Blueprints of 3D gun ordered offline
San Francisco - The company that made and successfully fired the world's first 3D printed gun removed blueprints for the DIY weapon from its site Thursday, saying it had been ordered to do so by the US government.
Defense Distributed raised a furore earlier this week when it posted the digital files for the plastic weapon, which it built using an off-the-=shelf 3D printer bought second hand on eBay.
"DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls," the organization said on its webpage. "Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."
The weapon was developed by University of Texas law student Cody Wilson, 25, whose company, Defense Distributed, published the printable blueprints online. Despite the removal of the digital files from the website, they are still available elsewhere on the web, including on the Pirate Bay and MegaUpload file-sharing systems.
The company posted video of the first test firing to its website Monday. The test firing was also witnessed by a reporter from Forbes magazine.//DPA
