Gun "Control" Doomed

[Dagobert II]

The plans for 3-D printed guns have been out there for a while but its only recently that the government admitted it is powerless to do anything about it. As of August 1 it will be legal for Americans to post downloadable plans for 3-D printed guns on the internet. Libertarians are rejoicing and statists are mourning.

(CNN)Gun-rights activists have reached a settlement with the government that will allow them to post 3-D printable gun plans online starting August 1.


The settlement ends a multi-year legal battle that started when Cody Wilson, who describes himself as a post-left anarchist, posted plans for a 3-D printed handgun he called "The Liberator" in 2013.
The single-shot pistol was made almost entirely out of of ABS plastic -- the same stuff they make Lego bricks out of -- that could be made on a 3-D printer. The only metal parts were the firing pin and a piece of metal included to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act.
The US State Department told Wilson and his non-profit group Defense Distributed to take down the plans. It said the plans could violate International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which regulate the export of defense materials, services and technical data.
Almost all of the pieces of this pistol can be made with a 3D printer.




In essence, officials said someone in another country -- a country the US doesn't sell weapons to -- could download the material and make their own gun.

Wilson complied, but said the files already had been downloaded a million times.

He sued the federal government in 2015.
The settlement, which is dated June 29, says that Wilson and Defense Distributed can publish plans, files and 3-D drawings in any form and exempts them from the export restrictions. The government also agreed to pay almost $40,000 of Wilson's legal fees and to refund some registration fees.

"We asked for the Moon and we figured the government would reject it, but they didn't want to go to trial," said Alan M. Gottlieb with the Second Amendment Foundation, which helped in the case. "The government fought us all the way and then all of the sudden folded their tent."

Gottlieb said they filed the lawsuit during the Obama administration, but he doesn't think that explains the change of heart.

"These were all career people that we were dealing with. I don't think there was anything political about it," he said.

Avery Gardiner, the co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said she'd be astonished if the settlement wasn't approved by political appointees.
"We were shocked and disappointed that the Trump administration would make a secret backroom deal with very little notice," Gardiner said. She said she found out about the settlement from a magazine article.

Josh Blackman, Wilson's attorney, said he wished the settlement signaled a philosophical change.
"They were going to lose this case," Blackman said. "If the government litigated this case and they lost this decision could be used to challenge other kinds of gun control laws."

Wilson has built a website where people will be able to download The Liberator and digital files for an AR-15 lower receiver, a complete Baretta M9 handgun and other firearms. Users will also be able to share their own designs for guns, magazines and other accessories.

For Wilson and his supporters, the ability to build unregulated and untraceable guns will make it much harder, if not impossible for governments to ban them.

The Defense Distributed website proclaims that "the age of the downloadable gun formally begins."

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/us/3d...rnd/index.html

[Dagobert II]

Even the 9th Circuit may wake up.

Second Amendment activists were given a surprise boost this week when the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals backed a lower court’s decision to suspend California’s ban on the possession of large magazines.

Activists, supported by the National Rifle Association, have argued that the state's ban on ownership of magazines holding 10 bullets or more is unconstitutional. They won a preliminary injunction by a San Diego district court last year, and a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit backed that injunction Tuesday.

The court found that the district court did not abuse its discretion in granting the injunction or by concluding that magazines fall within the scope of the Second Amendment.
"The district court did not abuse its discretion by applying the incorrect level of scrutiny," the judges also found. "The district court concluded that a ban on ammunition magazines is not a presumptively lawful regulation and that the prohibition did not have a 'historical pedigree.'"
“This is a significant win for law-abiding gun owners in California,” Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. “This unconstitutional law criminalizes mere possession of many standard capacity magazines and would instantly turn many law-abiding gun owners into criminals.”
Dissenting from the ruling, Judge John Clifford Wallace said that evidence provided by the state, including studies and surveys showing the use of large-capacity magazines increase the lethality of gun violence, “was more than sufficient to satisfy intermediate scrutiny.”
National Review’s David French, who opposes the ban, noted that the Ninth Circuit ruling was limited but also linked constitutional protection of firearms to potential militia use -- a development he described as “encouraging.”
The NRA noted that a ruling in the lower courts is expected soon, and that the case therefore will likely be before the 9th Circuit again.

