page_title: 3D printed firearms
hierarchical_section_title: 3D printed firearms
caption_attribution_description: English: Side-view of Defense Distributed 'Liberator' 3D-Printed hand-gun.
context_page_description: In 2012, the U.S.-based team Defense Distributed disclosed plans to design a working plastic gun that could be downloaded and reproduced by anybody with a 3D printer. Defense Distributed has also designed a 3D printable AR-15 type rifle lower receiver and a variety of magazines. In May 2013, Defense Distributed completed design of the first working blueprint to produce a plastic gun with a 3D printer. The United States Department of State demanded removal of the instructions from the Defense Distributed website, deeming them a violation of the Arms Export Control Act. In 2015, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson sued the United States government on free speech grounds and in 2018 the Department of Justice settled, acknowledging Wilson's right to publish instructions for the production of 3D printed firearms.
  In 2013 a Texas company, Solid Concepts, demonstrated a 3D printed version of an M1911 pistol made of metal, using an industrial 3D printer.
caption: The Liberator is a physible, 3D-printable single shot handgun, the first such printable firearm design made widely available online.
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