Vice on 3D Printed Guns, Wiki Weapons and the first guy to go to prison for it

According to Vice, a Japanese man named Yoshitomo Imura has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for assembling a 3D-printed firearm (like the 3D 1911 .45 printed last year by Solid Concepts).

“Imura,” says Vice, “appears to be the first in the world to receive a prison sentence for making 3D-printed guns.”

The news about Imura is part of the lead-in to the Vice Motherboard documentary Click, Print, Gun: The Inside Story of the 3D-Printed Gun. The story is predictably laden with sensational language, but that's hardly a surprise (and not unique to Vice in any event). It begins with the phrase CLICK-PRINT-GUN splashed on the screen to the sound of gunshots, followed by the words, “2012 was a bloody year in America” but it is interesting and worth the time to watch.  It focuses on Cody R. Wilson of the “Wiki Weapon” movement (the guy behind the 3D Liberator pistol) and Defense Distributed. If you have half an hour to spare and any interest in 3D printing (particularly with regard to firearms) then check it out. You'll just need to filter out the underlying anti-gun message and Wilson's affected (and somewhat irritating) insouciance.

You can watch the story below. The accompanying article can be found in its entirety here on Vice.com.

You can check out Wilson's other videos on the Defense Distributed YouTube page here.