This $1,200 machine lets you make untraceable semi-automatic rifles at home

We all knew this day was coming. A man named Cody Wilson has created a semi-automatic rifle that you can 3-D print-at home from your desktop cpu.

It's about to get a whole lot easier to make a semi-automatic rifle at home with no serial number, no background check, and no waiting period. Cody Wilson, the libertarian behind the world's first 3D-printed gun, is now selling an all-in-one desktop CNC mill, called the Ghost Gunner. It can produce an aluminum lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle — the civilian version of the military's M-16 assault rifle — in a couple of hours.

Oh, well....All of the promising tech and ideas coming as a result of this new tech and the first thing someone does is create a 3-D printed gun. The worst part is the fact that these guns don't have to have serial numbers; that means un-traceable. I'm at a loss for words on this one. What says ATS?

www.theverge.com...

a reply to: lostbook

Come on, a receiver is a book end without the parts and armorer skills to put it together.

I say good! The advent of this machine means that the government will NEVER fully be able to take our firearms from us..For 1200$ too, I will definitely be getting one of the printers.

a reply to: intrptr

Unless it creates every part independently then assembles it well enough to satisfy knowledgeable gun owners I think it'll be awesome but slightly impractical. S + F, the frightening thing is this is our future. No need for many workers when you have a near completely automated society.

a reply to: intrptr

The lower receiver is the gun as that is where the serial number is. The rest of the parts can be purchased and are not tracked as the lower receiver is.

a reply to: lostbook

Firearms still need bullets, if they can't take away the guns they can ban the smokeless powder to make rounds. Homemade gunpowder is not that great even if your good at making it.

I personally want a handheld railgun, solves so many issues, have they figured this out yet?

I believe the only way to make a untraceable firearm would be to manufacture every piece yourself.

Anybody think there will come a time when someone perfects this through 3-D printing technology?

I often wonder. There's no doubt extremely sophisticated skill and equipment goes into their manufacture of course. Just putting it out there

a reply to: lostbook

It's not actually a 3d printer it's a desktop CnC machine. You need the original blank casting of a lower reliever before you can then mill all the openings and whatnot.

It's cutting area is pretty small too. 3 inches by 6 inches by like 3 and a half inches tall. You could get better for your money if you know what your doing but as far as plug and play goes this thing is pretty well in a class all it's own.

You can bet every single one of these sold will be recorded and watched. If the right person gets their hands on one the government could have a poster boy for banning the 80% blanks.

I'm not sure the cost is worth it either if your only gonna mill a few. Can't be more then $100 bucks and a few hours to have someone do it for you at a machine shop.

I've noticed they push the "turns it into a semi automatic rifle"..... Ya maybe the stock loaded design but a little tweak and you have yourself a full auto.

This thing has to have some politicians all In a huff. Anyone got a pool on when the ATF raids the company?

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

Why would it have to create all the parts and assemble it? The AR platform is nearly idiot proof, thread the stock on, slip the upper on and push a couple pins through.

originally posted by: thesmokingman
I say good! The advent of this machine means that the government will NEVER fully be able to take our firearms from us..For 1200$ too, I will definitely be getting one of the printers.

Yeah no, it's just going to mean that we're going to get these banned. Fun. I think most of us were very aware that something like this was going to eventually get highly legislated.

The guy is an ass. His little device is such an easy target for banning the sale of ammunition and other devices like this.

It sure is a political statement. It's a stupid political statement. It's the idiot wearing all camo in the back of the room yelling "But I could kill you all just as fast with a lever action!".

a reply to: ParanoidAmerican

What I mean is since most purchases are traced in one way or another wouldn't it make sense for a machine to be made that takes raw materials and turns them into the parts? I know raw materials could be traced to but if you have schematics and the machine isn't connected to any outside networks would it make the "firearm" untraceable? Printers make their own unique marks, I'm aware of that too.

a reply to: Domo1

I agree. It's to get 3-D printers banned out of safety concerns, so they're controlled and operated by a select few corporations.

