USA - 3d Guns - Legal questions surround printed 3D guns / California Joins Lawsuit on 3D Printed Gu
379 views · Published 19 December 2018 · 0:55 · Indexed 22 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(2 Aug 2018) STORYLINE A little-known dispute over 3D-printed guns morphed into a national legal debate in the last week, drawing attention to a technology that seems a bit of sci-fi fantasy and - to gun-control advocates - a dangerous way for criminals to get their hands on firearms that are easy to conceal and tough to detect. The gun industry calls the outcry an overreaction that preys on unwarranted fears about a firearm that can barely shoot a round or two without disintegrating. It also raises a host of constitutional questions involving First Amendment protections for free speech and Second Amendment rights to own guns. Cody Wilson, the founder of Texas-based Defense Distributed, first posted downloadable blueprints for a handgun called the Liberator that could be made using a 3D printer in 2013. Within days it had been downloaded about 100,000 times until the State Department ordered him to cease, contending it violated federal export laws since some of the blueprints were saved by people outside the United States. The dispute between Wilson and the federal government went on for years until this June 2018 when they reached a settlement that paved the way for Wilson to resume posting the designs. The State Department decision came amid an obscure administrative change - begun under the Obama administration - in how the weapons are regulated and administered. Military grade weapons remain under the purview of the State Department, while commercially available firearms fall under the Commerce Department. The settlement with Wilson determined that 3D-printed firearms are akin to more traditional firearms that aren't subject to State Department regulations. Wilson resumed sharing his blueprints for the gun the day the settlement went into effect the previous week. But a federal judge in Washington State issued a temporary restraining order to prevent dissemination of those blueprints. Wilson expressed regret at the legal move, but feels his argument will prevail. Wilson calls it a First Amendment issue. He believes the First Amendment gives him a constitutional right to disseminate the code to make a gun with a 3D printer. And Wilson has a strong legal claim that distribution of the information is different than actually making an all-plastic firearm. While it is a violation of the federal Undetectable Firearms Act to make, sell or possess a firearm that can't be detected by magnetometers or metal detectors, what Wilson is doing is simply providing the information on how to make such a firearm. *** California is joining a lawsuit against the federal government to block the release of blueprints that show how to make 3D-printed plastic guns. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said August 2nd he will join other attorneys general challenging a settlement the Trump administration reached with a Texas-based company to release the plans on the Internet. A Seattle federal judge on July 31st temporarily blocked release of the blueprints. "Donald Trump will have his fingerprints all over these weapons if they start to be produced in places like California", Becerra said. President Trump has said he would look into reversing the decision to allow release of the plans. 00:54:22 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d4e6e4ff63264217a8100343ca401afc
