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<v ->This is a Colt 1911.</v>

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As you notice, there's no numbers on it.

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<v Andy>Cody Wilson
has a vision of a future</v>

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without gun control.

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<v ->Oh, so this is a PRI Mark 12.</v>

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<v Andy>Where anyone can
3D print a pistol at home</v>

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or privately build their
own semi-automatic rifle,

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lethal, untraceable, unregulated weapons.

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(gun fires)

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And now that vision is one
step closer to reality.

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After years of fighting
the US government in court,

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Wilson just won the right to
publish downloadable schematics

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for just about any commercially
available firearm online.

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<v ->This is the direct material
and digital expansion</v>

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of the right to keep and bear arms.

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<v Andy>Five years ago,
Wilson's organization,</v>

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Defense Distributed, released plans

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for the world's first 3D printable gun.

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They called it the Liberator.

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(gun fires)

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But just days after the
group posted those files,

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the State Department
demanded that they be removed

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for violating weapons export controls.

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Defense Distributed complied but

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then filed a lawsuit claiming its right

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to publish gun files was a
form of protected free speech.

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<v ->We said, "No, we're Americans.</v>

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"Americans have a right to
access this data unquestionably,

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"and that the internet is now the commons,

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"in a way that libraries and
things were in the past."

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<v Andy>Now, the group has
essentially won its case.</v>

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Its settlement with the State
Department will allow it

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to once again upload gun files
designed for DIY gunsmiths,

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and promises to open the door
for others to do the same.

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<v ->Is it the end of gun control?</v>

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Like I think it is in an essential sense.

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<v Andy>It's not quite
that simple for now.</v>

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Homemade weapons have been involved in

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at least two mass shootings
in the last five years,

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but they represent just a fraction

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of the wider gun control
debate in America.

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<v ->When criminals and
dangerous people are able</v>

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to create their own guns in their homes,

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it will become an issue
in the near future.

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<v Andy>Wilson sees his
projects as a trump card</v>

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against the gun control
movement that's intensified

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in the wake of February's
Parkland School shooting

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that left 17 people dead.

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<v Crowd>Never again, never again.</v>

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<v Andy>Defense Distributed
is using its legal win</v>

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to launch what it hopes
will become the internet's

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most comprehensive repository
of digital gun files.

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And as digital fabrication
tools like 3D printers,

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and computer-controlled
milling machines become cheaper

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and more advanced,
Defense Distributed hopes

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to unlock a new generation
of DIY gunsmithing

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beyond all regulation.

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<v ->You cannot regulate the
digital material of guns anymore.</v>

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It's out there, the flood's there.

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Everyone's got it.

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We translated our culture
into the 21st century.

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It's here, it's going to grow.

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<v Andy>The group
already makes themselves</v>

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its own milling machine
called the Ghost Gunner

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that can produce frames for
AR-15s and 1911 handguns.

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Three years ago, I tried out that machine

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and easily built a working
AR-15 in Wired's office.

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(gun fires)

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It's untraceable.

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I didn't have to go
through a background check

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or any sort of waiting period to get it.

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The government has no
knowledge of its existence.

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Wilson recently gave me a tour

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of Defense Distributed's
Austin headquarters.

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<v ->Ghost Gunner is a
desktop milling machine.</v>

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People have such demands
to make private rifles,

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or private firearms for
themselves, guns with no numbers,

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that we built an application purpose-made

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to help you do that.

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<v Andy>Neither the State Department</v>

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nor the Department of
Justice would comment

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on the settlement, but Wilson sees it

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as the next chapter in his anarchist,

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opensource firearms playbook.

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<v ->It's almost like we're
creating a platform</v>

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for a new propulsive
force in our movement.

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<v Andy>The company is
digitizing as many guns</v>

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as possible by taking analog
measurements of weapon parts

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with gauges and a massive
30-year-old machine

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called an Optical Comparator.

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The device projects an object's image

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onto a screen where it's
magnified up to 100 times.

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That allows the operator to map out points

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across a component like this AR-9 frame,

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and calculates the geometry

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of every tiny feature of the gun.

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<v ->It's all a lot of handwork.</v>

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We come over here and
we put the dimensions

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into a CAD model.

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We're going to do a lot of starting

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from scratch as we build.

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<v Andy>And now, they can legally publish</v>

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those materials online.

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Of course, the database will also make

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those blueprints available to people

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who can't legally buy guns today,

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minors, felons, and the mentally ill,

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who might now be able
to make them at home.

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Wilson argues that's unlikely to happen,

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but says the possibility won't
stop him from doing his work.

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<v ->I'm resolved that because
of my political principles</v>

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and because of my belief in
like what's driving the project,

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that you have to accept
that obviously people

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will do bad things.

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This is not in any way justification

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for wholesale, class-based prohibition

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on access to the right
to keep and bear arms.

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<v Andy>Wilson sees a digital library</v>

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of weapons material his group is building

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as a way to undermine any future efforts

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to control the weapons
he believes everyone

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should have access to.

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As Wilson admits, it's a dangerous vision.

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<v ->I think almost without
exception that people</v>

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have a right to this kind
of data regarding anything.

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<v Andy>And now, it
has the legal approval</v>

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of the US government.