Defense Distributed
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Type of site
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Open source digital publishing |
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| Website | www |
| Alexa rank |  967,852 (January 2017[update]) |
| Commercial | No |
| Launched | July 27, 2012 |
| Current status | Active |
After raising over US$20,000 via a crowd-funding appeal, suffering the confiscation of its first 3D printer, and partnering with private manufacturing firms, the organization began live fire testing of printable firearm components in December 2012.
Defense Distributed has to date produced a durable printed receiver for the AR-15, the first printed standard capacity AR-15 magazine, and the first printed magazine for the AK-47. These 3D printable files were available for download at the organization's former publishing site, DEFCAD, but are now largely hosted on file sharing websites.
On May 5, 2013, Defense Distributed made public the 3D printable files (STL files) for the world's first fully 3D printable gun, the Liberator .380 single shot pistol. Days later, the United States Department of State demanded the files be removed from the Internet, citing a violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
On May 6, 2015, Defense Distributed, joined by the Second Amendment Foundation, brought suit against the Department of State in the western district of Texas.
The defensedistributed.com domain name was registered on June 4, 2012. The website was unveiled in conjunction with an Indiegogo campaign of the same name in July 2012, where the organization asked to receive US$20,000. Indiegogo suspended the crowd-funding campaign for a terms of service violation after three weeks, refunding the money raised without offering public comment. Defense Distributed continued the appeal on its own website, however, accepting contributions through PayPal and the Bitcoin, and met its fundraising goal in September 2012.
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