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Cody Wilson, 3D-Printed Gun Pioneer, Arrested In Taiwan (reason.com)
Cody Wilson, maker of the first 3D-printed plastic gun, has been arrested in Taiwan. Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike quotes Reason:
Earlier this week, Texas police issued a warrant for his arrest. Wilson, they claimed, found a woman on sugardaddymeet.com, a website that requires all users to assert they are 18 or over, then met her and paid for sex with her. Police say the woman was actually 16, which made that act a violation of Texas penal code 22.011 (A)(2)(a), regarding sex with a minor, which is legally considered sexual assault regardless of consent or payment.
While Taiwan has no formal extradition treaty with the U.S., and Wilson was not said to have been doing anything directly criminal in Taiwan, the press there reports that he was arrested without incident because the U.S. had revoked his passport, making his mere presence in Taiwan illegal. (The U.S. government has the power to revoke the passports of people facing felony arrest warrants.) Wilson was then, according to The New York Times, "delivered...to the National Immigration Agency" in Taiwan. It is expected to deport him to the U.S. to face those charges, which carry a potential 2 to 20 years in prison and $10,000 fine.
A reporter for Ars Technica visited Wilson's home weapons printing company, and was told that "A management restructuring is coming." But they also contacted Adam Bhala Lough, who directed and wrote a documentary film about Wilson. Prior to Wilson's arrest, Lough argued that "Without Cody, it can't last. It's like Tesla and Elon Musk, you can't separate the two.
"If he comes home and faces the music, there is a chance Defense Distributed will survive because it is a totally independent company without a board or any regulatory body. And the buyers of these products -- not to generalize, but at least the ones I met while doing the documentary -- they won't care about buying a product from an [accused] pedophile. In fact they may be even more emboldened by the idea that Cody was 'set-up' or that it is a 'deep-state conspiracy' against him, even if (or when) he admits to it."
While Taiwan has no formal extradition treaty with the U.S., and Wilson was not said to have been doing anything directly criminal in Taiwan, the press there reports that he was arrested without incident because the U.S. had revoked his passport, making his mere presence in Taiwan illegal. (The U.S. government has the power to revoke the passports of people facing felony arrest warrants.) Wilson was then, according to The New York Times, "delivered...to the National Immigration Agency" in Taiwan. It is expected to deport him to the U.S. to face those charges, which carry a potential 2 to 20 years in prison and $10,000 fine.
A reporter for Ars Technica visited Wilson's home weapons printing company, and was told that "A management restructuring is coming." But they also contacted Adam Bhala Lough, who directed and wrote a documentary film about Wilson. Prior to Wilson's arrest, Lough argued that "Without Cody, it can't last. It's like Tesla and Elon Musk, you can't separate the two.
"If he comes home and faces the music, there is a chance Defense Distributed will survive because it is a totally independent company without a board or any regulatory body. And the buyers of these products -- not to generalize, but at least the ones I met while doing the documentary -- they won't care about buying a product from an [accused] pedophile. In fact they may be even more emboldened by the idea that Cody was 'set-up' or that it is a 'deep-state conspiracy' against him, even if (or when) he admits to it."
This absolutely doesn't smell right. And governments have been known for "setting examples" and taking out vendettas against those who would challenge them.
Libertas in infinitum
Yes, I believe the government in this case. This guy's a real prick, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit that he's a child fucker.
I don't respond to AC's.
Any time a person in the government's crosshairs gets arrested on a sex crime or pedophilia charge, be VERY wary of believing it.
Anyone remember what happened to the IMF Director who was stupid enough to challenge the supremacy of the U.S. dollar?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
On the website that was named, there's a pulldown menu to select your age. It doesn't go below 18.
First off as a veteran of the Vietnam conflict I do not believe you understand what communism is.
Second, Cody Wilson is not the father of 3D do it yourself gun projects.
Third what the hell is with you crazy people blaming a child???? I am now 74. Someone of the age of 16 is not fully developed.
it is absolutely disgusting that anyone who considers them self a conservative nor libertarian would result into such hideous victim-blaming of a child.
Not really known to be totalitarian anti gun anti second amendment state.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I have a 3D printer. No way, no how is that the easiest way to produce a home made gun. Do people honestly think current 3D printer technology is like a Star Trek replicator?
I'd be much better of using my drill press, saw, dremel, files, etc. if I really wanted to make a gun.
Really well made guns are way cheaper and easier than a homebrew, and unfortunately getting them illegally is all too easy here in Chicago from what I can tell.
What am I missing in this debate about 3D printed guns?
Greed is the root of all evil.
No, someone IN THE STATE OF TEXAS of the age of 16 is not fully developed. FIFY.