But President Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has a strong record of defending gun rights, to the Supreme Court. The NRA reflected that in its statement, expressing hope that if the the case is appealed, “the Supreme Court will likely have a new justice who respects the right to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment.”

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...-ammo-ban.html Of course magazines can be printed as noted in the original post no matter what any court mumbles.

[sojourner truth]

Some leftist group in DC is now trying to get Trumps liquor license revoked in NYC based on the NY law that states that license holders must be people of good character. Oh really?

If that is the criteria in NYC, then it will be a dry city in no time. Of course these Trump haters don't care about the thousands of people who will be out of work if they succeed.

Reminded me of the folks who keep praying that the American economy will tank so others will call for Trumps impeachment. These sort of people are willing to sacrifice America and its people just to make a point that they don't like losing an election. What sore losers. People who need to move to some other socialist country for a while and try it out. I usually never suggest someone leave if they don't like it here, but these people hate it here anyhow. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, far as I am concerned.

[CenTexDave]

I thought that liquor license thing was for his hotel in D.C. Doesn't matter - won't happen. Just another desperate trick up the democrats' sleeve.

[sojourner truth]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I thought that liquor license thing was for his hotel in D.C. Doesn't matter - won't happen. Just another desperate trick up the democrats' sleeve.

You are probably right. Now... Imagine DC requiring people to be of good character to have a license. The same city that has a statue of Marion Barry in town square?

Tell all of the DC elite that they can't get a drink at their favorite watering hole. There would be a swamp uprising for sure.

[CenTexDave]

Doesn't matter to me if a state has a stand you ground law or not. I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

[txswimmer]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Doesn't matter to me if a state has a stand you ground law or not. I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

I had a guy before the Grand Jury years ago. His daughter had been indicted for running over her boyfriend. See was staying at Dad's house. The boyfriend showed up at 3 a.m. one morning, demanding to see the daughter. Dad just stood on the front porch with his .45 at the ready. Boyfriend saw it, and started rushing at the Dad, yelling, "what are you gonna do, old man!?". Well, three to the chest showed boyfriend what the old man was gonna do. The detective and I argued in front of the grand jury whether or not it was a righteous kill. I won the debate. Dad went home a free man - justifiable homicide. I suppose some prosecutors would have made the guy stand trial. I felt it would be unjust.

[sojourner truth]

Then there was the guy in NYC who shot a man who he caught breaking into his apartment and raping his daughter. It being in NYC, the dad got popped for having an illegal gun. And the perp, who lived... Yep... On the street in a jiffy. Good defense lawyer.

[Dagobert II]

A snowflake's chance in hell. LOL

The nation’s leading gun safety groups are asking a judge to block an online company’s plan to publish downloadable blueprints for 3D-printed plastic firearms, information that they say would open the door for people to secretly produce fully functional, untraceable weapons.

In a Thursday filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Western Texas, the organizations questioned the federal government’s recent decision to settle a lawsuit with Defense Distributed. The settlement allows the Texas-based digital firearms nonprofit company to post its controversial gun blueprints online, which it will begin doing on Aug. 1, according to the Defense Distributed website.

Defense Distributed celebrated the decision, saying it would soon bring upon the “age of the downloadable gun.” But in a letter to the judge this week, gun safety groups called the agreement “troubling,” “dangerous” and “potentially illegal,” while claiming it could have a “significant and permanent impact” on national security and public safety. The three organizations ― the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ― are now seeking an emergency injunction to halt the publication of the blueprints. They want the court to have additional time to consider their concerns. A hearing is reportedly scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Shortly after the settlement was announced, the Brady Campaign filed a Freedom of Information Act, hoping to get additional details about the reversal. But those documents likely won’t be returned until after Defense Distributed reposts the blueprints online, at which point the gun safety groups say the potential damage would be “irreparable.”

“Part of what we’re asking the judge to do is to keep the status quo as it is until we can get more information about what caused the government to change its mind and to see if that’s proper,” said Gardiner.

“This isn’t the way we’re supposed to govern,” she added. “We’re supposed to govern by having open and transparent processes.”

