U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that letting the public buy 3D printable gun blueprints “doesn’t seem to make much sense!”
The president added that he’s in conversation with the National Rifle Association over the issue. But he didn’t provide details on what exactly the talks were about, or what his concerns about the blueprints were.
Whether blueprints for 3D printable guns should be available online has been a contentious issue over the few weeks.
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In June, the Trump administration unexpectedly decided to allow companies such as Defense Distributed to publish the blueprints online. The blueprints allow anyone with a 3D printer and few materials to create a gun.
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Several U.S. states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the administration, contending the hard-to-trace plastic weapons are a boon to criminals and threaten public safety.
The lawsuit, filed by Washington state, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Oregon, Maryland and the District of Columbia, was meant to stop the printable files from appearing online.
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The designs were supposed to be published online for the first time Wednesday, as per the settlement between the government and Defense Distributed.
“Defense Distributed relaunches DEFCAD after reaching a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of State, concluding a multi-year federal lawsuit,” the company’s website reads, saying Aug. 1 is the relaunch date.
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But the files were already online days earlier on Friday.
And by Sunday, the blueprints for an AR-15-style semiautomatic assault rifle had been downloaded more than 1,000 times, according to a release by Pennsylvania’s attorney general.
Aside from the past few days, the blueprints have been online for years. They first appeared online for a short time in 2013, before they were taken down by government action.
At the time, about 100,000 people downloaded the plans, and files have been circulating online since.
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“Left unchecked, Americans would be able to download a wide range of actual, working guns, including AR-15s, and 3D print their own guns — without serial numbers and without being subjected to the background check system for gun sales currently in place under federal and state law through licensed firearms dealers,” the statement by attorney general Josh Shapiro read.
While the do-it-yourself guns are controversial and do pose security threats, experts say the actual function is much more limited than traditional guns.
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Canadian 3D-printing expert Kerry Stevenson says hobbyists have been tinkering with plastic gun designs for years, but most tend to be costly and fragile.
“You can make a shot or two,” Stevenson told Global News reporter Abigail Bimman. “It’s just not a practical weapon.”
— With files from The Associated Press, Global News reporter Josh Elliot
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