since Dec 2012
to develop and freely publish firearms-related design schematics that can be downloaded and reproduced by anyone
- December 2012 raised $20,000 via crowd-funding
– confiscated their first 3D printer - online open-source hardware organization
- develop digital schematics of firearms in CAD files
– downloaded from the Internet and used in 3D printing or CNC milling - Cody Wilson founder and spokesperson
- December 2012 DEFCAD
- May 5, 2013, Defense Distributed made printable STL files public
– Liberator, the world’s first completely 3D printed gun
– the United States Department of State demanded they be removed from the Internet - October 2014 Ghost Gunner
– miniature CNC mill for completing receivers for the AR-15 - May 6, 2015, Defense Distributed, joined by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), filed Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dept. of State in the Western District of Texas
- July 27, 2018, Defense Distributed released ten CAD files for download at DEFCAD
Defense Distributed
2320 Donley Dr
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 584-8013
About Defense Distributed
Defense Distributed is an Austin, Texas, company founded in 2012 by Cody Wilson and Benjamin Denio to develop and freely publish digital firearm designs that anyone can download and build with a 3D printer or CNC mill. Its DEFCAD platform hosts the files, and in 2013 it released the design for the Liberator, widely described as the first fully 3D-printed gun. Days later the State Department ordered the files taken down under export-control rules, setting off years of litigation over whether publishing gun designs is protected speech.
The company matters to gun owners because its cases helped define the legal ground for home-built firearms. With the Second Amendment Foundation it sued the State Department in 2015 and won a settlement in July 2018, though multistate lawsuits and a parallel fight with New Jersey followed. Its Ghost Gunner desktop mill, sold since 2014, lets owners finish their own receivers, and it took part in the VanDerStok litigation against the ATF frame-and-receiver rule. In 2025 it released the G80 receiver platform, and Wilson remains founder and spokesperson.
Key Facts
- 2012: Founded in Austin, Texas, by Cody Wilson and Benjamin Denio; DEFCAD launched in December
- May 9, 2013: State Department directed removal of the Liberator files under ITAR
- October 2014: Began selling the Ghost Gunner CNC mill
- May 6, 2015: Filed Defense Distributed v. U.S. Department of State with the Second Amendment Foundation
- July 27, 2018: DEFCAD relaunched with files released after the State Department settlement
- March 29, 2021: Supreme Court denied New Jersey’s petition, letting the company’s suit proceed in Texas
Sources
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