Defense Distributed announced during a press conference in Austin today that Cody Wilson has resigned as CEO. The announcement comes as the 3D-printed firearm activist faces charges of sexually assaulting a minor.
Wilson was in Taipei last week when the charges were made public, only to be extradited to Texas and ultimately released on $150,000 bail. The company’s Director of Development Paloma Heindorff told the audience that Wilson resigned Friday, adding that he will no longer play a role in Defense Distributed moving forward.
The company itself also has been the focus of an ongoing legal battle, with both Wilson and Defense Distributed serving as a kind of flash point for the debate around 3D-printed guns. A number of states have filed suits, targeting the site’s distribution of plans for 3D-printing firearms at home.
“Defense Distributed, after legally committing its files to the public domain through a license from the U.S. Department of State, has been ordered to shut down its DEFCAD file repository by a federal judge in the Western District of Washington,” its homepage notes. For now, DD’s site is devoted to a call for donations to its legal battles.
As for the future of the company, Heindorff called Defense Distributed “resilient” during the press conference, adding, “I cannot be more proud of my team right now. We didn’t miss a beat. No one blinked. We have no intention of stopping.”
Source: TechCrunch
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