The book opens with a quote from Jean Baudrillard (a frequent source of inspiration for Wilson) which states:[1]
There is much more to be hoped for in an excess of information or of weapons than in the restriction of information or arms control. —Jean Baudrillard[2]
Come and Take It is organized into chapters titled "parts".
Prologue: WikiLeaks, Solid Imaging, and Open Source
Following this, the prologue of the book is titled, "WikiLeaks, Solid Imaging, and Open Source" and covers thoughts of Wilson's from around 2012 when he mused with friends about the energy in the air around that time and what Wilson and his friends hoped for the future. Specifically, Wilson wonders about what it would mean to get onto the internet, in the manner of WikiLeaks, information around making a gun, that anyone, anywhere could access. The prologue closes with an introduction of a friend and future collaborator on what would come to become known as the "WikiWeapon" named Benjamin Denio.[2]
Part I: Wiki Weapon
In Part 1 titled "Wiki Weapon" Wilson describes his time at the University of Texas at Austin where he was attending law school and how the environment was rich with likeminded tinkerers for the sort of projects Wilson would become interested in. Wilson describes the company MakerBot that was inspiring the entire space of 3D printing in a consumer setting at home at the time. Wilson explains his deliberations over the future of what would become Defense Distributed and specifically goes into detail over his thinking in terms of the future needs of the company, primarily fundraising. Wilson mentions that he was a student of law at UT Austin at the time, and though he was on scholarship, felt that he needed to dedicate himself full time to the 3D printed gun project and might need to drop out of law school.[1] Wilson also realizes in this chapter that the business model of giving away files or things for free would be difficult when compared to charging for a good or service. Wilson went on various radio programs early on to try and gain exposure for his project and to hopefully get a donor interested, one program that he went on early on was with the program LRN.FM (Liberty Radio Network).[2]
Wilson closes this chapter discussing funding issues in regard to an IndieGogo campaign that he had started to try and gain seed funds, only to be shut down after someone flagged the campaign for being related to firearms. Wilson reacted by putting a Bitcoin address up for people to give donations to instead, many of the donations had political undertones implying an affinity for the American Revolution Wilson described by stating that the donations were often in amounts denoting the year 1776 such as, "17.76", "1.776", and ".1776" bitcoin respectively. Bitcoin allowed Wilson to circumvent the blocks that otherwise attempted to censor or shut down the operations he was engaging.[2]
Part II: Ministry of Defense
Part 2 titled "Ministry of Defense", is where Wilson describes his first interactions with other people around Austin looking to start a 3D printing company more broadly. Wilson describes to some potential co-collaborators that he is looking to use a Stratasys printer that he signed up to use. Discussions around CAD and various printing jargon is discussed.[2]
This chapter also introduces the first mention of Amir Taaki, in which Wilson receives an email from Taaki in which Taaki asks Wilson if he could come to London for a "bitcoin2012" event as a speaker. Wilson described Taaki in the following manner regarding his background research in deciding whether or not to attend:[2]
I told him to give me a day to decide. And in a day I decided. I googled him, Amir Taaki, and saw the name everywhere. He even had a Wikipedia page. The Iranian-British hacker had been described as both an enfant terrible and a key developer in Bitcoin, the world's most exciting experiment in digital currency. From scanning the talk page on his Wiki, I decided our views actually aligned. Taaki was hoping to do with currency what I believed was possible with weapons—namely, to place them outside state structures.[2]
At the airport on the way to London, Wilson criticizes the TSA and government surveillance state with a sarcastic remark, "This was a civilization worth protecting, after all." On the journey, Wilson also speaks fondly of the book he was reading, Guerrilla Gunsmithing: Quick And Dirty Methods For Fixing Firearms In Desperate Times by Ragnar Benson. While trying to read, Wilson overhears some baby boomer aged individuals loudly discussing various mundane facets of their lives as insurance salesmen such as playing golf. Wilson criticizes baby boomers as a "natural enemy" in that period of his life, "If in those days I had a natural enemy, it was the boomers. They infested the institutions. They daily erected monuments to their parents, that swindled generation gone down to death, and in laying them to rest had come to see their own bodies as prestige objects."[2]
Cody Wilson finally meets Amir Taaki in London and the two of them deliver talks and Q&A before the Bitcoin and crypto-anarchist oriented audience. Taaki and Wilson instantly get along very well, get some good together and continue conversations several times more, then Wilson heads back to Texas.[2]
Part III: The Gun Printer
After many weeks, the printer from Stratasys arrived in Austin at Wilson and Benjamin Denio's address. The two discuss their financial problems and the need for not wasting any time in getting to work.[2]
Shortly after the 3D printer arrives, which was not purchased, but was on lease, Wilson is told that officials from the company will have someone pick the printer back up before the lease is up. Wilson believes that this is just a mere accounting error and that some bill was not paid, "One of those accidents you expect when you deal with any large, bureaucratic operation." But it turns out that it was political and that Stratasys had heard of Wilson's plans to use the printer to try and print guns over the various media pieces that had been written about him by this point. The legal letter from Stratasys stated the following:[2]
Dear Mr. Wilson,
I am legal counsel for Stratasys, Inc. We are aware that you have leased one of our 3D printers for a period of 3 months. We are also aware, from recent press articles and your blog, that you intend to manufacture plastic guns using our printer. We have received no indication that you hold a federal firearms manufacturer's license.
