At Defense Distributed, few glimpses of life after Cody Wilson

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  Cody Wilson (right), the founder of Defense Distributed, spoke to reporters in Austin on August 28 in what would become his last public appearance before his September 2018 arrest. [credit: Nathan Mattise ]

It's been nearly a year since 3D-printed firearms activist Cody Wilson was arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a female minor. Yesterday, he appeared in an Austin, Texas courtroom and plead guilty to lesser charges that will likely see Wilson register as a sex offender and serve multiple years probation. He won't be able to possess any firearms and must consent to keystroke/remote monitoring during that time.

But long before Wilson's plead, his situation quickly prompted an unexpected change in leadership at Defense Distributed, the now-infamous Austin, Texas-based digital printing and firearms company he started in 2012. News of an arrest warrant for Wilson came on September 19, 2018, and Paloma Heindorff was named the company's new director less than a week later on September 25.

At the time, Heindorff stated that Wilson would no longer have any involvement with the company. She also promised business would continue on as normal and that she would likely take a different approach publicly than her outspoken, interview-friendly predecessor.

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