Planstoprint guns multiply on internet

AUSTIN, Texas — Instructions for making guns on a 3D printer are no longer available on an Austin company’s website, but the plans have been copied and republished on other parts of the internet, raising questions about the effectiveness of a federal judge’s order that blocked access to the files.

Defense Distributed, founded by Cody Wilson of Austin, shut down access to the gun blueprints shortly after U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik of Seattle issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, company lawyer Josh Blackman said Thursday.

But the files had been available since July 27 and were downloaded thousands of times and reposted in “countless other places — I don’t even know where,” Blackman said.

“I argued to the judge on Tuesday that there’s no irreparable harm because the files are out there and you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. The judge wasn’t persuaded by that argument,” Blackman told the Austin American-statesman.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence criticized what it called extremist groups for reposting the do-it-yourself plans, citing the danger of promoting difficult-to-detect plastic firearms that would lack a serial number and therefore be untraceable.

“It means that we’re all at greater risk,” said Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign. “What they are doing is dangerous. It is reckless. It is obviously an attempt to get around the judge’s temporary restraining order.”

Lasnik issued the restraining order at the request of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Democratic officials from seven other states and the District of Columbia.

The judge’s order temporarily blocked the federal government from enforcing an agreement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. State Department.

An Aug. 10 hearing in Seattle will determine whether the restraining order should be converted into a longer-term preliminary injunction.