Judge stops online blueprints for untraceable 3-D printed guns
South Florida lawmakers and a Parkland parent are fighting to stop the spread of untraceable guns that can be manufactured at home on a 3-D printer.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday evening halting the release of downloadable blueprints for the guns, setting up a legal battle between gun-control advocates and a nonprofit organization that argues it has a constitutional right to share the information.
Texas-based Defense Distributed had reached a legal settlement with the State Department to begin publishing the information starting at midnight. The judge’s order was in response to a lawsuit filed by eight state attorneys general seeking to keep those files off the Internet.
While people can use the blueprints to manufacture guns in their
homes, industry experts say the mostly plastic pistols lack accuracy, hold only a bullet or two, must be manually reloaded and have been known to disintegrate into pieces when firing.
But tests by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2013 also concluded the guns are lethal weapons and are capable of firing multiple rounds successfully without failing, according to a report by CNN.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning he’s looking into the issue.
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in the Stoneman Douglas massacre, said in a CNN interview Tuesday that easy-to-conceal 3-D printed guns made with plastic components will make it easier for criminals to evade background checks and circumvent security measures.
“Metal detectors are now going to be meaningless,” he told CNN. “It didn’t need to be this way, and we need to put a stop to this.”
The Undetectable Firearms Act — passed in 1988 — makes it illegal to manufacture or produce a gun capable of evading a metal detector.
A Trump spokesman addressed the issue on Air Force One as the president traveled to Tampa for a campaign-style rally. “In the United States, it is currently illegal to own or make a wholly, plastic gun of any kind — including those made on a 3-D printer,” said spokesman Hogan Gidley. “The administration supports this nearly two-decade-old law. We will continue to look at all options available to us to do what is necessary to protect Americans while also supporting the First and Second amendments.”
Eight states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration seeking to block the publication of blueprints for 3-D printed guns.
Florida is not among the states joining the suit, and a spokesman for Attorney General Pam Bondi did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Democratic State Sen. Linda Stewart, DOrlando, sent a letter to Bondi asking her to join the lawsuit.
Defense Distributed reached a settlement last month with the State Department to publish the blueprints starting today for the Liberator. The group argued in a multiyear legal battle with the federal government that blocking the publication of those design files would violate its First and Second Amendment rights.
On its website, the group wrote that on Wednesday “the age of the downloadable gun formally begins.”
Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that he is reviewing the matter. He wrote, “Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!,” referencing the National Rifle Association.
Gun advocates say criminals could just as easily buy a gun off the black market, and people already can make their own untraceable guns using parts available for sale online.
A 3-D printer capable of producing a gun would cost thousands of dollars, and the production process is much more complicated than hitting a button on an inkjet printer, said Dan Zimmerman, managing editor of “The Truth About Guns” blog.
“The hysteria is ridiculously overblown,” Zimmerman said. “People have been making their own guns since before we were a nation. If you are a criminal, it’s much cheaper and easier just to go out and buy a gun illegally on the black market or get a straw purchaser to buy one for you.”
NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch tweeted that the legal ability to produce something at home for personal use predates the Trump administration.
“An FYI, hobbyists have always been able to make personal guns at home (zip guns, example),” she wrote. “Plastic and expensive printers are just variables.”
In a news conference in Washington, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson implored the administration to act. He says he’s among senators drafting a bill that would require 3-D printed guns to have a metal component and serial number. His effort to block publication of the design files was stymied on the Senate floor by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
“It is a direct threat to the national security and certainly to our personal safety,” Nelson said.
Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Scott, who was at Trump’s side at a Tampa high school Tuesday afternoon, is challenging Nelson in the November election.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, whose district includes Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, is supporting legislation in the House.
“Metal detectors at schools and airports won’t matter if people are able to sneak guns past check points,” he said. “We can’t delay.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, secured passage last week of an amendment directing Homeland Security to develop screening options for 3-D printed guns, a measure intended to avoid another tragedy similar to the Jan. 6, 2017, mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that left five people dead.
She also has co-sponsored legislation that seeks to stop the spread of untraceable homemade guns, sometimes referred to as ghost guns.