AUSTIN, Texas -- Austin resident and self-described "crypto-anarchist" Cody Wilson said he is now selling blueprints that allow users to 3D-print their own plastic guns, despite a recent court ruling.
He made the announcement Tuesday morning during a news conference.
“Digital technology has immeasurably benefited the right to keeping bear arms, that’s a message that I continue to advocate,” Wilson said.
The online push comes despite a federal court order barring Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed, from posting the plans online. Wilson said he believes that selling them, instead of posting the plans for anyone to view or download for free, will not run afoul of a Seattle federal judge’s Monday order.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik wrote in his ruling:
"Regulation under the AECA (Arms Export Control Act) means that the files cannot be uploaded to the Internet, but they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States."
“We didn’t get an interruption to the access to these files, we only got the direct knee-capping and subversion of our first amendment,” Wilson said.
Citing his First Amendment rights, Wilson said buyers can name their price, some offering between $0 to $15. Defense Distributed will then put these files on a USB drive and mail it. The company said they can only do deliveries within the United States.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia sued the company arguing 3D-printable firearms pose a safety risk.
“This is about these states desperately flailing for some type of Internet power to prevent people from sharing things online,” Wilson said.
Gyl Switzer of Texas Gun Sense is concerned how people who download the files are not subject to a background check and the guns themselves do not have serial numbers.
“When we’re talking about school safety, some folks think one of the solutions is to have metal detectors at our school how is that effective in any way if folks have weapons without metal," Switzer said.
In a statement U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett said:
"Insecurity is the real product that Defense Distributed is distributing. We must overcome this scheme to thwart all efforts to assure the safety of our schools, airports and other public places. A new Congress could pass The Untraceable Firearms Act, which I am sponsoring, to assure enough metal in these weapons to make them detectable by existing screening devices and to require an identifying number at the time of manufacture to assure their traceability by law enforcement. While we cannot undo all of the damage that the Trump Administration has conspired to promote, we should enact reasonable gun safety measures to reduce the danger. Meanwhile, I hope the court in Seattle can broaden its order to prevent this effort at circumvention.”
But Wilson maintains his actions are within the law.
"If there’s a legal way to make guns like these, there's a legal way to possess them," he said. "The files themselves don’t really implicate this. It’s legal no matter what."