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Iowa joins other states suing to stop online plans for 3D-printed guns

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August 3rd, 2018 by Ric Hanson

SEATTLE (AP) — More states — including Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota — are suing the Trump administration to dissolve a settlement it reached with a company that wants to post instructions online for making 3D-printed firearms that are hard to trace and detect. Mostly Democratic attorneys general from 19 states, plus the District of Columbia, filed an amended complaint Friday asking a judge make it illegal to share plans on creating printable plastic weapons. One Republican — Colorado’s attorney general — joined the lawsuit.

It comes days after U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik blocked the plans from being released until Aug. 28. He has scheduled an Aug. 21 hearing on the states’ request to reverse the U.S. State Department’s agreement with Austin, Texas-based Defense Distributed.

The settlement jeopardizes states’ ability to enforce gun laws, including background checks, and puts public safety at risk, the complaint said. The availability of plastic guns threatens safety in prisons and jails and makes air travel more susceptible to terrorist attacks, the states said.

Defense Distributed owner Cody Wilson, a self-described “crypto-anarchist,” has said “governments should live in fear of their citizenry.” His company seeks to make guns accessible to everyone, making “meaningful gun regulation impossible,” according to the complaint.

A group of gun-rights advocates called the Firearms Policy Coalition responded to the judge’s order by creating a website with plans for various firearms, including “the Liberator,” a 3D-printable single-shot handgun. Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson urged the federal government to enforce the court order prohibiting distribution of downloadable gun files.

The states suing are: Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. The expanded lawsuit comes as a group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would block online instructions for 3D-printed guns, which are largely undetectable at security checkpoints, according a statement released Friday by U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, Brad Schneider of Illinois and Carolyn Maloney of New York.

Another measure introduced this week requires plastic guns to have serial numbers and enough metal to make them visible on screening machines. President Donald Trump has questioned whether his administration should have agreed to allow the plans to be posted online, tweeting Tuesday that the idea “doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Since then, he has been largely silent on the issue.