US court blocks online posting of blueprints for 3D-printed plastic guns
01 Aug 2018
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In a major setback to the gun lobby in America, a federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday stopped the release of blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns.
The temporary block on the release of the blueprints is a setback to President Donald Trump, who has backed the move to make such guns available for download.
US district judge Robert Lasnik warned that there was the possibility of ‘irreparable harm’ because of the way in which the guns could be made. Eight attorneys general, representing states ruled by the Democrats, had filed the lawsuit seeking to block the settlement between the US government and Defense Distributed, a Texas-based company that had come out with the gun.
“We were asking for a nationwide temporary restraining order putting a halt to this outrageous decision by the federal government to allow these 3D downloadable guns to be available around our country and around the world,” said Bob Ferguson, attorney-general of Washington state.
Democrats had urged Trump not to allow the company to offer its designs to make the guns online. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal told the media on Tuesday that by not blocking the sale of the guns, blood would be on Trump’s hands.
The Justice Department claimed the government reached a settlement with the Texas company to post details online as the restrictions were applicable only for weapons that could be used in wars.
The weapons designed by Defense Distributed did not provide any ‘military advantage,’ so the government could not regulate the data that was being provided online, it argued.
