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Gun Rights Advocates to Build Weapons at Capitol

via Texas Tribune
Gun rights advocates plan to use a 3-D printer to build pistols and rifles at the Texas State Capitol on the first day of the legislative session.

From the Texas Tribune:

Second Amendment advocates plan to manufacture guns at the Texas Capitol during an armed rally set for the opening day of the 2015 legislative session. 

Open Carry Texas announced late Monday that it had purchased “the Ghost Gunner,” a 3-D printer that builds firearms, for use at the Jan. 13 event, where participants had already planned to carry rifles and shotguns to protest the state’s gun laws. 

“Things just got a little more interesting on the 13th,” an organizer wrote on the group’s Facebook page.

Invented by Austin-based gun rights activist Cody Wilson, the Ghost Gunner can currently manufacture a pistol known as the Liberator, the world's first 3-D printable firearm, as well as the lower receiver of an AR-15. Wilson’s nonprofit, Defense Distributed, sells the machine for $1,500.

The rally, held in support of a bill filed by state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, is part of a push to scrap the state’s handgun licensing requirements during the upcoming legislative session. Stickland did not immediately return a request for comment.

Texas, which allows the public display of long guns like rifles and shotguns, legalized the concealed carrying of handguns with a license in 1995. It is one of six states that specifically prohibit the unconcealed display of handguns, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Stickland’s measure is among several from lawmakers targeting handgun restrictions, but it is the only one so far that proposes lifting licensing requirements altogether.

Morgan Smith was an editorial intern and columnist at Slate in Washington, D.C., before moving to Austin to enter law school at the University of Texas in 2008. (She has put her degree on hold to join the Tribune's staff.) A native of San Antonio, she has a bachelor's degree in English from Wellesley College.
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