Defense Distributed’s DEFCAD repository will host designs Makerbot censors

Few things in our world engage the desire to do something like being told you can’t do that very thing. The recent talk about banning 3D-printed guns across the US has lead to explosive popularity on one site in particular, and now Defense Distributed is wielding that new-found popularity to create a 3D print repository that is free of takedowns and regulation.

While the gun control conversation in the US continues to escalate, one aspect in particular continues to receive special attention. The idea that someone with a 3D printer could build much of what they would need to create their own firearm isn’t leading to any productive conversation right now. One side of the discussion focuses on regulating this ability, making sure that the same laws that apply to purchasing a gun apply to making one yourself. The other side of the conversation sees this as a combination of information suppression and market domination, as well as a violation of civil liberties.

The two sides are never going to come together at the middle, partly because they stopped talking about the same thing a while back. A video released by Defense Distributed, the team responsible for DEFCAD.org, makes it clear that this conversation isn’t going to end anytime soon.

DEFCAD is dedicated to continued growth, and with that new features are being rolled out to the site. Search may seem like a simple thing to implement, but the thing being announced here really has nothing to do with search. The thing being announced here is a plan to grow at any cost, and that means a completely contained website with its own structure that doesn’t rely on anything that could be taken from them. Anything can be posted of DEFCAD, and no one will take it down. You can search by weapon, and since the search is controlled by the site you don’t have to worry about results being hidden from you.

Implementing a search engine like this means paying people who actually know how to build a search engine, so the homepage for DEFCAD now shows you a Kickstarter-like page asking to crowdfund their search service. You can contribute anything from $25 to $10,000 to the cause, and each level grants you special access to the DEFCAD service and features. Like I said, this is way more than a search engine you’re helping to build. The end goal is a service that is capable of competing with Thingiverse, only you’ll have access to everything from weapons to windmills under the warm light of open source. You can even use Bitcoins on the site, just to drive home how radically open and free they are.

The team behind DEFCAD is on a mission, and whether or not they will use their growing internet powers to bring about a revolution in how manufacturing happens in the US has yet to be seen. The video they released shows that they are more than willing to push back, and as long as everyone is talking about 3D printed guns their website will continue to grow.