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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."
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.
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.
Well I don't disagree with what you're saying, but ultimately Cody did do something really stupid and put himself out there.
I'm a pretty solid constitutional, so I do support his case. But Wilson's always had a somewhat well deserved reputation for having a real big ego. And in doing so he left himself open for this kind of attack, not to mention that he was on a rather scuzzy looking website to begin with. That was just flat out a damn stupid thing that he did.
Yep, it smells like the "rape" accusations against Julian Assange... Neither Wilson's "assault", which allegedly consisted of a consensual sex with a 16 y/o prostitute, nor Assange's "rape", which was alleged to have consisted of not using protection in an otherwise consensual encounter — were anything close to what's normally associated with the highly loaded terms used to describe the actions ("sexual assault", "rape").
Both men have greatly inconvenienced the US government shortly before these allegations came to light, however...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
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?
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
> 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 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.
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.
Both men have greatly inconvenienced the US government shortly before these allegations came to light, however...
And what?
The US government got a 16 year old to join sugardaddy.com and manipulated Wilson into messaging and arranging an encounter with her?
The US government got Assange to play fast and loose with a couple sexual liaisons, then convinced the women to file complaints?
Here's another theory, people with huge egos who play loose with the law in one area tend to do the same in other areas as well.
It's also true that making yourself notorious might cause people to walk by your closets to see if any skeletons are peaking out. We don't know the details of the case against Wilson to know if that was the situation here but it's certainly possible Wilson was only caught because he was already under scrutiny.
I stole this Sig
>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
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.