3-D printers put more power in the hands of the consumers, they wouldn't allow it unless they're getting something out of it.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

Not at all. 3d printers under $100,000 dollars are nothing more then a novelty or a very very niche tool. Prototyping is about the only time these new cheap small single material 3d printers are actually useful outside of making little green army men.

The day a 3d printer can print us a working firearm or the coinciding parts to put a working firearm together we won't be too worried about gun violence any more. The entire shape of the world economy and landscape will be very very different. In the meantime the printers that can do this now are very very very expensive. And 100 grand can just buy a buncha untraceable guns instead of a machine to print them.

The Firearm Blog gives it a thumbs down...

TFB has published tutorials on how to finish a 80% lower at home with nothing but hand tools, hand tools that cost a lot less than the Ghost Gunner’s $1199 price tag...

So to answer the question “do I need one?”, I would say “No”. BUT, I think this is the perfect machine for a gun club or a shooting range. Members could bring along their own 80% receiver and pay a fee to use the machine.

My thoughts on the Defense Distributed Ghost Gunner

a reply to: mindseye1609

I agree that when it's actually feasible and widespread the world won't care about firearms. It'll be more balanced and that world would probably make us pass out.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

The only part of an AR that is traced from manufacturing to sale is the lower, the rest of the parts can be bought in bulk, many have no makers marks.

The issue with the printer is the durability they just can't take the strain from high powered rounds.

I think this is a novel idea, but a waste of money IMHO unless like someone else stated, an organization/gun club buys one and charges members a fee for it's use. But what this machine does is what anybody with a few power tools and some time on their hands can already do, 100% legal.

ATF FAQ

Q: Is it legal to assemble a firearm from commercially available parts kits that can be purchased via internet or shotgun news?

For your information, per provisions of the Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968, 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44, an unlicensed individual may make a “firearm” as defined in the GCA for his own personal use, but not for sale or distribution.

No registration, serial #'s, or background checks. All you need is the right parts, tools, and knowledge. The biggest thing is unless you are a licensed firearms manufacturer, you cannot legally sell it to another person. If Afghan's can build guns in caves without reliable electricity and shoddy materials, the average American can do it as well.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

I get what your are saying. This machine is simply milling out blanks which can be done with a template and drill press. Sure they could track purchase and materials but it is fairly hard many distributors of blank receivers disguise the sale as novelty items not intended for use. Tool marks would be even harder to track. For all intensive purposes this machine creates guns that do not officially exist.

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: Domo1

I agree. It's to get 3-D printers banned out of safety concerns, so they're controlled and operated by a select few corporations.

3-D printers put more power in the hands of the consumers, they wouldn't allow it unless they're getting something out of it.

No it's not. For 1, the receiver that they are making here is fabricated on a CNC machine. CNC machines have been around forever, and the capability to fab a gun on them has been around for just as long. Long ago they were simply operated by cogs and wheels, now they are computer controlled down to the nth degree.

But that's neither here nor there, even the plastic gun Cody made, with a 3D printer, you need a $20,000 printer to get anything close to what he was. I have a couple cheaper printers and you are lucky to get your models to even stick together by the final print, let alone have any kind of compression and missiles shot out of them.

The cheaper printers are only good for prototyping as someone else mentioned in the thread. When developing new products or even designs for products, having a cheap 3D printer is a god send, since the same thing with a prototyping company can cost anywhere from $2-10,000. I could print the same thing for a couple dollars. Its not going to look pretty, or be of much use, but it helps when you are working on concept and design. Even if the final material will be glass, or wood, plastic (professional made), it helps to have something you can actually look at.

originally posted by: ParanoidAmerican
a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

For all intensive purposes this machine creates guns that do not officially exist.

That is the reason he calls his machine "Ghost Gunner", because some congressman/woman who didn't know what they were talking about made up the phrase "Ghost Gun". As I posted earlier, it is already completely legal, by-the-book according to the ATF/BAFTE and has been happening for a long time.