By Stephen Rex Brown
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Austin TX May 14 2013
Cody Wilson wants to turn the Internet into an arms bazaar — and New York’s “nanny state” pooh-bahs aren’t going to stop him.
Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Cuomo and Sen. Chuck Schumer all have “an animosity toward the firearm, and by extension personal liberty,” said the 25-year-old law student of University of Texas at Austin, who burst into the public eye last week by successfully firing a plastic gun he made on a 3-D printer.
Then he gave away the plans for free on the Web.
![University of Texas law student Cody Wilson entered the spotlight last week by successfully firing a plastic gun he made on a 3-D printer.]( "<p> University of Texas law student Cody Wilson entered the spotlight last week by successfully firing a plastic gun he made on a 3-D printer.</p>")
“We’re forcing the opposition’s hand. (Guns) will always be out there,” he said.
On Sunday, the Daily News watched as Wilson printed the trigger mechanism for his plastic single-shooter, the “Liberator,” in 15 minutes in a warehouse in Austin. Manufacturing the entire gun takes around 18 hours.
“You can make what you want — of course it’s going to include guns,” said Wilson, who uses a high-end printer that costs around $8,000. Cheaper models are available for $1,000.
Wilson, the son of a lawyer and a former literature student at the University of Central Arkansas, has the broadest possible view of gun ownership rights — in fact, calling out the NRA because it “supports gun control.”
He’s equally passionate in his Julian Assange-esque belief in freedom of information, and adds in an expertise in constitutional law as the history of anarchism.
“Three-D printing can destroy the spirit of gun control itself,” Wilson said, adding he become “radicalized” reading anarchist thinkers.
He’s not just blowing gunsmoke. He successfully fired his Liberator — named after pistols designed for resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France — last week and released the schematics for the weapon.
A few days later, he’d received a request from the State Department to remove plans for the “Wiki weapon.” Wilson complied.
But the demand didn’t leave him feeling defeated. Everything was going according to plan.
“We predicted a moment like this. If the information were attacked it would immediately spread,” said Wilson.
“The unintended consequence is it’s become incredibly demanded information — it’s everywhere.”
The blueprints have been downloaded over 100,000 times, and they’re easily available on file-sharing sites.
Even before that, Wilson got plenty of reactions from 1 Police Plaza to Washington.
“Anyone, a terrorist, someone who is mentally ill, a spousal abuser, a felon, can essentially open a gun factory in their garage,” said Schumer (D-N.Y.).
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, “It’s something that obviously is a concern.”
To Wilson, they merely prove his point: The “great thinkers in nanny state-ism” will do anything to maintain power.
He also bristles when gun victims — like the families of the Sandy Hook school victims — lobby government.
“I’m unhappy they were able to leverage their victimhood for the reduction of liberties of their fellow citizens,” Wilson said.
“They’re playing small ball,” added Wilson. “We’re playing a much bigger game.”
He’s such a passionate believer in his plastic gun that he laughs at the notion of someone killing him with it.
“That would be so ironic,” he said. “Even in death, it would be hilarious.”
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Austin TX May 14 2013
Cody Wilson wants to turn the Internet into an arms bazaar — and New York’s “nanny state” pooh-bahs aren’t going to stop him.
Mayor Bloomberg, Gov. Cuomo and Sen. Chuck Schumer all have “an animosity toward the firearm, and by extension personal liberty,” said the 25-year-old law student of University of Texas at Austin, who burst into the public eye last week by successfully firing a plastic gun he made on a 3-D printer.
Then he gave away the plans for free on the Web.
“We’re forcing the opposition’s hand. (Guns) will always be out there,” he said.On Sunday, the Daily News watched as Wilson printed the trigger mechanism for his plastic single-shooter, the “Liberator,” in 15 minutes in a warehouse in Austin. Manufacturing the entire gun takes around 18 hours.
“You can make what you want — of course it’s going to include guns,” said Wilson, who uses a high-end printer that costs around $8,000. Cheaper models are available for $1,000.
Wilson, the son of a lawyer and a former literature student at the University of Central Arkansas, has the broadest possible view of gun ownership rights — in fact, calling out the NRA because it “supports gun control.”
He’s equally passionate in his Julian Assange-esque belief in freedom of information, and adds in an expertise in constitutional law as the history of anarchism.
“Three-D printing can destroy the spirit of gun control itself,” Wilson said, adding he become “radicalized” reading anarchist thinkers.
He’s not just blowing gunsmoke. He successfully fired his Liberator — named after pistols designed for resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France — last week and released the schematics for the weapon.
A few days later, he’d received a request from the State Department to remove plans for the “Wiki weapon.” Wilson complied.
But the demand didn’t leave him feeling defeated. Everything was going according to plan.
“We predicted a moment like this. If the information were attacked it would immediately spread,” said Wilson.
“The unintended consequence is it’s become incredibly demanded information — it’s everywhere.”
The blueprints have been downloaded over 100,000 times, and they’re easily available on file-sharing sites.
Even before that, Wilson got plenty of reactions from 1 Police Plaza to Washington.
“Anyone, a terrorist, someone who is mentally ill, a spousal abuser, a felon, can essentially open a gun factory in their garage,” said Schumer (D-N.Y.).
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, “It’s something that obviously is a concern.”
To Wilson, they merely prove his point: The “great thinkers in nanny state-ism” will do anything to maintain power.
He also bristles when gun victims — like the families of the Sandy Hook school victims — lobby government.
“I’m unhappy they were able to leverage their victimhood for the reduction of liberties of their fellow citizens,” Wilson said.
“They’re playing small ball,” added Wilson. “We’re playing a much bigger game.”
He’s such a passionate believer in his plastic gun that he laughs at the notion of someone killing him with it.
“That would be so ironic,” he said. “Even in death, it would be hilarious.”