Eight states suing Trump administration, company over 3D guns

Mr. Grewal’s office also filed its lawsuit Monday in Superior Court in Essex County in a bid to block Defense Distributed from posting the plans online, arguing that the company is running afoul of New Jersey state public nuisance law.

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said at a news conference in Seattle that the states will ask a federal judge to issue a restraining order and an injunction to block the publication of the designs, which they say would allow criminals easy access to weapons.

As the day has neared for the release of blueprints for printing 3D weapons, there has been a flurry of last-minute activity and expressions of concern from U.S. lawmakers.

Lasnik said First Amendment issues had to be looked at closely and set another hearing in the case for August 10.

Unlike traditional firearms that can fire thousands of rounds in their lifetime, experts say the 3D-printed guns normally only last a few rounds before they fall apart.

Trump has previously offered tepid support for tougher gun restrictions, particularly after the Parkland shooting, but later backed off those positions to align himself with NRA proposals. By Sunday, 1,000 people had already downloaded 3D plans for AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifles. The plastic guns are easy to hide and hard to trace.

On July 29, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro sued in U.S District Court and successfully blocked access to 3D-printed gun blueprints in the state.

The varied efforts, in courthouses and legislatures, are aimed at Defense Distributed, a Texas-based nonprofit organization that won permission in June from the State Department to post schematics for homemade firearms. Those plans were put on hold by the Seattle judge’s decision.

A recent settlement between the group, Defense Distributed, and the State Department that allowed the files to be posted has spurred outcry from gun-control groups and Democratic lawmakers.

Since the weapons “did not create a military advantage”, he told Lasnik, “how could the government justify regulating the data?”

Following an emergency hearing in federal court in Philadelphia initiated by the Attorney General, a company seeking to distribute downloadable gun files over the Internet agreed to make its sites inaccessible to Pennsylvania users and to not upload any new 3D gun files.

Gottlieb says in 2013 more than 100,000 people downloaded the manual and that not a single crime has been committed by one of those guns.

Wilson complied but sued the State Department and its chief, John Kerry, who ran the agency in the Obama administration. “Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” he tweeted Tuesday morning.

Some Republicans also expressed concern. Lisa Murkowski tweeted, linking to a news story on the guns.

Ferguson, who said he has filed 32 lawsuits against the Trump Administration, said that the lawsuit would also argue that the Trump Administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how the government creates public policy.

“Well, fix this deadly mistake that once again your administration has made”, Markey said in a remark directed at the president.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Tuesday declined to reveal Trump’s stance on 3D gun-printing, but he added it is illegal to own or make a wholly plastic gun, including any made with a 3D printer.

“There are some that are commercially available that are much cheaper”.