[Evan Thomas]

First, it wasn't the Dept. of Defense that took it down, it was the Dept. of State. I think, in any case, the DoD has a pretty good idea of how the internet works, since its original incarnation was a DoD project.

Read the Forbes article in the link I posted above, and then you might have a better idea about what's going on here. As several people have pointed out, the current plans don't produce a gun that's very useful, but they establish that it can be done.

If the DDTC rules that these designs are subject to ITAR, they will need an export license -- the fact that they're in the public domain doesn't change that. And in that case, if Defense Distributed produces another design for a more effective gun, Mr. Wilson will be personally liable for its misuse.

Libertarian fantasies about cheap, homemade guns for everyone are appealing, but this is the real world, and the government has a legitimate interest in how these guns might be used in foreign countries: for example, against US personnel.

I'm sure they're also concerned about the potential of this technology to make it easy for US citizens to bypass gun laws, but in terms of regulation, that's down the road a piece.