For the last half decade, 3-D printed pistols and metal-milled "ghost guns" have only rarely[1] caught[2] the attention of lawmakers, and have barely registered in the mainstream of America's gun control debate. But now, a controversial legal settlement[3] may have unlocked a new era of digitally fabricated, DIY guns. It's also unleashed a political backlash unlike anything seen in the five years since the first 3-D printable firearm appeared online.
Earlier this month, WIRED broke the news that gun access group Defense Distributed had obtained a key settlement[4] in its lawsuit against the State Department, winning the right to publish the blueprints and CAD models for practically any commercially available gun, files ready to be downloaded from the web and fed into a 3-D printer or computer-controlled milling machine[5] to produce a lethal weapon in the unregulated privacy of anyone's garage.
In the weeks since, the reaction has snowballed: A growing coalition of state attorneys general have launched a belated effort to undo the agreement, and two lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it far harder to legally produce or own a 3-D printed plastic gun. Even President Donald Trump tweeted about the issue Tuesday morning, in what vaguely sounded like opposition to public availability of 3-D printed guns.
On Monday, attorneys general from 20 states announced that they're suing the US State Department and Defense Distributed, in an effort to force them to rescind their settlement. The AGs are asking for an immediate restraining order to prevent the gun group from publishing its digital firearm files. Their central claim: The State Department violated the Tenth Amendment's constitutional protection of states' rights to make their own laws—including those governing gun control.
"We’re