This email is to notify you that we are cancelling your lease on the machine and will arrange to pick up the printer and take such other action as is legally warranted.
We will expect to hear from you immediately by return email. If we do not hear from you within 24 hours, we will arrange for the immediate return of the printer.
Cody Wilson responded to this initial legal letter with the following response:
Claire,
Thank you for emailing me. I received a call some days ago basically asking me for the printer back without any other explanation.
I must correct you, however. I will not be manufacturing firearms, as "manufacture" and "manufacturing" have quite specific definitions within the legal regime we're discussing. I will be making prototypes for personal study (not selling, distributing, or giving away what I produce), an activity that has never and will never require a federal firearms license. It is possible some of the prototypes will be considered AOWs for purposes of the National Firearms Act, but in this event the prototype need only be registered with the ATF and have its due making tax promtly paid.
I'm afraid Stratasys has misunderstood either the nature of my effort or the laws governing firearms creation, but I trust it will respect the law of contracts.
I am in receipt of your email dated September 26, 2012 in which you state your opinion that your intended use of the Stratasys uPrint SE will not be in violation of federal firearms laws. You have also made it clear that you do not have a federal firearms manufacturers license. Based upon your lack of a license and your public statements regarding your intentions in using our printer, Stratasys disagrees with your opinion. However, we do not intend to engage in a legal debate with you.
It is the policy of Stratasys not to knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes. Therefore, please be advised that your lease of the Stratasys uPrint SE is cancelled at this time and Stratasys is making arrangements to pick up the printer. Please notify me when, in the next 48 hours, we can pick up the printer.
Then the company came and took the printer back, and Wilson told the shipping staff that he planned to print guns with the printer they were hauling away. The logistics personnel did not seem bothered by Wilson's intended use of the Stratasys printer.[2]
Wilson then realized the real reason that the printer was taken away was that the company Stratasys had a clause in their contract with Wilson that said that any use of their printers that could "harm the company image" were not allowed and would be sufficient grounds to void any contract. Wilson writes that he understood this, and decided then that he needed to become "unavoidable" and get himself a Federal Firearms License (FFL).[2]
Cody Wilson then goes to a local branch of the ATF to ask a few questions about opening or becoming his own FFL, only to discover that representatives at Stratasys had reported him and made an official criminal complaint. Several ATF agents begin questioning Wilson, but quickly realize that he had broken no law.[2]
Wilson meets a figure named Daniel Fisher that offers to help in various ways, including offering to let Wilson use an FFL that he had.[2]
Wilson discusses his thoughts around Alex Jones, in particular that Wilson views Jones as an influential figure within the sort of space that Wilson would need to spread the word about his ideas to make a 3D printed gun.[2]
Later in the chapter Wilson is critical of MakerBot's Bre Pettis and MakerBot Industries event "Maker Faire" which described itself as "family-friendly" while also being open to "commercial exhibitors." Wilson said of the event that, "This insistence on the lightness and whimsy of farce... The event was modeled on a Renaissance performance. This was a crowd of actors playing historical figures. A living charade meant to dislocate and obscure their moment with adolescent novelty."[2]
Part IV: Terror
This chapter opens with Cody Wilson speaking before a group of college libertarians on a university campus in Texas. Wilson expounds in depth on his views of various political movements and figures, mostly related to revolutionary and insurrectionist causes through history, most especially the 18th through 20th century historical figures. Wilson also speaks highly of "...the kind of fevered republicanism that gripped England in the early 1600s [which] yielded rare political fruit. Figures like James Harrington and John Toland..."[2]
Wilson speaks at length about Harrington and in particular his notion of a "universal militia":
One of the terrifying and outstanding concepts the Harrington republicans developed was the universal militia. Instead of a ruler hiring a mercenary army or establishing a standing army that owed fidelity only to the crown, every freeholder would be responsible for providing for the common defense and practicing with arms. The republican radical believed not only that this kind of responsibility would cultivate a better citizen, but that a nation with a universal militia would be less prone to throwing itself into unnecessary and foreign wars. The commonwealth might be kept in a more defensive posture, and the people better able to tend to their own affairs. Though now this seems an unlikely thought, it seemed a prudential model to the radicals of its day. The universal militia might keep the common citizen freer in the long run while dislocating the corrupting influence of power from a single sovereign or gang of oligarchs. Thomas Paine and the urban radicals of the American Revolution were familiar with the so-called standing army controversy as well, and the ideal of the universal militia was carried right over to the foundation of American gun politics. I told my audience I believed the Second Amendment to be a vestige of this now entirely foreign, paradoxical republican debate. A concrete legal protection of a citizen's right to violently abolish the law. A miraculous rarity in history. A concept so unique that we may never see it as a part of statecraft again.[2]
