On Tuesday, a federal judge issued a restraining order temporarily prohibiting the posting of blueprints for the making of 3D-printed guns (AP FILE PHOTO)
It is legal to make a gun, but one controversial method --the 3D printing of firearms using blueprints a federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked from being posted online -- has left local gun advocates either disturbed or underwhelmed.
"I think it's really foolish and ill-advised to try to put this information out to the public, because none of the people who are going to try and download it have had a background check," said George LeBlanc, owner of LeBlanc's Gun Shop in Fitchburg.
LeBlanc is one several gun shop owners who on Wednesday said attention surrounding 3D-printed guns is overwrought. But he nonetheless opposes the method of manufacturing firearms.
In June, the Justice Department settled with Texas-based nonprofit called Defense Distributed, which several years ago uploaded to the Internet plans for 3D printing a single-shot gun made of hard plastic.
The organization had been forced to remove the designs from the web following a Justice Department order under President Barack Obama.
The June settlement meant that, effective Wednesday, Defense Distributed was permitted to resume posting the plans online.
But on Tuesday, a federal judge issued a restraining order temporarily prohibiting Defense Distributed from re-posting the designs. The ruling was spurred by a court challenge issued by eight attorneys general, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
"The federal government is trying to allow access to online plans that will allow anyone to anonymously build their own downloadable, untraceable and undetectable gun" Healey said in
