After Parkland, a surge in make-your-own AR-15 rifles

A gun-technology pioneer says he’s seeing a “huge explosion” in sales of a machine that allows people to make their own untraceable AR-15-style rifles in response to the national debate on gun control.

Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, maker of the Ghost Gunner auto-milling machine, says sales doubled in February after the Valentine’s Day massacre at a Florida high school, where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz stands accused of murdering 17 people with an AR-15.

During the first five days of March, sales took another leap after President Trump endorsed tighter background checks and a higher national age limit for gun purchases. From March 1-5, the open-source nonprofit sold as many machines, nearly 200, as it usually does in a month.