In the United States, every state has it's own age of consent, with the most common being age 16. Yes, that's right, 16. Unfortunately for Cody, his love making was done in the state of Texas, where the legal age of consent is 18. If he had simply been living up north by one state, he might not be in such hot water.
Paying for sex with a woman who convincingly passes as an adult does not make a person a pedophile. A criminal, yes, but saying he is into prepubescent children because he bought sex from a person who could easily pass as a fully grown adult is just fraudulently incorrect.
a) How did Texas police KNOW that he went on any specific website (spying on his Internet traffic?)
b) How did Texas police KNOW that he asked for a 16yo girl (spying on his computer?)
c) How did Texas police KNOW that he visited anyone in Taiwan AND performed a potentially illegal act (spying on his person)
d) How did Texas police revoke a FEDERAL passport
e) How does Taiwan get to extradite him to the US if he currently has no formal documents that support his nationality
This smells on all sides. If I were Taiwan/China I'd ask some serious questions: why is US local and/or federal law enforcement conducting surveillance against anyone in our country?
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> Someone of the age of 16 is not fully developed.
Devils advocate: /sarcasm As opposed to someone who is 18 years old?
Who determines what this "magic age" is? Because it certainly varies from female to female.
Define "fully developed". Do you mean biologically? Mentally? Emotionally? Because female teenagers mature faster then male teenagers.
In my limited experience I've known some teeagers who wise WELL beyond their years (behaved like a 40 year old), and known 30 year olds who behaved like dumb teenagers.
History and numerous civilizations has shown that "if she is old enough to bleed then she is old enough to breed" -- and while we can criticize this past mentality I'm not so sure there is an EXACT "magic" age that determines when a girl becomes a young woman and is fully cognant of the consequences of her choices. Hell, some *adults* aren't even!
This mentality of equating "16 years old female teenager is a child" depends LARGELY on social norms and subjective judgements. There is no "absolute" test you can do to determine if a female is a woman; it is a gradient.
That said, probably the *best* way to determine is to ask the father or mother: At what age of your daughter would you feel comfortable knowing she is having sex?
I'm willing to bet most would say late 20s.
because a) their reasoning abilities aren't fully developed
Look around you. How many people do you actually believe have fully developed reasoning abilities?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I don't see the historic acceptability of marrying off young women as being exculpatory. For the vast majority of human history, the strong took what they wanted. That worked great for the strong, so it persisted, but I wouldn't claim that robbery should be tolerated because it was once the modus vivendi.
The guy is alleged to have solicited a 16-year old for sex. She wasn't legally old enough to consent to the sex or the contracted exchange. So no magic number is required.
I think he means the suspicious part is that she was underaged. There is a vast difference between solicitation and statutory rape. A solicitation charge will generally result in a fine or a very short stint in jail. Stat. rape is a felony and you will probably wind up in actual prison (not merely jail).
I think the idea seems plausible at least in part because the website supposedly screens everyone to be over 18. However, I really doubt they are trying that hard.
On the other hand, the setup theory implies an adversary that has access to a trustworthy minor willing to bang strangers for money/the cause. This seems a little too much like the plot of a John Grisham novel to me. Not that it's impossible, just that someone will need to show some real evidence before I'll pay much attention.
I got through 43 years without ever being in trouble with the police. Then I got on the wrong side of one police officer, and next time I encountered him he walked over to me and arrested me. Him and a colleague gave written statements that Iâ(TM)d assaulted them. Fortunately there was a recording of my arrest and the prosecution was dropped.
Itâ(TM)s hard to go through an experience like that, and still take this story at face value. I just donâ(TM)t trust law enforcement anymore.
It sounds like he is guilty of having sex with an under-age minor.
However if he really thought she was 18, then he's not a pedophile.
That's an important distinction in terms of others doing business with someone - many people would be horrified at having anything to do with a true pedophile, while being OK with someone that had questionable but legal sexual tastes otherwise. Just paying for sex is a whole different kind of deal morally speaking.
Even if it was not a setup, he was pretty stupid to do anything even close to illegal when it was very probable everything he did was being tracked by the government (probably more than one).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you're going strictly on reasoning abilities, people probably shouldn't be considered adults until they're around 25. There's some research to suggest that the brain doesn't fully stop developing until a person is in their 30's. Where do you draw the line? Also, we know that abstinence-only sex education is a miserable failure and that trying to outright forbid teenagers from having sex is probably more likely to encourage them just to spite you.