Wilson continues next by tying the historical background he had just gone into great detail on to his contemporary aims with Defense Distributed and the creation of a 3D printed gun, "What separated Defense Distributed from the impotent was that when we said 'universal access to arms,' those who listened understood we meant just that. Universal access to arms."[2]
Briefly Wilson mentions an encounter with an individual named "John Henry Liberty" who tried to offer ways to help Wilson and the Defense Distributed by adding elements of Tor to the file distribution and download process. John Henry Liberty assured Wilson that he could help in these ways, but this encounter ends when Wilson says of the recollection, "Of course I never saw him again."[2]
The remainder of the chapter involves Wilson going to an anarchist bookstore called "Brave New Books" with the slogan, "Brave New Books. Out of Bubblegum since 2006", (A reference to the Roddy Piper film, They Live) where Wilson speaks with the staff about the various happenings in Austin related to anarchistic activity and FBI monitoring of the locals. Wilson then meets up with a gun store owner in the city and discusses some CNC milling ideas related to gun parts but Wilson emphasizes that he is looking at extrusion or 3D printing and is not yet looking at CNC milling. The chapter closes with Wilson going to a hamburger joint called "Players".[2]
Part V: Danger
Cody Wilson drives to Fredericksburg, Texas to meet now with the machinist Daniel Fisher first described in "Part III" and his brother. Both Daniel and his brother are major gun enthusiasts that meet Wilson with rifles slung over shoulder. Daniel introduces his brother named Eric. Eric works at a security company that is working on a "biometric scanner."[2]
Eric has what looks like a short barrel rifle (SBR), but it turns out the seeming rifle is actually a AR-stylepistol. Wilson says that before he can make a full gun, it would be wise for the team to begin first with making receivers, just because then the receiver could work with other readymade parts and likely be more reliable and come to "market" more quickly. Wilson was making promises about deadlines to various journalists as to when he might have a 3D printed gun after all, and so he did not want any excessive delays.[2]
Wilson spends time with Daniel and Eric and Daniel's wife and family sharing a meal and discussing nylon made lower receivers and other gun parts and materials and technical aspects of the goal that is now coming closer to becoming real. Wilson notices a "mammoth anti-tank rifle next to the couch." The men all discuss hog hunting in Texas and make some comments comparing dog and pig intelligence.[2]
Wilson, Daniel and Eric go shooting rifles with printed lowers that they all made and try and do some testing. The results were mixed, but it did not really work quite the way that Wilson wanted it to. The lower receiver did work for several shots, but then failed. Wilson then was asked by the others if he should show the video online, and Wilson reluctantly agrees, albeit he says, "It was time to show a little illusion to the world" and to show the video in a way so as to appear more reliable than it really was. Reporter Rachel Maddow said, "Sure it's a gun, but it's a crappy gun."[1] Wilson responded to the various criticisms by reflecting, "We were watching the chattering classes deal with the terror of an idea realized. What could they do but be mystified? This was the agony of the concept."[2]
Midway through the chapter Wilson mentions the Undetectable Firearms Act was coming up for expiration, until, "...the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)...representative from New York, had discovered that...it was expiring in 2013." And therefore it was seen to that the act was renewed. Wilson said, "And I had hoped we might be able to run out the clock on them." though he "was charmed" that the Act seemed to get attention at all in almost entirely due to the latest release of YouTube videos from Wilson on the Wiki Weapon. Wilson believed that, "Laws like the Undetectable Firearms Act and the proposed anti-printed gun bills to come were announced more as theater than anything else."[2]
Wilson continues by speaking with Ben Denio and others about explosives and other chemical matters related to the ongoing development of the project. Then Wilson discusses the story of Aaron Swartz. Wilson writes of Swartz as possibly noble, albeit naive, saying, "...he thought they'd let him take it [the release of JSTOR files for free to all]. Like all that talk in the seminar room about the commons was for real. Maybe he thought they'd forgive one of their own. Because hey, sometimes history needs a little help."[2]
Part VI: Jarhead Angel
Wilson is asked in this chapter by reported Andy Greenberg about the Sandy Hook shooting of 2012 and if that would change anything about the plans that Defense Distributed. Wilson had to take a law school exam for 5 hours and so was not able to respond or look into it further for some time.[2]
Wilson then goes to see Daniel and continues to review the upper and lower receiver development and shooting testing.[2]
