Vermont delegation joins pushback against 3-D printed guns

[V]ermont’s congressional delegation has joined a flood of legal and legislative action to prohibit the publication of 3-D printed firearm blueprints following a federal settlement clearing the way for such plans to be made available online.

Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are among a number of co-sponsors of a Senate bill barring the publication of 3-D gun schematics online.

In the House, Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and David Cicilline, D-R.I., are planning to introduce similar legislation that would prohibit the manufacture or possession of 3-D printed guns.

State law enforcement officials have also snapped into action. Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan joined a bipartisan letter with 20 colleagues on Tuesday calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to withdraw from the settlement.

Nine attorneys general from around the country filed a multi-state lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State on Monday to block the publication of blueprints. Donovan was not part of the lawsuit.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s threats of legal action pressured Defense Distributed to temporarily block internet users in the state from accessing the blueprints.

Leahy said in a statement on Tuesday that the Senate legislation, known as the “3D Printed Gun Safety Act,” was crucial to keeping people safe.“The Trump administration’s appalling decision to effectively allow plans for 3-D printed firearms to be published widely on the internet will make our communities, schools and workplaces less safe. There is simply no justification for it,” Leahy said.

“We can protect Second Amendment rights while embracing the commonsense principle that plans to construct powerful homemade firearms – which can be undetectable and untraceable – should not be available to any bad actor at the click of a button.”

Sanders also lashed out at the decision to expand unchecked access to “fully-functioning weapons that also happen to be virtually undetectable when carried through a metal detector.”

“At a time when gun violence and school shootings are becoming more and more routine, the last thing we need is to enable anyone — including people who otherwise couldn’t legally purchase a gun — to ‘print’ a gun on a 3-D printer,” Sanders said in a statement.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., called on the president to reverse the decision in a statement on Tuesday, calling it “dumb, dangerous and irresponsible.”

“It is imperative that Congress enact common sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them,” Welch said. “It defies common sense that the Trump administration is on the brink of facilitating the manufacturing of untraceable and undetectable homemade plastic guns.”

The mostly Democratic lawmakers and attorney general might have an ally in President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Tuesday that 3-D printed guns don’t “seem to make much sense!”

Those opposing the dissemination of gun blueprints scored a win Tuesday when a federal judge granted a temporary injunction blocking their publication online.

Max Samis, a spokesperson for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the growing use and availability of 3-D printers meant that online plans could become an easy way to circumvent gun safety regulations.

“There’s no way of performing background checks, so it really opens the door for guns to end up in the hands of dangerous people,” Samis said.

“Somebody would be able to walk straight into a baseball game or school, metal detectors wouldn’t be able to pick that up,” he said of the untraceable and undetectable guns.

Concern over guns assembled using 3-D printers is not new.

In August 2016, Transportation and Security Administration agents confiscated a plastic, 3-D printed gun in a passenger’s carry-on bag at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The firearm was found loaded with five live .22 caliber bullets.

In 2013, Congress broadened a ban on the sale, manufacturing or possession of fully-plastic guns by requiring that all firearms contain at least 3.7 ounces of steel, which would make them set off metal detectors.

But the legislation did not mandate which parts of the gun had to be metal, allowing people to attach a small removable piece of metal to an nearly fully plastic gun. These detachable clips can be easily removed and reattached to meet the requirement.

A second bill introduced by Nelson on Tuesday would require at least one main component of a gun, such the barrel or frame, to be made of metal.

Samis said there “doesn’t seem to be much of a limit” on the types of firearms that can be 3-D printed, adding that individuals have produced guns ranging from pistols to AR-15s.

The clash over 3-D printed gun blueprints began in 2013, when the State Department ordered the owner of Defense Distributed to remove instructions posted on the company’s website. The firm’s founder Cody Wilson subsequently sued, and the government entered into a voluntary settlement in June.

Wilson announced that he would publish blueprints on Aug. 1.

Ed Larsen, executive director of the Vermont Traditions Coalition, said he was largely unfamiliar with the legal dispute. He said his organization, which lobbies in Montpelier for gun rights, among other issues, has yet to meet on that issue or develop a formal position, but would likely discuss the issue during their next meeting in September.

“Indeed I think that the Second Amendment deals with the right to defend yourself, it doesn’t say how, it doesn’t say you can only defend yourself with these types of items,” Larsen said.

“I think the general thought would be that you’re regulating perhaps a very bona fide tool for one’s self-defense.”