Visionary gun maker and patriot Cody Wilson is teaming up with gun-rights activist Alan Gottlieb and the Second Amendment Foundation to sue the federal government for violating Wilson’s Constitutional rights.
The suit, filed Wednesday, alleges that when Secretary of State John Kerry, the State Department, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls precluded Wilson from sharing the blueprints to his 3-D printed gun, “The Liberator,” it violated his First, Second and Fifth Amendment rights.
What’s enlightening about the case is that win or lose there is an underlying message for anti-gunners, mainly that in the long run gun control is futile thanks to advances in technology that allow one to make a firearm in one’s own home. In other words, home gunsmithing and manufacturing is here!
“The technology will break gun control,” said Wilson, co-founder of the non-profit organization, Defense Distributed, in an interview with Fox News. “I stand for freedom.”
Economist John Lott also weighed in on the inevitable demise of laws that seek to restrict one’s right to keep and bear arms.
“3-D printers mean an end to any gun control,” said Lott, a prolific author and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. “The government is not going to be able to ban magazines for guns, or ban guns themselves, and the notions of background checks would be even more impossible to do. Anyone with access to a 3-D printer can make guns functionally and indistinguishable from a gun that can be bought in a store. I don’t know how the government will stop people from obtaining a printer.”
Pressed a little more on the subject, specifically about the file sharing of a 3-D printable firearm, Lott drew a insightful analogy.
From DD’s website: “Ghost Gunner is a miniature CNC machine designed to automatically manufacture publicy created designs with nearly zero user interaction. No prior CNC knowledge or experience is required to manufacture from design files. Defense Distributed’s first design is the venerable AR-15 lower receiver. Ghost Gunner automatically finds and aligns your 80% lower receiver to the machine, with simple installation instructions, point and click software and all required tools. Just follow a few simple instructions to mount your 80% lower receiver, tighten a couple screws (with simple tools we provide), and on day one, Ghost Gunner can help you legally manufacture unserialized firearms in the comfort of your own home.” (Photo: Defense Distributed)
“Just look at the illegal download of television shows and movies,” Lott said. “Millions of copies have been downloaded and the government has been unable to stop it. Why would the government be successful in stopping other information like these files from being downloaded?”
While prices of 3-D printers vary, one can get Wilson’s own “Ghost Gunner,” a CNC mill that gives one the ability to make a metal AR-15 lower receiver with ease, for around $1,200.
“The government does not know how to even begin to deal with these problems,” Lott continued. “I understand what government wants to regulate this, but it is too late. Technology moves faster than government.”
Meanwhile, Gottlieb discussed the genesis of the lawsuit.
“Defense Distributed is being penalized for trying to educate the public about 3-D guns,” said Gottlieb. “The right to keep and bear arms includes the ability to acquire or create arms. The government is engaging in behavior that denies this company’s due process under the Fifth Amendment. We’re compelled to file this action because the bureaucracy is evidently playing games and it’s time for these agencies to behave.”
I wonder what they’d say if a group of friends got together and formed a club and purchased one of these machines then all the members used it. Each member buys his own parts and uses the club machine to finish the parts.
It’s doomed to fail because there is no way the federal government can muster enough people with a suicide wish to come kick in 100 million doors…
Everyone has access to “how to make a nuclear bomb” or other very nasty instruments of mass destruction. Your ideas regarding guns are great and trust I that you hold that ground. Criminals always find a way to harm people and unfortunately, our elected government authorities work at trying to prevent law abiding citizens from having the ability to defend ourselves from the alcoholics and other drug addicts who usually comprise our criminal population. The real reason that most do not like cameras is due to the possibility that their own criminal activities are revealed or they are honest but fearful people that the government will “take over” our lives. All intellectual production should be allowed and closer watch should be made of our government.