Wilson and some of his other collaborators in this chapter begin to emphasize that they may not "have much time" given the prospect of possible coming gun control laws after the Sandy Hook shooting. He also engages with some technical discussions around the types of materials to use, and Wilson emphasizes that the project has both technical and political goals. The political meaning that Wilson wants to use materials that would be commonly available to anyone, anywhere, and not make the gun so hard to make that only with advanced materials and printers could it be made. On this basis, ABS plastics were considered to be essential as a common component.[2]
Wilson drove out to one of the Fredericksburg ranch that the team had been doing testing at and had a couple of German video journalists with him that filmed some footage of more tests Defense Distributed conducted with more and more reliable AR receivers.[2]
Thingiverse began to remove any and all files related to gun parts by now Wilson describes in this chapter as well, magazines, silencers, receivers and more.[2] Wilson describes this moment as being when he first decided they would need their own site to distribute and disseminate files, instead of just relying on third party file repositories such as Thingiverse. Prior to the decision by Thingiverse to "root out all gun files", Wilson said, "I thought maybe one day we'd have a whole portfolio there..." but then Wilson said, "We need to send a message that the Internet routes around censorship."[2]
Part VII: John
This chapter opens with some reflections on the current state of possible new gun controls circa 2012. Wilson reflects on the new proposals to usher in a new "single feature test", Wilson said, "AKs, thumbhole stocks, everything. This time they're going for a one-feature test instead of two or three. Does your rifle have a threaded barrel? Assault weapon. Banned."[2]
Wilson continues with some interviews with various left-wing journalists, and comments on their being strangely repulsed merely being in the presence of firearms. In one interview with some video journalists from Vice, Wilson comments that due to the internet there will be no return to the gun bans of the 1990s.[2] Wilson said:
These planners think they can take us back to the gun bans of 1994, and everything can be perfect forever. All I'm saying is no, you can't. Now there's the internet.[2]
Wilson comments on how only because some of the expiration of some patents that he and his team were only just then able to work on some things and use some 3D printing technology:
Stereolithography and selective laser sintering. Two of the basic forms of rapid prototyping. Remember, 3D printing has been around for a long time to produce prototypes—nonfunctional solid parts. Now we're in the era of making functional objects. So, those old patents have been around for nearly thirty years. They had a nice little monopoly there for a while. As for fused deposition modeling, what you see with Stratasys, RepRap, and Makerbot didn't follow this practice and became available even sooner.[2]
Wilson then comments on his continued efforts to stick through law school, and comments that he managed only a "B" in his "second amendment class", furthering stating, "the universe was probably trying to tell me something."[2]
In this chapter Cody Wilson also mentions the "last class that I attended" as part of his time enrolled at the UT law school.[2]
The name for Wilson's new website and the finishing touches on it were established, the named DEFCAD was chosen, "...a mocking challenge to the idea of a securitized world of any defense condition" Wilson remarked.[2]
Wilson then meets with someone named "John" whom he first communicated with after sending out a message on Twitter seeking engineering help. John tells Cody that he was a big fan of the ideas that Wilson has been pursuing and was excited to help. Cody and John go back and forth discussing political affairs and the larger problems as perceived by Wilson of the "administrative state" and Wilson decries the current United States government as, "...more absolute than any of the old monarchies of Europe.", further elaborating, "I'm disgusted by these massive House and Senate bills, where these psychopaths just wholesale transfer power over to the administrative state."[2]
Another journalist reached back out to Wilson asking about further updates from DD. Wilson explains how he plans to further expand his efforts to be able to make printable AR-style rifle magazines and AK-47 style rifle magazines.[2]
Cody and John go shooting to further test some of these newly printed plastic magazines. Multiple repeated failures continued to frustrate Wilson. After some added tests and more failures, John and Cody finally get a chance to show off the magazine working before a new reporter that should give them national coverage. Wilson says that he wants to say the line "How's that national conversation going?" (in mocking reference to Nancy Pelosi asking for a "national conversation post-Newtown). Then Cody asks John, "...ask me, 'How does it taste?' to which Wilson's planned reply is, 'Tastes like Dianne Feinstein's lunch.'"[2] Once the video is released, the magazine release gets massive amounts of new publicity from grassroots channels such as 4chan and is carried by Alex Jones'Infowars as well. The Infowars headline about the magazine release read simply:[2]
BREAKING: PRINTABLE AR 30-ROUND MAGAZINES NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD, SERIOUSLY[2]
