Defense Distributed's leader Cody Wilson told Forbes that the takedown request had come from the US State Department, which is concerned that the distribution of the gun's plans breaches the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and may contravene the Arms Export Control Act.
"We have to comply," Wilson said. "All such data should be removed from public access, the letter says. That might be an impossible standard. But we'll do our part to remove it from our servers."
Plans for the gun – which is made up of 16 plastic parts that can be 3D printed, a nail for a firing pin, and which is capable of firing a single round at a time – went online on Monday and have already been downloaded over 100,000 times. The gun has been shown to work and can fire a variety of calibers depending on how the barrel is constructed.
The group's website has now taken down the Liberator plans and replaced them with a message: "DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."
That's as may be, but the plans are already up for grabs on mirror sites, including the Pirate Bay, and more are likely to spring up. Since the plans were originally hosted by the Mega service run by US-fugitive Kim Dotcom, it's also possible that some of his customers will be spamming them out – since he has somewhat of a beef with the US government.
The State Department will now review the status of the Liberator's plans as they relate to the existing legislation. A judgment is expected in the next three weeks.
Source: The Register
