Mr Wilson told Forbes “We have to comply”, but claimed the State Department's fears was wrong to worry because Defense Distributed met requirements that exempted it from the arms-control regulations.
Instructions for making The Liberator, a plastic handgun that could escape detection by conventional airport security, were made freely available to download from the internet by anti-government activists in the US.
It was created by a group in Texas that aims to make “WikiWeapons” that can be reproduced with a home computer and a $1,000 (£644) 3D printer that uses heated plastics instead of ink.
“It’s a demonstration that technology will allow access to things that governments would otherwise say that you shouldn’t have access to,” Cody Wilson, the leader of Defense Distributed, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Things that there are legitimate demands for will be available,” said Mr Wilson, 25, who is described as a free-market anarchist. “That’s the point we want to make.”
Video footage showed Mr Wilson successfully test firing the gun at a target.
The Liberator, which fires .380-calibre bullets, comprises 15 printable plastic components and a single metal nail as a firing pin, which appears to be too small to trigger metal detector systems.
It was produced with a 3D printer that Mr Wilson bought on eBay for $8,000 (£5,140). The printer draws on a supply of a heated common plastic where a regular printer uses an ink cartridge.
It dispenses layer upon layer of the heated plastic to gradually build a three-dimensional solid object, as dictated by the computer design software that handles blueprints such as Mr Wilson’s.
Video courtesy YouTube/DXLiberty
Instructions for making The Liberator, a plastic handgun that could escape detection by conventional airport security, were made freely available to download from the internet by anti-government activists in the US.
It was created by a group in Texas that aims to make “WikiWeapons” that can be reproduced with a home computer and a $1,000 (£644) 3D printer that uses heated plastics instead of ink.
“It’s a demonstration that technology will allow access to things that governments would otherwise say that you shouldn’t have access to,” Cody Wilson, the leader of Defense Distributed, told The Daily Telegraph.
“Things that there are legitimate demands for will be available,” said Mr Wilson, 25, who is described as a free-market anarchist. “That’s the point we want to make.”
Video footage showed Mr Wilson successfully test firing the gun at a target.
The Liberator, which fires .380-calibre bullets, comprises 15 printable plastic components and a single metal nail as a firing pin, which appears to be too small to trigger metal detector systems.
It was produced with a 3D printer that Mr Wilson bought on eBay for $8,000 (£5,140). The printer draws on a supply of a heated common plastic where a regular printer uses an ink cartridge.
It dispenses layer upon layer of the heated plastic to gradually build a three-dimensional solid object, as dictated by the computer design software that handles blueprints such as Mr Wilson’s.
Video courtesy YouTube/DXLiberty