The chairman of the DCCC adds magazines to a proposed ban as a result. Only further adding more publicity and popularity behind Wilson's efforts.[2] Wilson heads to an interview to be conducted with media personality Glenn Beck.[2]
Wilson travels to Vienna, Austria for a "European fund-raising tour" and to reconnect with his old friend Amir Taaki.[2] Wilson meets with a man named Mike Gogulski who had been hosting Taaki. Wilson then heads to Bratislava to again join with a bitcoin meeting and also try and solicit a major donor. Wilson receives a warning from one of the hosts in Bratislava that "Amir is too trusting" and to be wary of a man named "Sasha" that was an ex-Russian oligarch ousted from Russia because of being an enemy of Putin that Amir Taaki might try and introduce to Wilson.[2]
Wilson and Taaki speak critically of the Harry Potter storyline in which they argue that the Potter books overly push youth towards obedience and compliance to institutional authority. Taaki says, "That's what Harry Potter is to me. Expert knowledge as the ordering of the world. The university discourse at war with the dark magic of sectarianism. It's no coincidence at all that the freshman convocation scene is filmed in the Harvard cafeteria... And it's typical, post-heroic Englishness. Our superheroes still go into compliance when they graduate."[2]
Taaki discusses "fina venko" with Wilson, the notion from Esperanto of "final victory" and discusses how in Taaki's view some bitcoiners are underestimating the opposition from the state that bitcoin might encounter in the future.[2] The leader of Bitcoin magazine is introduced, a man named Mihai.[2]
Wilson finally meets "Sasha", the shadowy ex-oligarch figure from Russia. Wilson speaks with Sasha and Taaki about his plans for DD. Wilson then departs the company of Sasha, Taaki and the rest, and spends some time alone exploring Bratislava's Old City.[2]
Part IX: Dropping the Liberator
Cody Wilson is making a speech about the current state of DD, in particular how and why they decided to focus, for the time being, on making AR- and AK-style magazines printable, open-source, and easy-to-make, before making an actual gun. A heated exchange took place at the end of Cody Wilson' talk where an onlooker asked, "Are you proud of what you've done?", to which Wilson responded angrily, "Look, you just heard my fucking presentation. So what? You're better than me? You can moralize to me?", and then Wilson said, "How about I print you a fucking boot to lick?"[2]
At one point, Sasha directs Amir Taaki to give Cody and Sasha some privacy so that he can speak with Cody alone about something. Sasha asks Cody if he is planning on commercializing any part of the project related to 3D printing guns, to which Cody replies that he was not planning on that.[2]
World War II era liberator that was never fully "dropped" or disbursed, out of "fear" according to Cody Wilson (in arming the civilian population too broadly).
Later, Wilson describes what he thinks of the backstory of what will become his first 3D printed gun, a gun from the 1940s allies war department called the "Liberator", Wilson describes the background of this gun in detail:
In the forties the War Department commissioned a project with the OSS, the prewar CIA. It's stamped metal pistol. General Motors made them. I think it was a psychological operation, but the threat isn't credible unless you can use them, right? So they could fire a single .45 round... You pull back a little twist hammer and squeeze. They've got it at a museum in Wisconsin or someplace. There's a video of people firing it on YouTube. Brutal little gun. They called it the Liberator.[2]
His interlocutor named Mike urges Wilson for more:
They were to airdrop the things along with this little foldout comic strip that shows you how to put it at the base of a soldier's skull. You know, you pop him when no one is looking and take his rifle. But you better get in close.[2]
Mike then says, "And?", Wilson continues:
The US military never really followed through. maybe they dropped a few thousand. I don't think there's a case of anyone—French Resistance or somebody else—ever using it. But the government never went full-scale. Now tell me why you think that was... They were scared to.... Time to drop the Liberator...[2]
Wilson then heads to Le Landeron, Switzerland to meet with his largest, and secret, donor. One condition of this donor's continued giving was that the donor's identity would not be revealed to the press. Wilson gets a phone call from a law professor that is thinking of giving him trouble about his continued non-attendance of class, but says to come in "tomorrow", it is quickly revealed that Wilson is "abroad" and unable to comply.[2]
Wilson discusses funding, the donor assures Cody not to worry and that funding is assured as long as Wilson continues the work. Wilson leaves for Zurich and begins his return to the United States, but first would stop in London.[2]
Part X: Old Street
Amir Taaki and Cody spend time in London at various bars and locations. Discussing politics and philosophy again. Walking the streets, Wilson encounters a man with a Jesus complex. Later, Taaki is set to give a talk at the University of College London. Wilson tells a journalist with Slate that he was with the "Occupy" group in one capacity or another, which was a lie, and the Slate reporter calls back to check on why he is really in London.[2]
Wilson names the latest printed magazine the "Cuomo" magazine, paying mocking attribution to Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State at the time who passed the NY SAFE Act, the first major gun control piece of legislation to follow the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Wilson said of this decision that:
