3D gun designer fights back against critics after federal judge blocks release of blueprints

There are new details in the growing controversy over 3D printed guns as Chicago police battle deadly gun violence in the city.

Now, the man at the center of the controversy is speaking out just days after a federal judge blocked the release of blueprints for the guns online.

“A lot of people just woke up to this controversy last week. Well I’m sorry that you didn't know about it and I’m sorry you weren't prepared for it. That is the world we're living in already,” said Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed.

Wilson is talking about a world of 3D guns. A world he helped create, with blueprints he published on the web. Blueprints that can be fed to a sophisticated 3D printer, allowing potentially anyone to print a plastic gun that fires real bullets.

Now, since being forced to take them down, he's been battling to get them back online.

“I’m politically motivated to include the ambitions of gun control. These are literally the terms that I understand the project in. How can I build a project that would end American gun control?” Wilson said.

Wilson argues the prints were available in the past, and have already been downloaded thousands of times. But one local group says allowing this type of access to anyone only adds to a growing problem.

“The last thing we need in this city or this country is more firearms,” said Mark Walsh.

Walsh with the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence says 3D printed guns are primarily made of plastic, allowing them to go undetected into places like schools and concert venues.

“We also have concerns that there's no way to trace those, so they're just being made, we don't know who has them,” Walsh said.

Meanwhile, Wilson says he'll continue to fight for what he says is his First Amendment right.

“I promise you that these lawmakers couldn't stand in front of you now and explain to me or explain to you what exactly it is that I’m doing. They couldn't explain to you what the technology is, they don't know if you can make a gun or how you could even get a gun. To them it's all science fiction,” Wilson said.