An older adult that's trying to hook up with 16 year olds is a sleaze-ball regardless of whether it's legal or not. However, there are a lot of problems if you try to base adulthood around reasoning abilities. It's as arbitrary as age and there's likely going to be some people who never make the cut. Who is responsible for those people who are stuck being "children' for the rest of their lives?
Personally I think if you want to have a fair and useful measure, don't grant someone legal adulthood status until they can show they can be self-sufficient. If a person can't handle that, they probably can't handle the legal or other responsibilities (selective service) that come along with it. Even then, I don't know if I would want to go around telling people who are biologically adults that they're not allowed to have sex because they can't reach some arbitrary threshold. Similarly, there are some kids who had to grow up fast and can support themselves at 17, and at that point I can't see why I should have any right to tell them (in a legal sense, not as a matter of opinion or general speech) what they can or can't do with their body.
Should a 17 year be banned from federal positions for life due to an an alleged wrestling match with a female peer?
Only if male. If female, it was her choice.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
>Lie about age when signing up to prostitution website
>Lie about age to man to get money and sex
>Willingly have sex
>Willingly take money for that sex
>Admit to doing all of this, WILLINGLY
>Claim this was "assault"
>People actually take your side
THE ABSOLUTE STATE
in this context. It means developed at or near the full extent of the individual. It doesn't mean turning into Albert Einstein or something.
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But this is where your logic breaks down. Why would the attorney general of the state of Texas think Cody Wilson was a problem? Why would they target him.
Because the Texas AG first off likely had little to do with a local prosecutor's decision to prosecute, and that local prosecutor likely had significant pressure applied by the Federal government and many others who don't want to see the Liberator 3D printer files be posted to the internet, and the prosecutor may even be a Democrat, IDK. Heck, he may have simply received an "anonymous tip" from an FBI agent and was just doing his job. Also, since this "technically" is not about the 2A, not sure how that would matter legally to the State AG.
I would not be surprised to find out that the FBI set him up with this girl and tipped off local law enforcement precisely to destroy Wilson.
These are no Boy Scouts we're dealing with in government in either Party. They play as dirty as they think they can get away with, whether (R) or (D). Again, another reason why I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. The "establishment" of both sides are thoroughly corrupt.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Wtf? Being attracted to a female with a body capable of bearing a child is not paedophilia.
Society determines an arbitrary cut-off at which women are considered old enough to consent to sex. That cut-off varies by jurisdiction but doesn't change the fact that men are attracted to the fully physically developed female form.
The whole concept of teenagers was an invention. http://www.ushistory.org/us/46...
No, it's not. I take your article and raise you "Northanger Abbey", a book published in 1817 which more or less has the plot (heavily summarised) "teenagers are a bit silly". Now how on earth could that be a thing if teenagers didn't even exist then?
Maybe the word teenager wasn't used, but adolescents exist, always have and always will. There are even scientifically measurable brain changes that happen during adolescence.
It's not limited to humans either. You can see the behaviour easily in social animals as well.
Who determines what this "magic age" is?
Welcome to the real world. The real world is messy and fully of grey areas requiring a mixture of poorly applied rules and actual judgement. For example in this case it's often very clear when things are far over one side of the line. 5 years old? Definitely not ok. 50 years old? Definitely OK. Logarithmically interpolate (~16) and you run right into the middle of a grey area.
It's stark but ultimately it's like everything else. There's always a continum between "definitely fine" and "fuck no" and no matter where you draw the line problems abound. But if you don't draw the line anywhere at all you have even worse problems.
My own thoughts on the matter is if the law says you don't boink a woman until after she is 100 years old, then you don't boink any women under 100.
If the law says something stupid it won't be obeyed and nor should it.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Unfortunately for Cody, his love making was done in the state of Texas, where the legal age of consent is 18. If he had simply been living up north by one state, he might not be in such hot water.
Incorrect. Regardless of the age of consent, BUYING sex from someone under 18 is generally very illegal.
If this story is in fact legit, shouldn't the girl be the one going to jail? She lied about her age, signed up for a site where you hook up with people, then cried because somebody chose to hook up with her... and now the guy - who was using the service legally - is getting in shit?
This entire story stinks of victim blaming and bullshit.
There is also the possibility that the local prosecutor found out about an alleged rape and is doing his duty, just like he or she would do in any other case of alleged rape.
Yep, he got right on it after receiving that "anonymous tip" from the FBI who illegally had Wilson under heavy electronic surveillance. After all, Wilson's 3D Liberator files were an existential threat to those more-authoritarian regimes we have a cozy intelligence relationship with.
If the Deep State will illegally surveil Congressmen, journalists, and POTUS candidates, it's rather a given they'd have Wilson under a microscope. Anyone who says otherwise is either a shill or hopelessly blind and naive.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.