We would call the printable AR-15 magazine the Cuomo. Divest these politicians of their legacies in the slipstream. In a generation or two, no one would remember the fifty-sixth governor of New York, but someone would be working on or printing out a Cuomo mag.[2]
Wilson then has an interview with the editor of Defense Review. Wilson then shares some words and thoughts with Amir Taaki once more before leaving London soon. Wilson then heads to London's Heathrow airport and comments that he was twice "randomly" selected for additional screening.[1] Wilson boards the plane, makes some comments about the TV screens options, and heads home.[2]
Part XI: Who Does What to Whom
A man named "Varol" invited Cody Wilson to come to San Francisco, and Wilson decided to go. Varol tells Wilson that he has set up "a few meetings" for Cody. Varol is working on getting Wilson a $1 million convertible note, and says, "You're going to be a millionaire man", speaking of even taking defense type contracts, "'Like it or not, we're talking about Department of Defense here, otherwise, the best you can be is like the Jimmy Wales of the gun movement.' Which is something, but come on! That's not what you're looking for."[2]
Wilson and Varol go to meet someone with the online pseudonym of "Moldbug", Moldbug and them then go to an event dinner. Moldbug says to Wilson, "...bravo on your stupendous media-whoring. I hope you'll get over the anarchism talk soon enough, though. I think you'll find most libertarianism is just born of a frustrated will to power." Another interlocutor says, "...talk of traditional rebellion is fine, but when someone drops that first genetic bomb? Or what if a terrorist is the first to use your printed gun?" To which Cody Wilson responds:[2]
A system that can stop that is a bigger threat than the threat.[2]
Some discussion of the gun control group, Sandy Hook Promise ensued. Varol and Wilson then discuss the bay area's libertarian community and ethos. One aspect explained is that you want to get big fast enough to grow faster than the regulators are able to regulate you out of existence, with the examples of Airbnb and Uber type businesses being mentioned. Talk of Patri Friedman and the Seasteading movement is discussed amongst Wilson and the others, Wilson says, "I couldn't explain it then, but they all still seemed to be preaching a Kingdom of Heaven to me. A capitalist salvation."[1] Varol goes into a story of a racist white teacher that professed a kind of left leaning ideology dogmatically and talks about how you need to "flip the polarities" on people.[2]
Part XII: Wine-Dark
Back in Austin, Cody Wilson and Ben Denio discuss capitalist and communist motivations and the role of these various energies in relation to DD. Wilson discusses his thoughts around capital and the American way in his view in response to why the U.S. government would grant Wilson a FFL, even thought the government, "know[s] what [Wilson] intend[s] to do...", Wilson says, "They want to ban every gun, sure, and in a month they'll do it. But that doesn't touch commercial manufacturing. This country wails for an end to the pain. The machine must be brutal and destroy any who disagree. But if you tell it you are an agent of the accumulation of capital, then everything is permitted."[2]
Wilson goes back to Hyde Park and visits his father. While there, Cody speaks about how he believes that he now has government agents following him and watching his every move.[2]
Daniel Fisher visits Austin. Wilson asks Daniel if he wants to meet with Alex Jones, and Daniel affirms that he does. The two go to Jones' studio together. Wilson brought with him 3D printed high-capacity magazines to show off live on air before Jones' audience.[2]
Wilson discusses more technical aspects of the business, including his non-profit application. Wilson interacts with a representative from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and is told to expect a "detailed list of questions" soon that DD will be expected to respond to shortly thereafter.[2]
Wilson visits the site of the ATF attack on the Waco compound Mount Carmel.[2] Wilson takes note of a headstone near the road in red granite which had the following writing written upon it:[2]
Image of a domain seizure notification similar to the one that Cody Wilson' DEFCAD would have received
Then, someone sends Wilson a letter from DCCC chairman and congressman Steve Israel about a new push to extend the scope of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 and make it cover the sorts of projects that Wilson and his team were working on.[2]
Next, Cody Wilson is invited out to speak in Kansas by the Kansas chapter of the Young Americans for Liberty. Tom Woods was also scheduled to speak. Wilson speaks with some young libertarians he figures to be "Misesians", or followers of Ludwig von Mises' Austrian economic body of thought.[2]
Wilson learns of the news of the defeat of the Manchin-Toomey amendments to bring about universal background checks on a federal level in the United States.[2]
Wilson calls Ben Denio on the phone and discusses the prospect of their 3D printed gun not actually working, and if that were to happen, couldn't they just fake it on a video and release that video, and wouldn't that video itself cause some sort of massive media reaction and harm to the state they discuss.[2]
