--- title: America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns | TIME description: Time’s senior editor, Alex Fitzpatrick, explains the controversy around the 3D-printed weaponry. canonical: https://time.com/video/WM5AIOZP/ og:title: America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns og:description: Time’s senior editor, Alex Fitzpatrick, explains the controversy around the 3D-printed weaponry. og:url: https://time.com/video/WM5AIOZP/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WM5AIOZP/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns twitter:description: Time’s senior editor, Alex Fitzpatrick, explains the controversy around the 3D-printed weaponry. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WM5AIOZP/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns [Watch (HLS stream): America’s Battle to Stop 3D Printed Guns](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WM5AIOZP.m3u8) (3:47)  _Published 2018-08-01. Time’s senior editor, Alex Fitzpatrick, explains the controversy around the 3D-printed weaponry._ --- Jul 28, 2023 12:21 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Texan Behind 3D-Printed Gun Legal Battle Charged With Sexual Assault of a Minor](/video/BjkJ973u/) ### Texan Behind 3D-Printed Gun Legal Battle Charged With Sexual Assault of a Minor [What Does 3D Printing Mean for the Future?](/video/wDkiUaVG/) ### What Does 3D Printing Mean for the Future? [Fashion's 3D-Printed Future](/video/W2AgFCqJ/) ### Fashion's 3D-Printed Future --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Just hours before blueprints for 3D printed guns were set to be released At least online due to a settlement reached by the federal government. A federal judge in Seattle abruptly granted a temporary nationwide order to block the uploads. In a tweet, Trump appeared to oppose 3- D printed guns, despite his administrations settlement ruling. Because designs for the guns were posted in advance of their original release date more than 2500 people already downloaded plans to print an AR- 15 style semi- automatic assault rifle. But after the Seattle judges ruling, download links have been removed from the website This case began five years ago when a man named Cody Wilson started to distribute 3D printed blueprints for a weapon called the liberator. Only to have Obama era state department to shut him down for violating arms export controls. Wilson complied but then filed a counter- suit that ended with a June 29th settlement. Giving his non- profit Defence Distributed reign to distribute 3D Gun Specs freely despite the government winning lower court rulings on this case the Trump administration settled because new government regulations made the case move. Certain firearms from the state department to draw a distinct line between military and non- military weapons and the settlement had gun safety advocates worried. By printing a gun yourself, you can bypass all existing legal processes in place for gun ownership. These build your own firearms have no serial numbers and are traceable, earning them the name ghost guns. Because 3D guns are made of ABS plastic, the same material Lego blocks are made from, the guns can also slip through metal detectors. The NRA even chimed in and said that plastic guns are illegal. Eight states filed suit in Seattle against the Trump administration settlement. Arguing these weapons are a threat to public safety. Discussing the courts ruling, Washington attorney General Bob Ferguson appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 and said this. This nationwide ban so it does, it takes us back To a period of time before the federal government flipped on their policy regarding these 3D ghost guns. Here to discuss the case and its broader impact is Time senior editor Alex Fitzpatrick. Great Alex thanks so much for joining us. Now publically available weapons manuals do exist, we've all heard of the Anarchist Cookbook. So what is the significance of an open source blueprint for 3D guns? Well we've never had a way for somebody to download, a way to build a gun and basically click a mouse button and have that gun built. That's a huge step forward in terms of technology. Mm- hm, now the judge actually blocked blueprint downloads, but the internet is so far reaching. So are the laws equipped to handle open source weaponry? No, they're really not. This is a really classic case of the law just not being updated enough to deal with technological advancement. Once something is on the Internet, it's pretty much always there, and copies of these manuals are already available on other websites. So some people argue that people are overreacting about 3D guns. They say that they're clunky, they're expensive. They don't post the same threat like Real guns do. So do they have a point? And who's actually interested in these 3- D models? To some extent, that's true, but a rule of technology is that they get better and more efficient over time. Compare the iPhone you have now to the iPhone you had ten years ago, and there's almost no comparison other than the way they look. And the people who are interested in these weapons are mostly libertarians and Second Amendment supporters who don't believe in government oversight of guns and weapons. Now of course we'll see how the government continues to respond to all of this. 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