Kim Dotcom Removes 3D Printed Gun Files From Mega File-Sharing Site

Even Kim Dotcom, famed founder of the file repository Mega wants nothing to do with 3D-printed guns.

Last week, the blueprints for the Liberator, a plastic gun that can be manufactured relatively cheaply on a 3D printer, were posted online.

The U.S. State Department demanded that Defense Distributed, which developed the Liberator, remove the blueprints from its Defcad hosting site. Defense Distributed claims it has the right to release the files into the public domain, but it complied with the government request, though not before 100,000 people had already downloaded the files.

Copies were then uploaded to The Pirate Bay, as well as Mega, which is currently hosted in New Zealand. But guns are far less popular in other Western democracies than they are in the United States.

"Internet mogul Kim Dotcom says designs for a 3D-printed gun are scary and he's deleted public links to its blueprints from his new file-sharing website," writes NewstalkZB, a New Zealand-based news site. "The plans were available on Dotcom's Mega website, but the New Zealand-based entrepreneur asked his staff to delete the public files. Dotcom says he thinks they are a serious threat to security of the community."

Some gun rights advocates claim fears of printed firearms are overblown. Currently, 3D-printing technology is expensive, and the equipment and materials required to print the Liberator, which must be able to withstand the intense forces involved in firing a bullet, cost upwards of $15,000.

But the technology is advancing and becoming cheaper, smaller and more refined. The Liberator is only good for a single shot before the parts wear down, but new materials like carbon fiber and plastic composites could provide cheap alternatives for private gun manufacturers.

In response, a bill banning 3D-printed guns has already been proposed in California, and more are likely in other states and at the federal level.