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In 2012, when still a law student at the University of Texas in Austin, Cody Wilson announced in a You Tube video that he would soon be able to print a gun, which he called the “Liberator,” using a 3-D printer. He managed to do just that the following year, and set up a nonprofit organisation called Defense Distributed, from whose website anyone can download the design. Wilson’s exploits in DIY firearms manufacturing, as well as his involvement in the development of a wallet for the digital currency Bitcoin, reflect his libertarian allergy to state power or regulation of almost any sort (he calls himself a “crypto-anarchist”). He was the subject of a New Yorker profile in 2013 and in January this year he was voted the fifth most dangerous person on the internet by Wired magazine.

Further reading:

A Gun, a Printer, an Ideology
Jacob Silverman profiles Wilson.

The 15 Most Dangerous People in the World
Wilson is one of the “most dangerous” people in the world, writes Robert Beckhusen.

Cody Wilson’s Twitter

Defense Distributed official site