iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday to stop the release of downloadable blueprints and instructions on how to build an untraceable and undetectable plastic firearm using a 3D-printer.
The nationwide order, sought by attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia, blocks gun-rights activist Cody Wilson and his Texas-based company, Defense Distributors, from publishing plans for a plastic gun online, which they could have done beginning Wednesday.
It comes after Senate Democrats warned the Trump administration that the firearms could end up in the wrong hands. A 3D-printed gun doesn’t require a background check, a serial number, or a gun registration.
“As of tomorrow, anyone, including criminals and terrorists can have access to blueprints for making deadly weapons with a click of a mouse,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Tuesday during a press conference hours before the judge’s order. “Anyone will be able to download a computer file and use a very simple process to make it possible for them to be able to make a gun.”
“It’s the ultimate gun loophole. Why buy them if you can print them at home instead?” Markey said.
“These firearms are also untraceable. They will not have a serial number for law enforcement to reference and in the case of purely plastic firearms, these firearms will be undetectable. They will pass through metal detectors without a blip, a buzz or a bell that is going off,” he went on.
For years, the State Department has argued that allowing these blueprints for 3D-printed guns to be published online would violate federal export controls because the digital codes would help facilitate the manufacturing of weapons that can be accessed freely around the globe.
The detailed
