7-31-2018
SEATTLE, Wash. — Washington is leading seven other states in a lawsuit filed Monday in Seattle after the federal government allowed a Texas company, Defense Distributed, to publish downloadable blueprints for a 3D-printed gun.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson says it gives criminals easy access to untraceable guns, but both gun industry and tech experts have expressed doubt that criminals would bother with it.
CBS tech consultant Larry Magid explains that even though the settlement with Defense Distributed allowed the company to publish downloadable blueprints of different guns, the everyday criminal likely won’t benefit.
“It’s not as if the three-hundred dollar printer you can pick up on Amazon is able to print out an AR-15,” he said. “If you’re a criminal in search of an untraceable gun, you probably have a better, more efficient way to get one than printed.”
Defense Distributed was initially blocked from publishing designs because it violated federal export laws when it was downloaded outside the U.S., which Magid notes could be a real concern if people get their hands on an industrial 3D printer needed to make these weapons.
“I could see a crime syndicate or a foreign government getting their hands on one and printing guns out for people,” he said.
Ahead of Monday’s lawsuit, Defense Distributed filed its own suit in Texas claiming to be the victim of an “ideologically-fueled program of intimidation and harassment” that violates the company’s First Amendment rights.