Maker Of 3-D Printer Guns Now Has Federal Firearms License

[The Straight Story]

Defense Distributed, an organization best known for advocating open-sourced 3-D printing of guns, says its founder, Cody Wilson, is now a federally licensed gun manufacturer and dealer.

Wilson sent the application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in October. According to Ars Technica, the process, which usually can take as little as 60 days, took about six months for Wilson.

Defense Distributed has been creating prototypes of 3-D guns and magazine clips for months. In February, the project released a video displaying the success of a new magazine that holds 30 bullets for an AR-15 rifle. In total the magazine fired 342 bullets, Wired reported. The group fired "227 of those rounds using full automatic fire, while swapping out the barrels on the rifle to keep them cool," Wired said.

This is an improvement compared to previous testing.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/03/18/174672419/maker-of-3-d-printer-guns-now-has-federal-firearms-license

[Melon_Lord]

1. Technology outpaces the law again...

Really cool though...

[madville]

2. It's all perfectly legal

To prototype or make firearms and magazines as long as one doesn't sell/distribute them, no license required. The general rule is if it's legal for one to buy it at the local gun shop, it's legal to make at home (some items are restricted though at the federal level like full auto firearms).

I think the whole 3D printing is neat. What once took a mill and lathe now emerges from hot plastic. Plastic type magazines are already popular, P-Mag is the company.

[backscatter712]

3. If he's got an FFL, he can print as many guns as he wants.

Of course, that's just as true as a person with more conventional tools like what you'd find in a junior high school metal shop.