Seattle judge blocks release of blueprints for 'computer generated' 3D printed guns

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A U.S. District Judge in Seattle has granted a temporary, national restraining order against publication on the internet of plans for firearms that can be made by anybody with the aid of a 3D printer.

Led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, eight states had challenged the Trump Administration's decision to allow publication of plans for the weapons.

"We had a good day," Ferguson said late Tuesday.

The so-called "ghost guns" would be "untraceable and undetectable," attorneys for the AG's office argued before U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik. "No background checks, no identification, no serial numbers," as Ferguson put it.

The restraining order by Judge Robert Lasnik injunction blocks a firm run by a Texas-based anti-government activist from posting its downloadable gun blueprints online in the form of Computer Aided Design files.

A restraining order is not easy to get, Ferguson explained in an interview. It requires a judge's opinion that plaintiffs in a case are "likely to prevail on the merits."

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Washington-Seattle-judge-3D-guns-injunction-13121197.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi

[PoliticAverse]

1. "Gun rights activists post plans for 3D firearms after judge's order blocking them"

DU discussion at: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2123629

[Doreen]

2. OK, I do understand that we should not be able to just "uh" print guns out.

However, I have no clue what this means. does this mean that one day I could just go home purchaser and download a gun on my printer paper? It needs to be explained to me how you print a gun or anything else that usually is not paper product. I have no clue except bare basics when it comes to a computer. I mean the pictures look like they are plastic.

[LanternWaste]

3. The plans utilize 3-d printers.

It's a process which uses a 3-d printer that uses material (often plastic) rather than ink. The material builds up mass as the printer successively adds material layer by layer, giving the object a "shape".

Objects thus printed can be of almost any imaginable shape. Three or four years ago, I couldn't find one for under $3000. In the here and now, it's pretty easy to locate one for under $400.

So in effect, yes. If you had the plans (for the printer to read), you could print out a plastic, working firearm; though I understand these initial plans/models give a rather limited life-span of usability for things as high-impact as a pistol (one shot, then it simply breaks under stress).

[Doreen]

4. Thank you for explaining that to me.

$400 is a lot of money and then have to buy the image plan of the gun. I am glad that most of these people who want those can afford them......oh, wait a minute, they probably can't but just to have that possibility taken away just drives them nuts.