Liberator (gun)

For the World War II single shot pistol, see FP-45 Liberator. For the shotgun, see Winchester Liberator.

Liberator .380
TypeSingle-shot pistol
Place of originUnited States
Production history
DesignerDefense Distributed
DesignedApril 2013[citation needed]
Produced2013–present[1]
Specifications
Length216 mm (8.5 in)
Barrel length64 mm (2.5 in)
Height160 mm (6.3 in)
Cartridge.380 ACP
ActionSingle-shot

The Liberator is a 3D-printable single-shot handgun, the first such printable firearm design made widely available online.[2][3][4] The open source firm Defense Distributed designed the gun and released the plans on the Internet on May 6, 2013. The plans were downloaded over 100,000 times in the two days before the United States Department of State demanded that Defense Distributed retract the plans.[1]

The plans for the gun remain hosted across the Internet and are available at file sharing websites like The Pirate Bay[5] and GitHub.[6]

On July 19, 2018, the United States Department of Justice reached a settlement with Defense Distributed, allowing the sale of plans for 3D-printed firearms online, beginning August 1, 2018.[7]

On July 31, 2018, President of the United States Donald Trump posted on Twitter about the decision to allow the online publication of the Liberator's files: "I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!"[8]

On the same day the tweet was posted, a federal judge stopped the release of blueprints to make the Liberator due to it being an untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic gun, citing safety concerns.[9]

On April 27, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction and ordered the district court to dismiss the case, holding that Congress had expressly prohibited judicial review of the agency decisions in question.[10] President Joe Biden announced in early April that the Justice Department would issue new rules for "ghost guns" within 30 days.[11][needs update]

  1. ^ a b Greenberg, Andy (May 8, 2013). "3D-Printed Gun's Blueprints Downloaded 100,000 Times In Two Days (With Some Help From Kim Dotcom)". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  2. ^ "US government orders removal of Defcad 3D-gun designs". BBC News. May 10, 2013. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  3. ^ Biggs, John (May 6, 2013). "What You Need To Know About The Liberator 3D-Printed Pistol". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  4. ^ Hutchinson, Lee (May 4, 2013). "The first entirely 3D-printed handgun is here". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  5. ^ Van der Sar, Ernesto (May 10, 2013). "Pirate Bay Takes Over Distribution of Censored 3D Printable Gun". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on April 26, 2023. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  6. ^ "The 3D printed gun scare never actualized". The Outline. January 27, 2017. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
  7. ^ Uria, Daniel (July 19, 2018). "Justice Department settlement allows sale of 3-D printed gun plans". UPI. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  8. ^ Holpuch, Amanda (July 31, 2018). "Trump queries 3D printed guns – which administration helped make available to public". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023.
  9. ^ "Judge blocks the release of blueprints for 3D-printed guns". CNBC. August 1, 2018. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  10. ^ "State of Washington v. U.S. Dep't of State" (PDF). United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. April 27, 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 7, 2023.
  11. ^ Iovino, Nicholas (April 27, 2021). "Ninth Circuit Lifts Ban on 3D-Printed Gun Blueprints". Courthouse News Service. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023.