There’s a new dangerous and deadly threat to America and the world — 3D printed guns — and the threat may be too late to stop.
Current Events
3D printed guns are plastic weapons that are self-made via a 3D printer. The danger is that if anyone can simply make their own gun in the privacy of their own home, there will no longer be a way to regulate who can or can’t/should or shouldn’t have access to a gun. Additionally, a homemade 3D printed gun made of plastic could easily slip past existing security screening measures at worldwide airports, allowing terror to return to the skies.
In July, the Donald Trump-led US State Department awarded permission to an organization called Defense Distributed to release blueprints online for making 3D printed guns. Soon after, 8 state attorneys general sued the State Department to halt the release, fearing an out of control “Wild, Wild West” mentality on the streets of America. Eventually, the lawsuit grew to include 20 state attorneys general, who sent a letter to the State Department and Justice Department pleading for blueprints for the guns to be stopped.
Last week, a Seattle judge granted a temporary restraining order to block the publication of blueprints until an August 10th hearing. However, the restraining order came after some states had already released the plans — which means that the blueprints are already in circulation and in high demand on the black market.
The ruling has sparked a bitter battle among First and Second Amendment rights, pitting the protection of free speech and gun ownership against public safety and the urgent need to prevent easy access to weapons.
States are arguing that if blueprints are allowed to exist online for anyone to make their own 3D printed guns whenever and wherever they want, then gun licenses, background checks and waiting periods for ownership, as well as the prevention of firearms getting in the hands of minors and/or the mentally challenged would be nullified. They are also arguing on behalf of the Undetectable Firearms Act, which makes it a federal offense to “manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer or receive” a firearm capable of defeating airport metal detection. Additionally, they are reminding the government that homemade guns do not come with a built-in serial number, making them completely untraceable. Homemade plastic guns would also be nearly impossible for police to differentiate from a plastic toy gun.
However, Cody Wilson, the inventor of “The Liberator” plastic handgun is fighting back to allow the blueprints to be completely open to the public.
“We want to be the Wiki for guns,” Wilson said.
Cody Wilson is the founder of the crowdfunding site Hatreon, which launched in 2017 after neo-Nazi groups got kicked off such sites as Patreon, GoFundMe, PayPal, and others. According to Wilson, he wants to promote decentralized solutions in an ever-centralizing world.
“I think the state should be as weak as possible relative to the individual,” Wilson boasted to the New York Times. “The proper posture of the state is one that at least is in fear of its citizen, not one that lords over it.”
Should 3D printed guns be halted and universally outlawed in America? Or, is Cody Wilson correct that everyone should have a right to own a gun — including one they can make themselves in their own homes without anyone ever knowing?
So apparently having Trump parading as “president of the United States” isn’t enough embarrassment for Us. We must now suffer THIS insanity before the entire world!?!….smh.
I am reminded of the following quote:
“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” – Will Durant
William James “Will” Durant (b. Nov. 5, 1885 – d. Nov. 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher, best known for his work “The Story of Civilization”- 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. -Wikipedia