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posted by janrinok on Wednesday February 25 2015, @04:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the it-could-be-used-to-make,-well,-anything! dept.

FedEx is refusing to ship Texas nonprofit Defense Distributed's computer controlled mill, the Ghost Gunner. The $1,500 tool can carve aluminum objects from digital designs, including AR-15 lower receivers from scratch or more quickly from legally obtainable "80 percent lowers".

When the machine was revealed last October, Defense Distributed's pre-orders sold out in 36 hours. But now FedEx tells WIRED it's too wary of the legal issues around homemade gunsmithing to ship the machine to customers. "This device is capable of manufacturing firearms, and potentially by private individuals," FedEx spokesperson Scott Fiedler wrote in a statement. "We are uncertain at this time whether this device is a regulated commodity by local, state or federal governments. As such, to ensure we comply with the applicable law and regulations, FedEx declined to ship this device until we know more about how it will be regulated."

But buying, selling, or using the Ghost Gunner isn't illegal, nor is owning an AR-15 without a serial number, says Adam Winkler, a law professor at UCLA and the author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. "This is not that problematic," he says. "Federal law does not prohibit individuals from making their own firearms at home, and that includes AR-15s."

Defense Distributed's founder Cody Wilson argues that rather than a legal ambiguity, FedEx is instead facing up to the political gray area of enabling the sale of new, easily accessible tools that can make anything-including deadly weapons. "They're acting like this is legal when in fact it's the expression of a political preference," says Wilson. "The artifact that they're shipping is a CNC mill. There's nothing about it that is specifically related to firearms except the hocus pocus of the marketing." Wilson, whose radically libertarian group has pursued projects ranging from 3-D printed guns to untraceable cryptocurrency, says he chose to ship his Ghost Gunner machines with FedEx specifically because the company has a special NRA firearm industry membership. But when he told a local FedEx representative what he'd be shipping, he says the sales rep responded that he'd need to check with a superior. "This is no big deal, right? It's just a mill," Wilson says he told his FedEx contact. "You guys ship guns. You've shipped 3-D printers and mills, right? You'll ship a drill press, right? Same difference."

 
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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday February 25 2015, @06:06PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday February 25 2015, @06:06PM (#149610)

    firearm quality metal ingot

    Machinists would call that bar stock as its usually in long bars of various shapes.

    Marketing people and total noobs call it "billet" which is a technical term for something entirely different yet still "sorta metal" related. Its a shibboleth indicating noob-ness and gullibility.

    And fedex does get all bent out of shape about metal orders, there are quite a few rules about total mass and dimensions that they don't like.

    I needed a big (expensive) slab of brass for a project once any they are not amused at something the shape of brick that weighs as much as a salt bag.

    This is the only time I've ever heard of fedex caring about guns. I don't gunsmith but everyone who machines knows someone who gunsmiths, and I've never heard anything about barrel chamber reamers being forbidden and those tools are used specific on various firearms. I think its Brownells who rents stuff like that like old fashioned postal netflix for specialized firearm tools.

    UPS certainly doesn't care about my machine tools or expendables or metal as long as various weight and length regs are respected.

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  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday February 26 2015, @05:43AM

    by mhajicek (51) on Thursday February 26 2015, @05:43AM (#149859)

    That's a good point. If Fedex doesn't want your business, give it to UPS.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek