Killer app: 3D printed handguns get go-ahead in US after Trump administration strikes court deal
‘The age of the downloadable gun formally begins’
From August 1, thanks to the Trump administration, a commercially available software blueprint will allow people to make their own guns using ABS plastic resin and a 3D printer.
The green light came late last month, with a court settlement between the designer of the blueprint and the US state department. Gun rights advocates celebrated.
In a statement greeting the news, the Second Amendment Foundation founder and executive vice-president, Alan Gottlieb, said: “Not only is this a first amendment victory for free speech, it also is a devastating blow to the gun prohibition lobby.”
Defense Distributed, the company behind the blueprint, declared: “The age of the downloadable gun formally begins.”
Gun control advocates were alarmed. Nick Suplina, managing director of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, said the settlement was “incredibly dangerous” and called on the state department to continue to block the publication of what he described as “deadly information”.
“This settlement would enable convicted felons and domestic abusers to download schematics online and print their own illegal and untraceable guns,” he said.