Now Reading
State Department Demands that 3D-Printed Gun Plans Be Removed from the Internet

State Department Demands that 3D-Printed Gun Plans Be Removed from the Internet

This week, a lot of people read this profile of 25-year-old Cody Wilson in Forbes magazine and learned about his mission to distribute the plans for the world’s first 3D-printed gun online. Apparently, among those readers were officials from the State Department. Yesterday, federal officials contacted the self-described “radical libertarian and anarchist” and demanded that the design specs (which can be downloaded for use with a consumer-level 3D printer), be removed from the Internet. Evidentially, the federal government was a little concerned about a plastic firearm being distributed to anyone with an Internet connection, from a guy who wants the government to become “irrelevant.”

Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed said that in the two days since they put the plans online, they had been downloaded more than 100,000 times. In an interview with the site Betabeat, Wilson said that he immediately complied with the State Department’s demand, but added, “But this is a much bigger deal than guns. It has implications for the freedom of the web” …

View Comment (1)

Leave a Reply

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo