3D-printed guns are officially illegal to share online

Trump’s administration decided that sharing blueprints for 3D-printed guns online was perfectly fine. Now, in a federal judge ruling, it has thankfully been declared illegal.

Guns are a problem. People with access to guns who probably shouldn’t are also a problem. Allowing blueprints for 3D-printed weaponry that anyone can make at home to be shared online is also a problem, right?

Not if you’re the Trump administration, apparently. The Justice Department and Texas-based non-profit company Defence Distributed struck a deal last year that allowed for free, public sharing of 3D guns – this includes step by step instructions, downloadable printing plans, and detailed guides on how to use them. What could possibly go wrong?

Fortunately, in news that should relieve many, a federal judge in the United States was able to halt the deal this week, after several years of turbulent back and forth.

Defence Distributed started showing off the 3D-printed firearm way back in 2013, but plans to make the information on this gun public was initially blocked by Obama’s administration. This was then reversed last year, as Defence Distributed argued it was a violation of free speech. Now, in 2019, it’s no longer on the cards again, with Judge Robert Lasnik ruling that the entire thing was ‘arbitrary and capricious’ and a breach of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Despite all of the conjecture that’s spanned six years, it seems the ordeal may not even be over yet. While the case won’t go to trial, Defence Distributed says it will appeal the decision, arguing that it’s an act of ‘censorship’ and a limitation on the first amendment.

Really, though, making this 3D-printed weaponry illegal to share online and reproduce is common sense. America already has a gun crisis on its hands that it has yet to properly address or tackle. Trump seems more interested in placing the blame on ‘violent video games’ than he does actual gun lobbyists, and his administration has been frustratingly mute about taking progressive action despite all of the protest from citizens across the country.

The last thing anyone needs is the ability to make a gun from the comfort of their own home, particularly in countries that don’t allow for personal firearms under any normal circumstances.

Sure, right now the designs for 3D guns aren’t particularly dangerous or complex, but the potential for them to become a serious problem is there if the blueprints are allowed to be easily and legally shared. Spreading this information would be dangerous and harmful to the general public, a sentiment that has been echoed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. In a public statement made this week, he said that ‘untraceable and undetectable firearms would threaten […] people around the globe’.