By Ethan Baron
The San Jose Mercury News
Concern that 3D-printed guns could fall into the hands of the wrong Americans has expanded into a fear that foreign terrorists could use the technology to obtain firearms invisible to metal detectors.
And Democratic federal lawmakers have called on social media and internet-search companies to remove any gun-printing blueprints from their platforms.
Recent weeks have seen fierce debate and legal fights over distribution of blueprints for making guns —mostly from plastic —with a 3D printer. “The availability of 3D-printed guns creates yet another loophole through which prohibited individuals could more easily obtain firearms,” Johns Hopkins University professor Cassandra Crifasi said Aug. 1.
At the center of the furor is Defense Distributed, whose founder Cody Wilson in 2013 posted online digital instructions allowing 3D printers to make a handgun.
Wilson was, at first, shut down by the federal government, which declared the upload of such blueprints a violation of firearms-export laws. Then he sued, and won: The government settled, agreeing to pay him $40,000 and allowing Defense Distributed to upload gun-printing files.
After the company announced it would post gun-printing files online on Aug. 1 —to make handguns, AR-15-type rifles such as that used in the Parkland shooting, and AK-47-type assault rifles —New Jersey’s attorney general sent it a cease-and-desist letter. Attorney General Gurbir Grewal stated that printed guns would “flood the illegal firearms market” and threaten public safety.
Then a federal court judge issued a temporary injunction barring publication of gun-printing files. New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood celebrated the ruling as a move to prevent “criminals” from getting guns.
However, some of the blueprints had reportedly been uploaded ahead of schedule, with, according to The Washington Post, 1,000 people downloading plans for AR-15 semiautomatic rifles.
On Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and four other U.S. senators sent letters to Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Microsoft, Craigslist and Reddit, asking that they, as the letter to Twitter said, “proactively prevent the online dissemination of these dangerous 3-D designs” and “remove content like 3-D gun designs.”
Facebook said it would block posting of gun-printing files, in accordance with its community standards. Twitter said such files aren’t something it sees much on its platform, but that the company is open to hearing from law enforcement regarding illegal activity. Google did not respond to a request for comment on Feinstein’s request.
Now, the battle over the technology has broadened into a new area: terrorism. An Aug. 16 letter from gun-control group the Brady Campaign to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited “the risks posed by gaining easy access to 3-D printed guns without benefit of a background check, armed with weapons potentially undetectable by metal detectors and untraceable by law enforcement because they lack metal components and serial numbers.”
Pompeo’s office, asked to comment on the Brady Campaign letter, pointed to a Thursday court filing by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in which Sessions said that making undetectable guns is a federal crime and the Justice Department would “vigorously” enforce the prohibition.
