After a Misfire, the First Vibe-Coded Gun Is Here—and Speech Questions Follow

A rough test in Austin

Outside Defense Distributed headquarters in Austin, Wilson and a colleague mounted the WASP for a test. The 3D-printed .22-caliber handgun consisted mainly of a pistol barrel attached to a spring-loaded plastic box, with a bulky grip that Wilson’s visitor found awkwardly shaped.

The first pull of a string attached to the trigger produced a click, not a shot. Wilson said the striker had struck the cartridge but failed to ignite its primer; after troubleshooting, the gun fired and put a hole in a cardboard target.

What Wilson says AI does

Wilson calls his custom model GatGPT. Trained on DEFCAD’s collection of gun files, it answers firearm-related questions and can help users identify parts for a build. Wilson said the project was not an AI-generated gun, but an AI able to generate guns. He claims the model can produce original designs, whose appearance he described as surreal and reminiscent of early generative art.

A long-running legal dispute

Federal law requires licensed gun makers to put serial numbers on frames or receivers of guns they sell. Wilson and others in the 3D2A movement argue that gun files are computer code and protected speech; that legal question has been contested in court for more than a decade and could reach the Supreme Court.