3D-printed guns: Judge blocks release of blueprints for firearms
CLOSE
A federal judge in Seattle has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns (July 31)
AP
A federal judge on Monday blocked blueprints for 3D-printed guns from being posted on the internet, ruling in favor of 19 states seeking to block their release.
United States District Judge Robert Lasnik of Seattle issued a preliminary injunction against President Donald Trump’s administration, preventing it from executing a portion of a settlement agreement that would allow Texas-based nonprofit Defense Distributed to post the files online.
The ruling marked a win for the states that argued allowing the files to be posted could cause irreparable harm to their citizens.
In his ruling, Lasnik pointed to a number of substantive and procedural issues, arguing that a 3D-printed firearm can have a “toy-like appearance” and no identifying information, making it untraceable for investigators examining a crime.
He agreed with the states that argued the guns could cause their citizens harm.
“Guns that have no identifying information, guns that are undetectable, and guns that thwart the use of standard forensic techniques to link a particular projectile to a particular weapon will hamper law enforcement efforts to prevent and/or investigate crime within the States’ respective jurisdictions,” Lasnik wrote.
The U.S. Department of State, the lead defendant in the lawsuit, referred comment to the Department of Justice, which could not immediately be reached for comment.
The blueprints at issue are computer-aided design files that can be loaded into a 3D printer to manufacture a workable, plastic firearm.
Defense Distributed entered into a settlement agreement with the State Department earlier this year after years of litigation, allowing the nonprofit to post the files online beginning Aug. 1.
But the states, led by the state of Washington, sued to block it, arguing that it violated the federal Administrative Procedure Act and the 10th Amendment, which lays out states’ rights.
CLOSE
Guns made with 3D printers are just as lethal, but aren’t traceable, don’t require background checks and won’t be detected by metal detectors.
USA TODAY
The states successfully won a restraining order last month temporarily blocking the blueprints’ release, with Monday’s preliminary injunction ensuring the prohibition will remain in place as the case moves ahead.
In a statement, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood hailed the injunction as a victory.
“As the court pointed out, we filed suit because of the legitimate fear that adding these undetectable and untraceable guns to the arsenal of available weaponry will only increase the threat of gun violence against our communities,” Underwood said in a statement.
More: Federal judge: 3D-printable guns are an issue for Congress or the president
More: 3D-printed plastic guns: The issue isn’t over since instructions are already public
Posted!
Visitors look at a lattice window made by a 3D printing machine on display during the 2017 Jiangsu Building Fair in Nanjing city, east China’s Jiangsu province. The Chinese market for 3D printing services are set to grow dramatically to 50 billion yuan (US$7.58 billion) by 2020 because they will be more “accessible and customized” within several years, Stratasys, the worldÂ’s biggest 3D printer, said today in Shanghai. The lower cost and threshold of 3D printing services opens up possibilities that include making it accessible for doctors to better serve patients, engineers to maintain airplanes and designers to customize their artworks, according to Stratasys. Revenue in the global 3D printing market will hit US$327.8 billion by 2023, a 26 percent annual growth since this year, according to Marketand Markets. In China, the market revenue will hit 50 billion yuan by 2020, triple this yearÂ’s 17.3 billion yuan, Stratasys said.
1 of 18
2 of 18
3 of 18
4 of 18
5 of 18
6 of 18
7 of 18
8 of 18
9 of 18
10 of 18
11 of 18
12 of 18
13 of 18
14 of 18
15 of 18
16 of 18
17 of 18
18 of 18
Â
Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~/566475960/0/usatodaycomwashington-topstories~Dprinted-guns-Judge-blocks-release-of-blueprints-for-firearms/