DEMAND LEGISLATORS BLOCK 3D PRINTING OF GUNS

In 2013, a self-proclaimed anarchist organization, Defense Distributed, began providing online blueprints for 3D printing plastic firearms. The federal government quickly blocked the distribution of these blueprints, citing international export laws. However, the Trump administration’s State Department has reversed this decision by settling a lawsuit with Defense Distributed. As of August 1st, Defense Distributed and other organizations and individuals will be able to share free, 3D-printable plastic gun blueprints online. Online blueprints will be available for a wide variety of guns, including the AR-15 which have been commonly used in mass shootings. Defense Distributed has hailed this development as “the death of gun control,” and gun control advocates agree. With these blueprints available online anyone with a 3D printer—including children, convicted domestic abusers, and others who would have no way to buy guns legally—will be able to build their own untraceable, deadly weapon.

The Trump administration has made it clear that they have no intention of protecting the American people from a flood of untraceable, unregistered “ghost guns,” instead choosing to validate the extreme views of a tiny minority of gun advocates who do not want any sensible regulation of weapons. To address this new thread, Democrats have introduced the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act (H.R. 2033 and S. 533) to both chambers of Congress. The bill, which strengthens existing restrictions on untraceable guns to cover 3D-printed plastic firearms, should be prioritized for passage immediately.

 

 

**Today’s CTA is courtesy of 5calls.org