Wilson calls Clark Neily of the Institute for Justice to ask for legal advice and to ask, "But isn't there something I can do to slow it down? Frustrate them [the government] a little." Neily responds, "Not a whole hell of a lot Cody."[2]
Wilson then goes back to an old UT law school professor and painstakingly goes over the text of the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988. Between Wilson and the professor, the two determine that, "It seems that Congress has allowed a safe harbor for manufacturers to test guns that might violate the law to see if they do in fact meet standards in the law."[1] The professor then warned Wilson that even though he might well be logically and rationally supported in their interpretation of the law, that the DOJ may still ultimately win and that Wilson could be sentenced to a long prison term in the event that it was determined that Wilson broke the law.[2]
After this Wilson partakes in an interview with CNBC's Brian Sullivan. Sullivan acts cool and discusses casual things to warm Cody up, but once the cameras are on, he quickly changes his method and starts asking pointed questions, such as, "Don't you think you're overreacting with this antigovernment thing?" Wilson notes in the book that this interview was only two months before Edward Snowden's major revelations of illegal mass surveillance on the American civilian population.[2]
Cody and John then discuss more global politics, philosophy and conduct some more tests with their materials.[2]
Finally, the gun is near ready after many tests, thought not perfect, Cody Wilson is ready to demonstrate what he and his team have finally created before the press on video. Wilson calls up Andy Greenberg of Forbes and lets him know that "There [will] be a printed pistol... as simple as that."[2]
Part XIV: REDACTED
Chapter 14 has Wilson setting up for the final moment when the "Liberator" pistol will finally be fired before an audience of the global media including Andy Greenberg. The 3D printed gun was printed on one evening before Greenberg and with John and Cody Wilson all present, and it was agreed that they would meet the following day to test, presumably because the plastic needed to cool and settle over one evening before hot firing.[2]
Though this was not the first firing of the Liberator pistol by Cody Wilson and his team, this would be the first firing before a global audience with the media watching and reporting closely. Wilson said, "I had seen the plastic .380 work a half dozen times now, but still the white plastic worked its terror on me."[2]
The first firing with Andy present would actually just be a test firing, with the live media firing to happen the following day. The next five pages of the book have actual major redactions with a footnote that states, "These redactions made by demand of the US Department of State."[2]
Then Cody Wilson finally fires the gun for the reporters, and they ask him various other questions.[2]
After the event, Wilson returns to his apartment and uploads the file to the internet for free for all to download, with a simple note, "It was brief. Just a few clips of a sunrise and some bombers. 'Download today.'"[2]
Epilogue: Nine Months of Night
Wilson closes the book with some philosophical musings and expresses the sense of permanent change that had been brought upon the world after the release of his 3D printed liberator. Wilson is driving south from Dallas in the final two pages that make up the epilogue.[2]
Reception
The book was generally met with favorable reviews, including being called a "manifesto [which] argues for untraceable weapons, made at home",[3] "...the first really important millennial-generation memoir of the 21st century...",[4] "... the odyssey of law school dropout who turned into a crypto-anarchist",[5] and the book was praised in another interview.[6]
Some mixed reviews included one from The Wall Street Journal which posed the questions, "Is Cody Wilson peddling ‘open source terrorism’ by publishing designs for a 3D-printed gun? Or is he a free-speech hero?",[7] and another described the book as a "...philosophy-fueled book about his fight for freedom of information..."[8][9]
With some critical reviews referring to Wilson's book as being an "edgelord" manifesto,[10] and of containing, "...rhetoric [which] ranges from destructive to bizarre..."[11]
In an Esquire magazine interview, Wilson was quoted as saying related to the content of the book that: "We understand that bad people can misuse information, but that’s not an excuse to foreclose access."[12]
In firearms terminology and at law, the firearm frame or receiver is the part of a firearm which integrates other components by providing housing for internal action components such as the hammer, bolt or breechblock, firing pin and extractor, and has threaded interfaces for externally attaching ("receiving") components such as the barrel, stock, trigger mechanism and iron/optical sights. Various firearm receivers often come with 1 or 2 sections, the upper receiver which houses the barrel/trunnion, bolt components etc and the lower receiver that holds the fire control group, pistol grip, selector, stock etc.
In the United States, open carry refers to the practice of visibly carrying a firearm in public places, as distinguished from concealed carry, where firearms cannot be seen by the casual observer. To "carry" in this context indicates that the firearm is kept readily accessible on the person, within a holster or attached to a sling. Carrying a firearm directly in the hands, particularly in a firing position or combat stance, is known as "brandishing" and may constitute a serious crime, but is not the mode of "carrying" discussed in this article.
