US judge blocks plans for 3D printed weapons

A gun Liberator completely manufactured on a 3D printer. (Photo by AP, file)

A federal judge on Tuesday arrested plans to make unpredictable, undetectable 3D plastic guns while President Donald Trump wondered if his administration should have accepted plans to be posted online.

The company behind the plans, Defense Distributed, based in Austin, Texas, had reached an agreement with the federal government in June, allowing it to make gun plans available for download on Wednesday.

. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle is putting this plan on hold for the moment. "There is a possibility of irreparable damage because of the way these weapons can be made," he said.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the decision "a total and total victory". a temporary national restraint order ending this outrageous federal decision to allow these 3D downloadable weapons to be available across the country and around the world. He granted this relief, "said Ferguson at a press conference after the hearing." It's important. "

Eight Democratic Attorneys General had filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the settlement.They also asked for the injunction, claiming that 3D weapons would be a security risk.

Congressional Democrats urged President Donald Trump to rescind the decision to publish the plans. A press conference Tuesday, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said that if Trump does not block the sale, "the blood is going to be on his hands."

Trump said Tuesday that he "is studying" The idea saying: "

Trump tweeted that he has already spoken with the National Rifle Association about downloadable instructions that a Texas company wants to give people to make 3D printed weapons. The firearms are made of hard plastic and are easy to bademble, easy to hide and difficult to trace.

"We do not agree very much with President Trump," said Jeff Rupert, Deputy Attorney General of Washington State. when he tweeted "it does not make much sense", it's something we agree with. "

After a lengthy court battle, the State Department settled the case against Defense Distributed at the end of June

The gun control lawyers, by surprise, have allowed the company to resume publishing plans for hard plastic weapons at the end of July. These plans were put on hold by the Seattle Judge's decision.

At the hearing in Seattle, Eric Soskin, a lawyer from the United States Department of Justice, said the settlement had been accepted, designed to restrict weapons that could be used in the war, and online guns are no different from weapons that could be bought in a store.

Since the weapons "did not create a military advantage," he told the judge, how could the government justify the regulation of the data? "[traduction] But Rupert said that a prescription Restrictive would prevent people from learning what is happening in technology and using it to circumvent the gun laws.

The order was issued, Democrats sounded the alarm, warning against "ghost guns" that can avoid detection and pose a mortal danger.

The company's website had said that downloads would begin Wednesday. A _ a plastic pistol called Liberator _ has been posted on the site since Friday. A company lawyer said that he did not know how many plans have been uploaded since then.

Outrage on the decision of the administration is to hand over gun control in the political debate of the election year, but with a touch of high-tech. 19659006] The President seemed to express his surprise. He said on Twitter that he was considering the idea of ​​a company providing shots to the public for the printing of guns, and he said that it did not seem like very logical!

The Democrats were in agreement and said that Trump had the power to stop

Some Republicans also expressed concern.

"Even as a strong proponent of the second amendment, it is not correct," tweeted Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, in connection with a report on the rifles. The NRA said in a statement that "anti-gun politicians" and some members of the media are falsely claiming that 3D printing technology will "enable the widespread production and proliferation of undetectable plastic guns." . "

Firearms have been illegal for 30 years, "said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's political branch, who pbaded a 1988 federal law with the support of the NRA. possession of an undetectable firearm.

Trump's spokesman, Hogan Gidley, argued the same thing by stating that the administration supported the law.

But Democrats have called the law Low law and said that gun users could work around the problem by using weapons with a removable metal block whose gun did not need to work.

would ban the publication in line of a digital file allowing a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm.Reocrats also has a separate bill to require that all weapons have at least one non-removable metal component so that they can to be discovered p ar metal detectors.

People can use the plans to make plastic guns. But industry experts have expressed doubts about the difficulty of criminals because the printers needed to make the weapons can cost thousands of dollars, the weapons themselves tend to disintegrate quickly and the weapons to traditional fire are easy to find. the best way with the Express Morning Briefing