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DOJ Reaches Settlement On Publication of Files About 3D Printed Firearms (joshblackman.com)
He Who Has No Name writes: Those who remember Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed -- the self-described cryptoanarchist and his organization that published plans for 3D printable firearm parts, respectively -- also remember that not long after the plans for the printable Liberator single-shot pistol hit the web, the Department of State seized the Defense Distributed website and prohibited Wilson from publishing 3D printable firearm plans, claiming violations of ITAR -- the International Traffic in Arms Regulation, a U.S. law taxing and restricting the distribution of a wide variety of physical goods listed as having military value. Slashdot covered the website seizure here (the Department of Defense was initially misreported in sources to have been the agency responsible).
In both a First and Second Amendment win, the Second Amendment Foundation has settled with the Department of State after suing on behalf of Defense Distributed. Slashdot reader schwit1 shares an excerpt from the report: "Under terms of the settlement, the government has agreed to waive its prior restraint against the plaintiffs, allowing them to freely publish the 3-D files and other information at issue. The government has also agreed to pay a significant portion of the plaintiffs' attorney's fees, and to return $10,000 in State Department registration dues paid by Defense Distributed as a result of the prior restraint. Significantly, the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber -- including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms -- are not inherently military."
In both a First and Second Amendment win, the Second Amendment Foundation has settled with the Department of State after suing on behalf of Defense Distributed. Slashdot reader schwit1 shares an excerpt from the report: "Under terms of the settlement, the government has agreed to waive its prior restraint against the plaintiffs, allowing them to freely publish the 3-D files and other information at issue. The government has also agreed to pay a significant portion of the plaintiffs' attorney's fees, and to return $10,000 in State Department registration dues paid by Defense Distributed as a result of the prior restraint. Significantly, the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber -- including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms -- are not inherently military."
Wild hyperbole like that is why fewer and fewer people take the Left seriously about anything any more.
The Government re-categorized common small arms to no longer fall under ITAR, but instead be regulated by standard Dept. of Commerce international trade regulations.
Since ITAR no longer applies to Defense Distributed, the case is over.
But it's just an administrative policy change. The next administration could swap it back at any time. It needs Congress to pass a law protecting blueprints and plans, or for the Supreme Court to decide a case in favor of the First Amendment to prevent future victims.
Not only does it make people not respect the political left, it also makes it much more obvious how blatantly anti-American leftism and leftists happens to be. Like it or not, the right to bear firearms is a core part of Americanism. If you stand against the right of Americans to bear arms then you're standing against America and what it means to be American. This shouldn't surprise us, of course. Leftism is a foreign ideology from Europe. It has no traditional ties to America, and that's why leftism is so fundamentally incompatible with what it means to be American.
>"Finally, a good reason to get that 3D printer!"
If you don't mind it exploding in your hand when you target practice. I can think of a million better/more useful things to make with a 3D printer than an unreliable, dangerous, inaccurate, single-shot, plastic "gun".
Also, just because you can make it yourself doesn't mean it is legal to do so, or possess it, or carry it, or use it. Just like buying a car doesn't mean you can legally drive it, or making your own meth means you can use it.
At stake was the fact that the INFORMATION ITSELF is not illegal to document/share/know. In that regard, it was a correct decision. It was a win for the 1st Amendment because it is just information. The win for the 2nd Amendment wasn't making plastic guns, it was the statement that the government also correctly acknowledged that "non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber -- including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms -- are not inherently military."
Not to mention serving as a deterrent for invasion. The AR-15 may not be the best of sniper rifles, especially the lower cal variants but occupation would certainly be uncomfortable with a dozen snipers along every street. This isn't like Iraq or Afghanistan where they could be anywhere, in the US they ARE everywhere.
Well don't tell the urbanites, but hunting rifles are basically sniper rifles. But keep it under your hat or we'll have California dems trying to ban high end optics.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
most of the murders are committed in areas which have harsh gun laws. like Chicago for example. Oh and don't forget LA.
Oh good, if America is so well protected we should be able to redirect the billions in defense spending to more productive use.
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Yeh those horrible gun grabbers who value their children’s lives more than your right to kill them with as many guns as you want.
More guns in the US is good, a win for terrorists, after all you kill each other at a much greater rate than terrorists kill you, which is a good thing, dead Americans raise the worlds average IQ.
The "invaders" will be those brainwashed by Russian PR. They are already here and coincidentally, they are gun owners. Putin knows there will never be a Red Dawn, to many guns. So in true KGB style he is using our own strength against us by turning it to his desires. #MAGA