A non-profit organization operating out of Austin, Texas, has created a gun-lover’s dream-come-true: a multipurpose crafting tool that can churn out AR-15 rifle parts with no serial number.
Defense Distributed has sold more than 200 “Ghost Gunner” machines for $1,200 each — 175 in in the first 24 hours.
“People want this machine,” founder Cody Wilson told Wired magazine on Thursday. “People want the battle rifle and the comfort of replicability, and the privacy component. They want it, and they’re buying it.”
Mr. Wilson was originally going to stop selling the Ghost Gunner after moving 110 units, but has decided to sell more due to the demand. New customers can expect to pay $100 extra.
The Ghost Gunner is a CNC milling machine that can turn aluminum blocks into an AR-15’s lower receiver — the component regulated by state and federal authorities. It can also carve different kinds of polymers, woods, and metals in three dimensions, the website reported.
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While states like California have started exploring ways to ban homemade “ghost guns” without serial numbers, that has not stopped potential partners from approaching Defense Distributed. Wired reported that San Diego-based Ares Armor is seeking to formalize a relationship with the non-profit.
“I’ve never felt more optimistic about the ability of Defense Distributed to become an installed part of the future, and to help create an expansion of the second amendment,” Mr. Wilson told Wired.
Defense Distributed bills itself as an organization created to “defend the human and civil right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and affirmed by the United States Supreme Court; to collaboratively produce, publish, and distribute to the public without charge information and knowledge related to the digital manufacture of arms.”
The company is funded by individual donors.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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