Illegal home-built guns are bringing libertarianism to the world. That's what the good people at The New York Times say. DIY firearms are also helping rebels fight oppressive regimes and, as is inevitable when weapons make their way into the hands of regular people, fueling European officials' fears of crime and terrorism. This is a result of recent technological developments that severely cramp governments' ability to enforce restrictions—including when it comes to the FGC-9, a partially 3D-printed firearm.
Libertarianism With a Bang
"This American brand of libertarianism has historically been a tough sell in many other parts of the world. Even if some people believed it in theory, strict laws made buying a gun so difficult that the ideology was almost beside the point," wrote Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff in the Times. "The FGC-9 is changing that."
By "libertarianism," Dearden and Gibbons-Neff mean the (familiar to Reason readers) belief that people have the right to freely live their lives whether governments like it or not. The philosophy is on display at the website of Deterrence Dispensed, a loose online community of those interested in designing and building homemade firearms and ammunition. "All individuals are entitled to the utility to defend their humanity," the group boasts. "Gun control has failed. You can't stop the signal."
There's no greater evidence of exactly that than the popularity of the FGC-9—the full name of which is the Fuck Gun Control-9.
"This model of homemade semiautomatic firearm, known as an FGC-9, has appeared in the hands of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, rebels in Myanmar and neo-Nazis in Spain," note Dearden and Gibbons-Neff. "In October, a British teenager will be sentenced for building an FGC-9 in one of the latest terrorism cases to involve the weapon."
DIY Weapons Have a Long History
Craft-made firearms aren't new. Gunmakers in Pakistan, the Philippines, and elsewhere have produced effective arms in conditions that are often surprisingly crude. Wherever people seek to acquire goods, firearms included, savvy entrepreneurs find ways to satisfy that demand, within or outside the law. But developments in computer numerical control (CNC) technology and 3D printing have made small-scale manufacturing easier and more accessible. That's great for people who need to make replacement parts for machinery on-site, and for those seeking to evade prohibitions.
The liberating potential of 3D printing first entered public awareness in 2013, with Cody Wilson's unveiling of the single-shot Liberator pistol. In 2018, a RAND Corporation report warned that with 3D printing, "point-of-sale consumption will no longer be an opportunity for governmental control of risky goods, such as firearms and drones."
That was about the time that Jacob Duygu, a former German soldier known online as JStark, designed the original FGC-9. It's a hybrid project, combining 3D-printed parts with components available off-the-shelf from hardware stores to build a semiautomatic, 9mm carbine. Under his pseudonym, Duygu and his creation were featured in the documentary Plastic Defence: Secret 3D Printed Guns in Europe.
Duygu died under mysterious circumstances in 2021 after being questioned by German police. But his design was refined and updated by "Ivan the Troll," whom the Times identifies as John Elik, a licensed Illinois firearms manufacturer (plans for the FCG-9 MKII are available here). Licensed as he is, his activities don't violate even the draconian laws of his unfortunate state. (I unsuccessfully reached out to Ivan/Elik for comment, but he may be a tad media-shy after having his identity splashed across the world by a major newspaper).
The original FGC-9 and the revised version have found immense popularity around the globe.
Arming the World
"While countless 3D-printed guns have been designed and circulated on the internet, international law enforcement officials say that the FGC-9 is by far the most common," add Dearden and Gibbons-Neff.
The Times reporters talk a lot about far-right extremists, militias, terrorists, and criminals arming themselves with DIY guns, and it's understandable that goods severely restricted by law would disproportionately make it into the hands of people who are particularly unimpressed by laws. They concede, though, that "no law enforcement official has yet linked an FGC-9 to a homicide."
The liberating potential of a firearm that's relatively easy to build in a small shop is apparent from the rebel who is fighting Myanmar's oppressive government and tells the Times that "a lot of people use them," in reference to FGC-9s. The source adds that the DIY guns are mostly selected for personal defense, since they don't stand up well in the jungle to combat conditions.
That, of course, is the whole purpose of the DIY weapons movement: ensuring that people have the means to defend themselves against those who might do them harm. People have the right to that means, say its proponents, whether those who prey on them are freelance criminals or governments.
"It's not just a gun. It is also an ideology," a Swedish intelligence officer told the Times.
An 'Existential Threat' to Gun Control
In fact, the movement that developed the FGC-9, the Liberator in 2013, and hand-crafted weapons before that is much more than its output. It's an effort, originally disorganized but increasingly coordinated, to bypass prohibitions and render attempts to disarm the public irrelevant. It's effective.
"Globally, [privately made firearms] still represent a small percentage of illicit firearms, but that is changing quickly in some regions," according to a 2023 paper from Switzerland's Small Arms Survey. "If production technologies continue to improve and proliferate, [privately made firearms] will increasingly erode the effectiveness of export controls and other key elements of national and international small arms control regimes, and may eventually pose an existential threat to these regimes."
Officials and handwringers fret that terrorists, extremists, and criminals will end up armed, but they've never seemed to have a problem acquiring what they want in the past. Besides, in a world in which governments have vast armories, keeping weapons out of the hands of bad people is obviously a lost cause.
Ensuring that people are free despite the best efforts of rulers is an ideological movement when it comes to guns or anything else. Through innovation and defiance, libertarianism is getting a boost around the world.
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