Ghost gun technology has evolved rapidly since the early days of Wilson’s Liberator. Defense Distributed has already developed schematics for an AR-15 ― or technically for each of the dozens of components needed to construct one of the semi-automatic rifles ― which they intend to make available to the public. With these blueprints, anyone with a 3D printer and the ability to follow directions could build their own military-style rifle without anyone else’s knowledge.

The surreptitiousness of DIY gunsmithing is a draw for some firearms enthusiasts. Defense Distributed has profited off and propelled the practice by selling a $1,500 “Ghost Gunner” milling machine that can be programmed to construct individual firearm components out of metal to be assembled by the user.
Wilson has said his ultimate vision is to develop blueprints that will deliver working firearms even on the cheapest 3D printers.
“Anywhere there’s a computer and an Internet connection, there would be the promise of a gun,” he told Forbes in 2012.

Wilson meanwhile seems to be reveling in the idea that his campaign could disrupt efforts to regulate firearms in the U.S. and abroad. In a tweet after the announcement of the settlement this month, he appeared to celebrate the death of “American gun control.”



Wilson later told Wired that he was on the verge of unleashing a “Cambrian explosion” of digital content related to firearms. He hoped it could extinguish the current youth-led movement for stronger gun laws that emerged in response to routine gun violence and high-profile mass shootings in places like Las Vegas or Parkland, Florida.


“All this Parkland stuff, the students, all these dreams of ‘common sense gun reforms’? No. The internet will serve guns, the gun is downloadable,” Wilson said. “No amount of petitions or die-ins or anything else can change that.”

Over the past few days, congressional lawmakers have called for hearings on 3D-printed guns, as well as new legislation to block the release of Wilson’s blueprints. At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he’d “take a look” at his department’s policy on sharing that sort of data.

But with Aug. 1 rapidly approaching, Gardiner said she’s worried the time to act is running out.

“We need to block this settlement from going into effect so that Congress can hold hearings and do its job as a check on the executive branch,” said Gardiner. “It’s unlikely that this all gets figured out and resolved unless there’s a delay of the settlement going into effect.”

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b0de86f4929ea8

[Dagobert II]

Gun-safety activist Fred Guttenberg arrived in Washington to address the Democratic caucus on Monday, furious that Congress had failed to prevent the potential spread of 3-D-printed guns.
After a multiyear legal battle, the federal government last month entered into a settlement with Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, permitting him to publish his arsenal of firearm blueprints online. He intends to do so on Aug. 1. Lawmakers’ 11th-hour efforts have done nothing to halt his plans, and on Friday a federal judge denied a motion for an emergency injunction brought forward by a trio of gun-control groups.
Three organizations — the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence — jumped into the fight on Thursday, filing an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction. A hearing was held on Friday before federal Judge Robert Pitman in Austin, who had sided with the government in earlier litigation.
On Friday, however, Pitman sided with Wilson, denying the groups’ motionWith less than a week to scuttle the settlement, Wilson has been bombarded with last-minute legal threats from lawmakers and advocacy groups.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) led the call to action on Saturday, warning of the dangers posed by the weapons, sometimes dubbed “ghost guns,” which are made from plastic and cannot be sensed by metal detectors.
On Tuesday, Sen. Edward J. Markey (Mass.), joined by Sens. Bill Nelson (Fla.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Chris Murphy (Conn.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), all Democrats, sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions demanding that he explain the government’s decision to settle. (The Department of Justice declined to comment for this story.) Nelson also plans to introduce a bill that would prohibit online publication of any digital file that can be downloaded or programmed to print a 3-D gun part.
New Jersey’s attorney general sent Wilson a cease-and-desist order, warning that making the digital files available to New Jersey residents was a violation of New Jersey law.
"All the letters are nice, but they do nothing,” Guttenberg said. “At 12:01 on the 1st of August, it’s going to be too late.”

Days from now, Wilson is likely to be able to post far more than basic hand guns on a searchable database.

“Once the plans are up on the Internet, it’s impossible to un-ring the bell,” said Jonathan Lowy, vice president of litigation at the Brady Center. “The genie is out of the bottle and you can’t put it back in.”

.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.ef75d9b89ef3 With the first and second amendments reinforcing each other on this issue the wannabe tyrants appear screwed. Score one for the founders.