Some have described Defense Distributed's efforts as a kind of political performance art.
But with its new search business, Defense Distributed goes beyond provocation to seek profit, too.
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Last year he set up Defense Distributed, a project aiming to print gun parts.
Defense Distributed followed up by creating its own site for the censored designs at Defcad.org.
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Wilson says he founded Defense Distributed as a non-profit and posted the documents in the public domain.
In fact, Guslick says he fired over 200 rounds with his partly-3D-printed semi-automatic, many more than Defense Distributed managed.
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The letter also said that Defense Distributed likely didn't get the proper approval to release the technical data it had posted online.
Despite that worldview, Defense Distributed applied for, and in March received, a federal firearm license which makes it a legal gun manufacturer.
As Congress mulled limits on ammunition magazines larger than ten rounds, Defense Distributed created 3D-printable 30-round magazines for AR-15 and AK-47 rifles.
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The blueprint for the gun and other Defense Distributed firearm components have also been uploaded several times to the Pirate Bay, the censorship-resistant filesharing site.
In October of last year, Stratasys seized a printer it had rented to Defense Distributed after the company learned how its machine was being used.
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Even if a barrel is deformed after firing, Defense Distributed has designed the Liberator to use removable barrels that can be swapped in and out in seconds.
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Over the past weekend, Defense Distributed successfully 3D-printed and tested an ammunition magazine for an AR semi-automatic rifle, loading and firing 86 rounds from the 30-round clip.
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"Defense Distributed may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, a violation, " the State Department's letter to Wilson said.
To head off those proposed regulations, Defense Distributed began offering downloadable and printable blueprints for a 30-round magazine on its website, Defcad.org, over the weekend on its website.
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Three months ago, the gunsmiths behind the group known as Defense Distributed announced their intention to create a working, lethal gun anyone can download and 3D-print at home.
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Wilson, a law student at the University of Texas in Austin, says that Defense Distributed will in fact take down its files until the State Department has completed its review.
Defense Distributed should review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any other data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.
One group calling itself Defense Distributed hopes to create a file for a gun capable of shooting a .22 caliber bullet and may upload its final design to Thingiverse.
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Defense Distributed uploaded its blueprint for the 3D-printable magazine to its website, Defcad.org, which aims to collect designs for gun components, many of which have been removed from other websites.
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That didn't take long -- just days after its first test fire, the Liberator, a 3D-printed pistol designed by Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, has caught the attention of the federal government.
He says Defense Distributed is excluded from the ITAR regulations under an exemption for non-profit public domain releases of technical files designed to create a safe harbor for research and other public interest activities.
The 3-D printer maker Stratasys went so far as to seize a 3-D printer it had rented to the gunsmiths at Defense Distributed when it found out how they were planning it use it.
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And 3D printing firm Makerbot began purging designs for gun components from its website in December, a move that inspired Defense Distributed to make Defcad.org into a haven for files Makerbot refused to host.
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Five months ago, the group of homemade gun enthusiasts known as Defense Distributed set out to create a lethal firearm that could be downloaded and 3D-printed entirely from scratch, circumventing all gun control laws.
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But Defense Distributed has much greater ambitions.
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Last August, Wilson, a law student at the University of Texas and a radical libertarian and anarchist, announced the creation of an Austin-based non-profit group called Defense Distributed, with the intention of creating a firearm anyone could fabricate using only a 3D printer.
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It's an argument unlikely to sway Wilson, who has made no secret of his disdain for the U.S. government in particular and all governments in general. (Defense Distributed makes and sells components with names like "The Cuomo" and "The Pelosi, " to tweak politicians who support gun control).
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