A Hoplophobe’s Nightmare: 3D Guns Are Getting Good…Really Good

The 3D-printed gun movement has survived the downfall of its charismatic founder, a major defeat at the Supreme Court, and involvement in one of the most talked-about crimes of last year.

Meanwhile, the guns have gotten good. Really good. Today’s hobbyist gun makers are creating better and better weapons that are easier and easier to make, including some with wildly creative designs.

There’s anger and passionate disagreement about strategy, law, copyright, and leadership. The movement’s critics are scathing: Lizzie, who met her husband Spezz through an online 3D-gun printing forum, calls movement founder Cody Wilson “a thief, a federal informant, and a pedophile.” Spezz says “most of the cool stuff he does he just steals from other people.” Wilson, for his part, is dismissive: “If you have evidence, present your evidence.”

But in the meantime, this technology is fundamentally undermining the power of the state to control our access to firearms. And what I can’t figure out is why more people aren’t talking about it.

Is gun control finally dead?

A few months ago, I spent an afternoon in Alex Holladay’s workshop, putting together two 3D-printed guns. Holladay runs CTRL PEW, which tests and reviews online gun designs, creates video tutorials, and provides step-by-step instructions for how to assemble guns at home.

We had to put about $6 worth of filament into the 3D printer to generate a mold in the shape of a pistol frame. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) view of the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, this inert block of plastic was already a real firearm and would require a federal registration and a serial number to be sold.

Assembling an unregistered Glock-like handgun using the 3D printer and metallic gun parts purchased online was fairly straightforward, taking a little more than half an hour with an expert teacher like Holladay looking over my shoulder. The AR-15 was more complicated, but with Holladay’s guidance I got through that, too, and we moved on to the fun part: pew-pew.

And that’s how I found myself in a Central Florida backyard on a Monday afternoon shooting at a painted metal target with a newly assembled bright orange AR-15 just off the 3D printer and hoping nothing would go too wrong. The worst that happened was the magazine slipping out of the homemade Glock-like handgun, which Holladay assured me could be fixed with a little extra gunsmithing back in the workshop.

If I can put together two guns in a couple of hours, many, many others can, too.

— Zach Weismueller in 3D-Printed Guns Are Getting Good