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Washington State AG leading multistate lawsuit to block criminal access to downloadable 3D printed weapons

Washington State Office of Attorney General – Downloadable guns make weapons easier for criminals to obtain: “Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced he is leading a multistate lawsuit to block a Trump Administration action that gives criminals and terrorists access to downloadable, untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed weapons. This lawsuit is being filed in federal court in Seattle. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Maryland, New York and the District of Columbia joined Washington’s lawsuit. In 2015, Defense Distributed, an organization dedicated to global distribution of open-source, downloadable 3D-printed guns, sued the federal government after the U.S. State Department forced the removal of the instruction manuals from the internet. The federal government successfully argued that the manuals violate firearm export laws before two federal judges. The United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Then, in an abrupt reversal, the federal government settled the case on June 29, 2018. As part of the settlement, the Trump Administration will allow the downloadable guns for unlimited public distribution in any form. This will give anyone with a 3D printer access to these weapons. Defense Distributed recently announced that on Aug. 1, it would upload the data files to the internet, essentially giving plug-and-play access to guns. Ferguson filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against The Trump Administration arguing the Trump Administration actions resulting from the settlement violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Tenth Amendment. Ferguson also asks the court for a nationwide temporary restraining order, both to bar the federal government from lifting export controls for these tutorials, and to prevent Defense Distributed from posting the downloadable guns online…”

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