Cody Wilson: The Future of Gun Control and U.S. Politics
The man behind 3D-printed guns talks about beating the ATF, his abiding interest in cyberpunk culture, and what comes next for "practical anarchy."

This is the audio version of The Reason Livestream, which takes place every Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern.
The guest for this week's livestream was Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, the creator of the 3D-printed "Liberator" gun. We talked with Cody about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which is trying—and failing—to shut down Defense Distributed's ability to sell unfinished gun components; the philosophical roots of his crypto-anarchist project and interest in cyberpunk thinking; and his predictions about the future of gun control and American politics as we enter the 2024 presidential cycle.
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Never forget this.
The same side that accused cops of habitually hunting down and gunning down unarmed Black men, the same side that the criminal justice system is systemically racist…
…is the same side that wants stricter gun control laws to be enforced by these very same cops in this very same system.
You don't understand.
If we just make guns illegal then nobody will have guns anymore. So you won't need cops.
Or something.
The cops are certainly not going into the hood to disarm everybody.
Cops are brave like that.
They won't HAVE to! Because guns are illegal. So nobody in the hood will have guns. So you won't need cops and there will be no more violence in the hood. It will be a veritable Utopia!
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Everyone knows that prohibitions are not only the very backbone of liberty, but are in fact magic, and make icky things that sensible authoritarians hate disappear forever. For example, thanks to the Volstead Act, Al Capone became a hairdresser, the The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre never happened, and the happy people of Chicago lived sober for the rest of their days. The end.
Exactly!
I just don't understand why people don't get it. Make guns illegal and people south of the Loop will never have to fear the terrorism stemming from the righteous, law abiding citizens who have been using their legally purchased firearms in these acts of violence ever again. Peace will reign forever and always.
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It’s almost impossible for me to forget something that never happened. I am not aware of anyone on any “side” who has accused cops of habitually hunting down and gunning down unarmed black men at any time in the last fifty years or so. The criminal justice system – especially in overwhelmingly blue government big cities – is now and has been for over a hundred years – systemically racist in the sense that the tradition and purpose ingrained in their police departments organization, policies and procedures has been to protect the white communities from the black communities. Although the public cover stories for this system have evolved gradually over time in an attempt to make it less overtly racist, the fig leaf has also become more threadbare and unsustainable in the process. The list is a long one and includes “community policing” under the “broken window” doctrine, the wars on poverty and drugs and the focus on victimless crimes in poor predominantly black neighborhoods. Police departments become employment agencies for Rambo wannabes, protected by incestuous and corrupt city halls in bed with powerful police unions. The rogue cops quickly learn who the acceptable targets are – and to avoid irritating the wealthier less vulnerable people in other neighborhoods. The evidence for this is overwhelming, but by all means maintain your willful ignorance and your knee-jerk “Back the Blue” position.
Lesson from History: Transgender Mania is Sign of Cultural Collapse - Camille Paglia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8BRdwgPChQ
Yeah, I have pushed Paglia here on a number of occasions. She might be my all-time favorite feminist.
Edit: I'm familiar with not just this video, but the entire talk that she gave at this event. Six years ago, and this was already a white hot subject that was incredibly disturbing to rational people.
My favorite quote of hers from this clip:
"I believe that anyone who collaborates in the intrusion into a developing child's body and mind is guilty of child abuse... a crime against humanity."
Agreed. I think I followed your link a while back but this is making the rounds again. It has aged very well in 6 years.
Still no article about Reason's beloved Polis signing a law making certain 3d printed gun parts illegal in Colorado.
He's making sure those 3d printers leave you alone.
Those spools of colored plastic sure are intimidating.
This will give gangs full control over the market for those items.
"The use of ghost guns in crimes has risen 1,000% since 2017, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives." CBS article is typical - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ghost-guns-banned-under-new-colorado-law-signed-by-governor/ar-AA1c3ESC
Just a reminder: if you really want to panic typical American sheeple, lie with outrageous statistics abuse. If one crime was committed with a ghost gun in 2017 and two crimes were committed with ghost guns in 2018, then crimes committed with ghost guns DOUBLED in one year! That's an increase of ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! If there were ten crimes committed with ghost guns last year that's ONE THOUSAND PERCENT!!! Although you might not be impressed by one or ten crimes as a crime wave, statistics don't lie!
just remember Cody is a registered sex offender who was convicted , pled guilty and his crime involved children. Know who you are getting on a soapbox with a kiddy diddler thats who buddy.
Today in LOL News:
I wonder how that LinkedIn girl is doing... she didn't seem to mind having an ill-defined job with little work or purpose.
Feel free to quote me here, but I believe Meta as we know it is done. Within a few years it'll be like Yahoo. Whatever it looks like in the next few years, it will no longer be what it is today.
For some reason I still haven't bothered canceling my account. Have not posted anything or used messaging I'm 3 years.
I logged in recently and it is like a ghost town. Still the same 3 Democrat party friends posting the same TDS memes they were 3 years ago.
It is for sure dead. If I had a MySpace account right now it would have more activity.
I'm more of a Friendster man, myself.
Holy shit, the Atlantic stealth changed a headline. The previous headline was: "COVID Shots Are Still One Giant Experiment"
They changed it to: Fall’s COVID Shots May Be Different in One Key Way
Here's a podcast showing the original headline-- podcast was done before the headline shifted.
Here's a medical news link TO the story, still referring to the original headline.
Started digging to see if anyone else noticed it. They did.
And the person that noticed it is claiming the change was appropriate and never should have run because "it didn't match the article", and let "anti-vaxxers" pounce.
Yet inside the article:
At the same time, COVID vaccines are still in a sort of beta-testing stage.
It would be nice if "Reason" provided a link to a transcript of these podcasts for those of us who can read much faster than people can talk. As one of the few people nowadays who doesn't carry earbuds with me and who is reluctant to play sound where it might disturb others around me, I would like to be able to skim the conversation quickly and read the details of interest to me at my leisure. Thanks!
Yes to transcripts; worthless without.
It’s hard to quantify “much faster”, and it definitely varies by individual, but those of us who are fast readers can easily read 10x the rate of talking (and that’s before we take into account skimming over the ~30 seconds of opening content-free boilerplate.)
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I am fine with most of this but by the interview time Cody was a registered sex offender who's crime involved children and he pled guilty. I mean libertarianism once played footsie with NAMBLA and some still think that way. It is the biggest hammer used against any of us....so someone who is a registered sex offender who's victims were children and had already been convicted....you should be above this garbage , pathetic.
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