Senate Democrats and attorneys general from eight States and the District of Columbia have launched a campaign to block the availability online of computer models of firearms. These models can be used in conjunction with new 3D printing technology to manufacture guns and gun parts.
Senators Ed Markey (MA-D), Richard Blumenthal (CT-D), and others have filed legislation to prohibit the publication of a digital file online that allows a 3D printer to manufacture a firearm. A separate bill would require all guns to have at least one significant component made of metal.
Lawmakers and the attorneys general are concerned that the availability of such technology will increase the accessibility of guns, especially to people who are forbidden under current law from owning them.
The current controversy is a result of a settlement reached between the U.S. Department of Justice and an arms company called Defense Distributed. The company sued after initially being blocked from publishing some of the codes on its website. The settlement permitted the codes to be posted on the company site on August 1, 2018, but a judge in Seattle delayed the release so that lawsuits by the States could proceed.
Supporters of 3D printed guns contend that because it is already legal for individuals to build guns at home, 3D printing is only a natural evolution in the technological process. Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson stated:
“If I allow you to download an AR-15, I don’t believe that I provide you with anything other than the general knowledge of what an AR-15 is. I am no different from a publisher of information.”
The Internet has enabled information to be readily shared between strangers and across borders. The tools needed for an amateur to manufacture a firearm have become more readily available and dramatically less expensive. Currently, Federal law forbids certain individuals (such as felons and those involuntarily committed to psychiatric facilities) from manufacturing, purchasing, or owning firearms, but everyone else has the right to build and own them.
For more background on gun law reform, see the March 2013 issue of Congressional Digest on “Gun Violence Prevention,” the November 1999 issue of Congressional Digest on “Firearms in America,” the April 2010 issue of of Supreme Court Debates on “Gun Control in the States,” and the May 2008 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “The Second Amendment.”
