States sue to block online blueprints for 3D-printed guns
8 states file suit against the Trump administration over its decision to allow Defense Distributed to publish downloadable blueprints for guns; Anita Vogel reports on the case.
Amazon took down the website of a gun rights coalition Wednesday after they posted the blueprints for 3D-printed weapons online.
CodeisFreeSpeech.com was removed by Amazon Web Services after receiving a notice on the downloadable plans for “The Liberator” 3D-printed handgun, according to the New York Daily News.
As of Thursday, the site was backup and running on different servers.
The plans for a number of weapons appeared on CodeisFreeSpeech.com despite a federal judge on Tuesday stopping the release of the blueprints to make untraceable and undetectable 3D-printed plastic guns. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle put the plan on hold.
Defense Distributed, a Austin, Texas-based non-profit defense firm, was behind the plans. In June, Defense Distributed reached a settlement with the federal government allowing it to make the plans for the guns available for download on Wednesday.
The gun-rights activists created the website regardless of the judge’s ruling, citing the First Amendment.
“The purpose of this project is to allow people to share knowledge and empower them to exercise their fundamental, individual rights,” the group said on the website.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation, the Calguns Foundation and the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees are involved in the project, according to the website
Advocates for gun control have argued that 3D-printed guns could also pose security challenges as they pass through airport X-ray machines.
The website was up for about 12 hours before Amazon took it down, the Daily News reported.
Fox News’ James Rogers contributed to this report.
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