The State Department has their work cut out for them, as they can not police the entire internet, nor can they control or monitor what files individuals transfer to one another.Īt approximately 1:48 PM EST an anonymous Thingiverse user uploaded all the files required to print out Wilson’s Liberator gun. History can be an excellent crystal ball to the future, and in this case history will likely repeat itself. In fact their actions likely exacerbated the problem by feeding those who were violating their copyrights with even more fuel to continue their violations. Taking a glance back at history, we can see that it was impossible for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to make any major dent in the music file sharing explosion which took place a decade ago. Additionally, the files are certainly continuing to be shared, and without a doubt guns are being printed out all over the planet, based on Wilson’s design. As Wilson is in the midst of a lawsuit claiming that the US government has violated his rights by their actions, the facts are that there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of individuals storing those files on their hard drive this very moment. The forced removal of the files was a quick fix to an ever growing concern by the State Department. It showed us that gun control laws were outdated and that new technologies will continue to evolve in order to promote freedom, whether you are for or against it. When the US State Department forced Cody Wilson to removed the design files from his website for the Liberator 3D printed single shot hand gun, this marked a turning point within several arenas.

Update: Thingiverse has removed the files after about 90 minutes, but not before over 115 individuals downloaded them

3d printed gun stl files