SEATTLE — Washington State is taking the lead in a lawsuit joined by several other states and designed to block a Trump Administration action that could make it possible for anyone with a 3D printer to create a working plastic gun that could be untraceable and hard to detect at security checkpoints.
The suit was filed Monday in federal court in Seattle. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Maryland, New York and the District of Columbia joined Washington’s lawsuit.
In 2015, Defense Distributed, an organization dedicated to global distribution of open-source, downloadable 3D-printed guns, sued the federal government after the State Department forced the removal of the instruction manuals from the internet. The federal government successfully argued that the manuals violate firearm export laws. The organization’s appeal failed and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
In a reversal, the federal government settled the case on June 29, and as part of the settlement, the Trump Administration will allow the downloadable guns for unlimited public distribution in any form, says state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Defense Distributed recently announced that on Aug. 1, it would upload the data files to the internet.
The state’s lawsuit argues that the settlement violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Tenth Amendment. Ferguson also asks the court for a nationwide temporary restraining order, both to bar the federal government from lifting export controls for these tutorials, and to prevent Defense Distributed from posting the downloadable guns online.
“I have a question for the Trump Administration: Why are you allowing dangerous criminals easy access to weapons?” Ferguson said. “These downloadable guns are unregistered and very difficult to detect, even with metal detectors, and will be available to anyone regardless of age, mental health or criminal history. If the Trump Administration won’t keep us safe, we will.”
In defending against Defense Distributed’s lawsuit, the federal government previously stated it was “particularly concerned that (the) proposed export of undetectable firearms technology could be used in an assassination, for the manufacture of spare parts by embargoed nations, terrorist groups, or to compromise aviation security overseas in a manner specifically directed at U.S. persons.”
After the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, the federal government moved to dismiss Defense Distributed’s lawsuit in April of this year, arguing that the downloadable guns, “could be used to threaten U.S. national security, U.S. foreign policy interests or international peace and stability.”
Weeks later, Defense Distributed announced the case had settled. The settlement agreement was not made public until July 10.
The Trump Administration settlement requires the government to “temporarily” waive export restrictions on Defense Distributed’s downloadable gun files. In order to do this legally, the Administration must get the concurrence of the Department of Defense and provide at least 30 days’ notice to Congress. The lawsuit alleges there is no evidence either of those steps have happened, which violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
The lawsuit also argues that the Trump Administration action is arbitrary and capricious, also in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Ferguson asks the court to consider the temporary restraining order prior to Wednesday, when Defense Distributed has announced it will post its files online.
