Online blueprint for 3D gun violates export law, US says. Too late now.
A Texas man removed 3-D plastic gun blueprints from his website on Thursday afternoon, after the US State Department said he had violated United States export control laws, but not before the plans had been downloaded across the world.
Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson uploaded design plans for making the world鈥檚 first functional 3-D plastic gun, called the 鈥淟iberator,鈥� to the group鈥檚 website on Monday. Now, policymakers are scrambling to catch up with this new frontier of gun control jurisdiction.
The State Department stepped into the debate Thursday because regulating the export of defense materials and data is a national security issue, a spokesperson .
In to Mr. Wilson, the department鈥檚 Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance said he must remove all data and files 鈥渇rom public access immediately鈥� due to restrictions under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
"Defense Distributed may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, a violation," Glenn Smith, chief of the enforcement division, said in the letter.
Technical data regulated by the ITAR includes information for the 鈥渄esign, development, production, manufacture, assembly, operation, repair, testing, maintenance or modification of defense articles, including information in the form of blueprints, drawings, photographs, plans, instructions or documentation,鈥� the letter said.
By Thursday afternoon, the documents had been removed from the Defense Distributed website, which stated, 鈥淒EFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information."
鈥淲e have to comply,鈥� Wilson, a law student at University of Texas in Austin, . 鈥淎ll such data should be removed from public access, the letter says. That might be an impossible standard. But we鈥檒l do our part to remove it from our servers.鈥�
But it鈥檚 unlikely that the maneuver will prevent people from accessing the plans, Wilson said. He doesn鈥檛 see this censorship as a defeat 鈥� the government can鈥檛 prevent the spread of the plans for 3-D guns on the global Internet, he said.
鈥淭his is the conversation I want,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淚s this a workable regulatory regime?聽Can there be defense trade control in the era of the Internet and 3D printing?鈥�
The blueprints were downloaded more than 100,000 times between Monday and Wednesday, .
For Wilson, the debate is less about gun control and more about access to information. The goal of Defense Distributed is to create a 鈥渨iki weapon project鈥� 鈥� free access to plans for 3-D printable guns, according to its .
"The future of distributed technologies in the Internet is that no one has control of the information," he .聽"This is more than guns now, man, this is about the Internet, this is about information."
But Defense Distributed now has to file Commodity Jurisdiction (CJ) determination requests for each of the gun-related components on its website, which may give lawmakers more time to determine how to regulate technology in the US.
鈥淲hen I started talking about the issue of plastic firearms months ago, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. Now that this technology appears to be upon us, we need to act now to extend the ban on plastic firearms,鈥� said Rep. Steve Israel (D) of New York, in a statement May 3.
搁别辫谤别蝉别苍迟补迟颈惫别听Israel proposed legislation called the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act, which would make it illegal 鈥渢o manufacture, own, transport, buy, or sell any firearm, receiver, or magazine that is homemade and not detectable by metal detector and/or does not present an accurate image when put through an X-ray machine,鈥� the Monitor reported on Monday.
鈥淎 spousal abuser, a felon, can essentially open a gun factory in their garage,鈥� said Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York, who backs extending the ban on plastic guns. "All that鈥檚 needed is a 鈥渃omputer and a little over $1,000 [for the printer]. And you don鈥檛 even have to leave your house.鈥�
