Austin American-Statesman: Austin man’s do-it-yourself gun plans spark heated debate, lawsuits

An Austin company's plans to release downloadable blueprints for 3-D printed guns on Wednesday has sparked lawsuits, countersuits and threats of legal action as part of a heated national debate over safety, constitutional rights and the wisdom of promoting untraceable, difficult to detect firearms.

President Donald Trump joined the conversation Tuesday morning, tweeting that he was looking into the issue of do-it-yourself plastic guns that can be made on 3-D printers.

"Already spoke to NRA, doesn't seem to make much sense!" Trump wrote.

Manley: Yes, APD is concerned about 3-D printed guns

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer quickly responded, telling Trump that officials within his administration's State Department had approved the release of the blueprints, adding: "What kind of incompetence and dangerous governing is this?"

The debate over printed guns, sometimes called ghost guns because they would be printed without serial numbers or the need for background checks, began in 2013 when Cody Wilson of Austin announced that he had created the first working gun built with a 3-D printer — a single-shot pistol with a short barrel he called the Liberator.

Wilson posted the plans online, but the State Department intervened, warning that the publication violated federal law, particularly the export provisions of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations because the information could be downloaded worldwide.

Wilson took down the plans and sued the State Department, telling the American-Statesman at the time that he believed the government was improperly infringing on his free-speech right to disseminate information about something that is legal for most Americans to possess: guns.

That lawsuit ended in late June when the State Department reversed course, entering a settlement allowing Wilson and Defense Distributed — the company he founded in his Hyde Park apartment in 2012 — to distribute plans for the Liberator and other weapons at the end of July.

"The age of the downloadable gun formally begins," Defense Distributed's website proclaimed.

Law enforcement officials blanched, calling ghost guns a boon to terrorists and criminals.

Democrats in Congress vowed to introduce legislation to outlaw what some called the ultimate gun loophole and called on Trump to block the State Department's approval.

"Permitting unlimited access to undetectable guns offers a potential recipe for disaster," said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. "These weapons could be carried into an airplane, a courthouse, a school or anywhere else without detection by screening devices."

"The ball is in the president's court," said U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "Otherwise, Donald Trump will be responsible for every plastic gun on the streets of our country if he does not act."

Gun-rights advocates argued that fears were overblown because printed guns tend to break down quickly when fired, typically hold no more than one or two bullets, require expensive 3-D printers to make and often need metal parts that can be detected.

In a July 23 segment on NRA-TV, spokeswoman Dana Loesch said printable guns represented freedom and innovation and voiced doubts that a ban on the information would be enforceable. Plans for the Liberator, for example, were downloaded more than 100,000 times, and posted on other sites, before Defense Distributed removed the plans from its website in 2013.

Lawsuits to stop Defense Distributed followed in several courts:

• On Friday, a federal judge in Austin rejected an emergency motion sought by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center to block publication of the plans. Additional action on that lawsuit is not likely, a spokesman for the groups said Tuesday.

• Washington state's attorney general, joined by seven other states and the District of Columbia, filed suit Monday in a Seattle federal court, seeking a nationwide temporary injunction barring the distribution of printable gun plans, calling them a threat to national security and public safety. The lawsuit by Democratic leaders in the states also targeted the Trump administration in hopes of blocking the State Department settlement.

• Officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which are part of the Washington state lawsuit, also sued Defense Distributed in state courts. During an emergency hearing in Pennsylvania, the Austin company agreed to temporarily block Pennsylvania internet users from downloading the plans.

Separately, Defense Distributed also agreed to block internet users in New Jersey and Los Angeles, where City Attorney Michael Feuer threatened legal action, saying distribution of the printable gun blueprints appeared to violate California law.

On Sunday, however, the Austin company struck back, suing Feuer and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, saying they "have threatened and intend to drag Defense Distributed before all manner of far-flung criminal and civil tribunals in an effort to silence the organization."

Filed in Austin federal court, the lawsuit was joined by the Second Amendment Foundation and seeks a ruling declaring that legal action by New Jersey and Los Angeles would violate constitutional protections for fee speech and the right to bear arms.

In other action, a Monday letter from 21 state attorneys general urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the settlement with Defense Distributed, calling it deeply dangerous and a threat to public safety.