WASHINGTON • A federal judge has blocked the release of blueprints for 3D-printed firearms online, ruling in favour of more than a dozen attorneys-general who argued that their publication increases the threat of gun violence across the United States.
The Seattle court order effectively criminalises publication of the gun-design files, banning Texas-based firm Defence Distributed from posting them on the Internet.
The decision presents a new hurdle in the company's fight to make weapon-design files publicly available, a case that has sparked a national conversation about the implications of untraceable plastic weapons and constitutional rights.
Judge Robert Lasnik of the US District Court for the Western District of Washington cited risks to public safety in granting the injunction on Monday. He wrote that the attorneys-general for 19 states and the District of Columbia who filed the lawsuit have "a legitimate fear that adding undetectable and untraceable guns to the arsenal of weaponry already available will likely increase the threat of gun violence they and their people experience".
The proliferation of digital weapon files, the judge said, "will hamper law enforcement efforts to prevent and/or investigate crime".
The decision stems from a suit filed on July 30 against the State Department, which had agreed to allow Defence Distributed to publish an arsenal of firearms blueprints online in a planned settlement.
The states argued that the release of 3D-printable designs threatened national security and abridged their ability to pass and police gun laws.
Defence Distributed founder Cody Wilson called the court's decision "farcical". "I'm happy to publicly suffer these clownish indignities to demonstrate how unprincipled the judiciary and different state attorneys-general are capable of being when forced to confront an outcome they don't approve of," Mr Wilson, who is still involved in four pending lawsuits, told The Washington Post.
Washington state Attorney-General Bob Ferguson, one of the chief law enforcement officers involved in the suit, lauded the court's decision, saying: "I'm glad we put a stop to this dangerous policy."
The contentious fight over weapon-design files dates back to 2013, when Mr Wilson manufactured the first printed handgun. Soon after, he sued the State Department over its demands that he remove blueprints from the Internet.
In June, the federal government reversed course and entered into a deal permitting him to publish his firearm blueprints online. He intended to do so on Aug 1, but hours before publication, Judge Lasnik stopped him.
WASHINGTON POST
