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A Texas anarchist group has successfully produced the
first-ever gun produced on a 3-D printer and made entirely of plastic
parts.
An era of unlicensed plastic guns, made on 3-D printers costing as
little as $1,000, has long been forecast, but no one has previously
designed a weapon that could withstand the pressure of firing modern
ammunition.
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On Sunday, the group Defense Distributed posted a video of founder Cody
Wilson firing the 'Liberator' plastic pistol.
Mr Wilson says he plans to make the schematics for the weapon available
for free online this week - meaning everyone with a high-end 3-D printer
can create their own version of the gun.
On the same day, New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he plans
to introduce legislation that will ban the weapons because they can pass
through metal detectors at airports and court houses without being
picked up.
'We’re facing a situation where anyone -- a felon, a terrorist -- can
open a gun factory in their garage and the weapons they make will be
undetectable. It’s stomach-churning,' he said.
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Sixteen of the 17 parts in the Liberator pistol are made from tempered
plastic molded inside the Stratasys Dimension SST 3D printer. The final
piece of the weapons - the firing pin - is a common nail.
Mr Wilson told Forbes.com that he hopes to make weapons available to
anyone who wants them. It is a bid, he says, to keep governments
accountable to the people.
'You can print a lethal device. It’s kind of scary, but that’s what
we’re aiming to show,' he said. 'Anywhere there’s a computer and an
Internet connection, there would be the promise of a gun.'
The name of the gun - Liberator - comes from a simple World War II
pistol that was designed by the US military to made cheaply and air
dropped in large numbers into occupied Europe and concentration camps.
Like its World War II predecessor, the Defense Distributed pistol is a
crude weapon. It holds only a single shot and uses an inaccurate smooth
bore.
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The group has successfully fired it with a .380-caliber pistol round.
However, an attempt to shoot a slightly larger 5.7 x 28mm defense
cartridge blew the gun to pieces.
Currently, the Liberator can only be made through highly specialized
processes on an $8,000 3-D printer. Mr Wilson says he hopes to adapt the
model
The technology behind 3-D printing is not new and has available for
industrial applications for decades.
It is only since about 2010, though, that 3-D printers have become cheap
enough, simple enough to use and compact enough for most consumers to
purchase.
Schumer says the accessibility of 3-D printers makes plastic guns a
security threat.
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'Guns are made out of plastic, so they would not be detectable by a
metal detector at any airport or sporting event,' Schumer said,
according WCBS 880.
'Only metal part of the gun is the little firing pin and that is too
small to be detected by metal detectors, for instance, when you go
through an airport.
'A terrorist, someone who’s mentally ill, a spousal abuser, a felon can
essentially open a gun factory in their garage.'
Schumer wants to renew a previous ban on undetectable weapons while the
new bill would add a ban on plastic high-capacity magazines.
'People have made silencers, stocks, triggers and lots of other gun
parts. They can then upload these digital blueprints to the web and then
anyone with one of these printers – and the printers cost about $1,000 –
can make one,' Schumer said.
Current law bans all-plastic weaponry. Defense Distributed weapons have
just one large metal piece in the handle, to get around the law.
Schumer says the metal can be swapped out and replaced with plastic.
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