US judge blocks release of 3D gun blueprints, amid uproar over ‘crazy’ plan that got green light from White House
His administration agreed to let the gun blueprints be released, but Donald Trump now says the weapons don’t ‘seem to make much sense’
A US judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the online publication of blueprints for 3D-printed firearms, in a last-ditch effort to stop a settlement US President Donald Trump’s administration had reached with the company releasing the digital documents.
Eight states and the District of Columbia, that houses the capital Washington, had filed a lawsuit against the federal government, calling its settlement with Texas-based Defense Distributed “arbitrary and capricious.”
It is – simply – crazy to give criminals the tools to build untraceable, undetectable 3D printed guns at the touch of a button. Yet that’s exactly what the Trump administration decided to allow
Those weapons can be manufactured using 3D printers or personal steel mills, and lack traceable serial numbers. At least one of the guns can also be made from plastic, which is virtually invisible to metal detectors.
US District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle, Washington granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order blocking the release of the digital plans, and scheduled a hearing for August 10.
In a written statement, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, one of plaintiffs, called the ruling “a major victory for common sense and public safety.”
“As we argued in the suit we filed yesterday, it is – simply – crazy to give criminals the tools to build untraceable, undetectable 3D printed guns at the touch of a button. Yet that’s exactly what the Trump administration decided to allow.”