Improvised firearms are firearms manufactured by an entity other than a registered firearms manufacturer or a gunsmith. Improvised firearms are typically constructed by adapting existing materials to the purpose. They range in quality, from crude weapons that are as much a danger to the user as the target, to high-quality arms produced by cottage industries using salvaged and repurposed materials.
Stratasys, Ltd. is an American-Israeli manufacturer of 3D printers, software, and materials for polymer additive manufacturing as well as 3D-printed parts on-demand. The company is incorporated in Israel. Engineers use Stratasys systems to model complex geometries in a wide range of polymer materials, including: ABS, polyphenylsulfone (PPSF), polycarbonate (PC) and polyetherimide and Nylon 12.
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
Amir Taaki is a British-Iranian anarchist revolutionary, hacktivist, and programmer who is known for his leading role in the Bitcoin project, and for pioneering many open source projects. Forbes listed Taaki in their 30 Under 30 listing of 2014. Driven by the political philosophy of the Rojava revolution, Taaki traveled to Syria, served in the YPG military, and worked in Rojava's civil society on various economic projects for a year and a half.
Defense Distributed is an online, open-source hardware and software organization that develops digital schematics of firearms in CAD files, or "wiki weapons", that may be downloaded from the Internet and used in 3D printing or CNC milling applications. Among the organization's goals is to develop and freely publish firearms-related design schematics that can be downloaded and reproduced by anyone with a 3D printer or milling machine, facilitating the popular production of homemade firearms.
Cody Rutledge Wilson is an American gun rights activist and crypto-anarchist. He started Defense Distributed, a non-profit organization which develops and publishes open source gun designs, so-called "wiki weapons" created by 3D printing and digital manufacture. He is the director of Defense Distributed; it gained international notoriety in 2013 when it published plans online for the Liberator, the first widely available functioning 3D-printed pistol.
DEFCAD, Inc. is an American startup that has created a search engine and web portal for designers and hobbyists to find and develop 3D printable and other CAD models online.
The Liberator is a 3D-printable single-shot handgun, the first such printable firearm design made widely available online. The open source firm Defense Distributed designed the gun and released the plans on the Internet on May 6, 2013. The plans were downloaded over 100,000 times in the two days before the United States Department of State demanded that Defense Distributed retract the plans.
A 3D printed firearm is a firearm that is partially or primarily produced with a 3D printer. While plastic printed firearms are associated with improvised firearms, or the politics of gun control, digitally-produced metal firearms are more associated with commercial manufacturing or experiments in traditional firearms design.
Print the Legend is a 2014 documentary film and Netflix original focused on 3D printing. It delves into the growth of the 3D printing industry, with focus on startup companies MakerBot and Formlabs, established companies Stratasys, PrintForm and 3D Systems, and figures of controversy in the industry such as Cody Wilson.
The G22 Grizzly is a series of 3D-printed, single-shot, break-action rifles that fire .22LR cartridges. Initially developed in 2013 by a Canadian designer known by the pseudonym "Matthew", the G22 Grizzly has evolved through multiple iterations, with each version improving design, functionality, and printability. It is known for its high level of 3D-printability, requiring minimal non-printable metal parts. The latest version, G22v4, was released in September 2023.
The Feinstein AK Mag is a 3D printed magazine for the AK-47 rifle. It was created by Defense Distributed and made public in March 2013. The magazine was created using a Stratasys Dimension SST 3-D printer via the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method.
The Cuomo Mag is a 3D printed AR-15 magazine named after the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who signed the NY SAFE Act into law banning magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. It was created by Defense Distributed and made public around January 2013
A homemade firearm, also called a ghost gun or privately made firearm, is a firearm made by a private individual, in contrast to one produced by a corporate or government entity. The term ghost gun is used mostly in the United States by gun control advocates, but it is being adopted by gun rights advocates and the firearm industry.
The FGC-9 is a 3D-printable, semi-automatic, pistol-caliber carbine. The firearm was first designed and manufactured between 2018 and 2020 by Jacob Duygu, a Kurdish German gun designer known by the pseudonym "JStark1809". In April 2021, a "MkII" revision was released. As of 2024, the FGC-9 is "by far" the world's most common 3-D printed gun, used by insurgents, militia members, terrorists, and drug traffickers in "at least 15 countries". The gun's most prominent promoter and co-designer is "Ivan The Troll," a man identified as John Elik in legal documents.
Death Athletic: A Dissident Architecture is a 2023 American documentary film written, produced, and directed by Jessica Solce about the life of 3D printed gun inventor, Cody Wilson, over a period of around 7 years, from 2015 through 2022.
No Control is a 2015 American documentary film written, produced, directed by, Jessica Solce about gun control and gun culture in the United States. An underlying theme of the film, and where the name of the film "No Control" comes from, relates to the great difficulty in regulating firearms and gun parts in the present age of 3D printed and self-made firearms.
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