story was reported jointly with The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on guns in America.
Austin-Based 3D-Gun Firm Expects A Boom In Business As Biden Targets 'Ghost Guns'
Lee esta historia en español.
Austin-based 3-D gun designer Cody Wilson said he expects a White House plan to curb the proliferation of so-called ghost guns will end up in court and that it could also incentivize more people to manufacture firearms at home.
President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the administration's intent to crack down on kits sold online to manufacture the untraceable guns.
He said a forthcoming administrative rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would require serial numbers and background checks on the DIY guns.
Wilson is a former UT student who began manufacturing 3D-printed pistols in 2012. He went on to found Defense Distributed and eventually Ghost Gunner, which manufactures machines that allow people to make receivers and frames for pistols and long-guns fully functional.
Wilson told KUT the proposed regulations likely will face legal challenges, and that he expects Trump-appointed judges would stall any orders, effectively giving manufacturers time to find work-arounds.
"It's going to be fought ferociously," he said, "and there's enough Trump judges out there that [it's] even odds that it gets completely stalled."
Trump appointed 30% of federal appeals court judges in his single term — more than George W. Bush and Barack Obama combined.
The kits sold online contain a receiver without a serial number, along with other components that can be used to assemble a firearm.
Known as "80%" receivers and frames because they're 80% complete, they're not classified as firearms by the ATF nor are they subject to the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Several states have sued over their sale because they're used to create guns that are near-impossible to trace. In California, ghost guns accounted for a third of firearms seized by ATF agents in 2018.
Wilson said he expects the rule would target manufacturers like Polymer80, a popular Nevada-based firm that manufactures receivers modeled after Glock and Sig Sauer pistols. The company was raided by the ATF late last year.
Wilson said he doesn't expect any new federal rule to affect operations at Defense Distributed or Ghost Gunner, which he rejoined after taking a plea deal for a charge of sex with a minor. In fact, he said, he expects the rule could mean more people seeking his so-called milling machines, which allow people to make their own 80% receivers.
"Obviously, in the game that we're in, we've anticipated this for a long time," he said.
"This is not a surprise and, of course, we have a commercial and a legal answer to it in the worst-case scenario."
Wilson and his companies have been tied up in federal courts over the last few years over files used to print those receivers. He said the government's move could cause more people to make their own untraceable firearm components and, eventually, their own guns.
"It's going to be an [actually] perverse set of incentives where more people are going to get into the industry of making unfinished components, because nobody wants to deal with regulated components," he said. "So, a year from now everyone's going to be complaining about how much ... easier it is and how ... more people are using my equipment"
Biden's announcement comes after mass shootings in Boulder, Colo., and Atlanta last month, and as another unfolded in Bryan.
At least five states and the District of Columbia have sued to ban the sale of ghost guns, according to the nonprofit Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence.
Biden said he expects the ATF to put forth a rule within 30 days. After that, there will be a public comment period before a rule is finalized.
Efficiency of "printed" weapons
Creator - American company Solid Concepts (Austin, Texas). She released the world's first 3D printed metal gun. In order to create a fully functional small arms, Solid Concepts engineers applied "laser sintering technology".
Pistol design - one to one repetition of the American classics - M1911 developed by John Browning, who created this model at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, the pistol has been produced in millions of copies, many companies have been involved in its production in various versions. For 100 years of the M1911 being in operation, it has been thoroughly studied and tested. Solid Concepts completely manufactured the gun, including the rifled muzzle, from steel and Inconel (an alloy of chromium and nickel) using the DMLS method - direct laser sintering. This technology is very popular and involves the process of layer-by-layer “growing” of a finished product sample from metal dust, which is melted in the right places using a laser beam.
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The Texas-based company said they wanted to show the world what metal was capable of, as well as find a way to achieve high accuracy and cope with high temperatures. Where the company is truly ahead of the curve is in making a fully operational pistol using DMLS technology. This required from them not only engineering talent, but also a certain level of courage. More than 500 shots from the manufactured pistols were fired from the hands of the company's employees themselves in the shooting gallery. Pretty good advertising for the company, because the company does not plan to seriously engage in the production of weapons. Production of printed M1911 needed Solid Concepts in order to most clearly dispel the myth that exists around 3D printing - supposedly it can only be used to produce a variety of plastic knick-knacks.
The entire process of making a pistol takes 25 to 35 hours. The duration of the work depends on what materials and printer are used.
Printed parts.
3D printed pistol is an M19 automatic pistol11 designs by renowned gunsmith John Moses Browning. Until 1985, this weapon was actively used in the American army, and today it is the most popular model of small arms not only among all fans of sports shooting at the shooting range, but also among Hollywood directors.
As American engineers told reporters, more than 30 components of the M1911 pistol were made using laser sintering technology, in which powdered metals are laser-melted and tightly joined to each other in accordance with a given computer model. After melting the metal powder, the industrial 3D printer overlays the next layer on top of the previous one, repeating the entire process until the computer redirects the device nozzle. At the final stage of production, powder residues are removed from the product, and the printed product is cooled and gradually hardens. nine0004
Note the target behind the shooter. The hitting accuracy is quite satisfactory.
The M1911 pistol includes 33 components that are made from stainless steel and a new nickel-chromium heat-resistant alloy called Inconel-625.
Even the pistol grip, which is made of nylon-coated carbon fiber, is also fully 3D printed. Unlike most plastic-printed M1911 pistols, its barrel was rifled. According to the engineers of Solid Concepts, a number of the final stages of production were carried out manually, while the weapon was not subjected to mechanical processing. It took about 7 minutes for the company's specialists to assemble the pistol from cast parts. nine0002
A press release issued by the company states that the purpose of the experiment was not to make the manufacturing process cheaper. The American company tried to prove to everyone that today metal objects printed on a 3D printer can be easy to manufacture and higher quality than those produced by traditional methods. For example, 3D printing technology provides much less porosity in parts than conventional casting. For the same reason, printed products and designs are more durable and strong if no errors were made during their release. nine0004
The barrel of the M1911 pistol is able to withstand a pressure of 14,000 kg per square centimeter at the moment of firing.
...judging by the latest statements by experts, the main cause for possible alarm is that from now on a person will be able to make weapons that will not look like weapons. He gets his hands on the ability to create things of any form that will not succumb to established methods of defining weapons and the principles of gun law. And the control over such crafts is currently an unexplored area. nine0004
Another photo of the "printed" pistol assembled.
text taken from http://topwar.ru
Information sources:
http://russian.rt.com/article/18971
http://www.computerra.ru/88038/3d-metal -age
http://sunnapress.com/news/science/5880-predstavlen-pervyj-metallicheskij-pistolet-napechatannyj-na-3d-printere.html
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