texas

Texas Court Gives 3D Printed Guns Blueprint Green Light

An Austin judge ruled Friday that gun safety groups cannot block the release of blueprints for 3D printed guns

A five-year battle ended in an Austin court Friday when a federal judge declared gun safety groups can't block the release of blueprints for 3D printed guns.

It was a legal challenge for technology that's quickly moving from industry into people's homes. As it does, the ability to create just about anything is relatively unregulated.

Michael Lynn opened 3D Print Everything in his Fort Worth home after being laid off from his welding job with General Electric.

"I knew that it was an emerging market and that I could do something cool with it, so I bought this one as my first printer," Lynn said.

It was quickly joined by two more. And Lynn said business hasn't been hard to find, though he can't say the same about his most popular merchandise.

"Generally it's hard to find items like a broken blind piece or a piece to a camera or microphone," Lynn said.

Lynn said he’d love to eventually get into the business of printing dental implants, tires or even whole cars. He said he believes the sky's the limit for technology he believes is here to stay.

"It's a disruptive, distributed, decentralized technology that can get in between the manufacturer," Lynn said.

It's a characteristic that many of the opponents to Defense Distributed's blueprint pointed to.

The head of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, or CLEAT, told Austin affiliate KXAN that while the group supports the second amendment, there are questions that need to be answered before these new weapons are on the street.

One of the primary concerns is whether there will be serial numbers associated with the guns, which law enforcement uses to solve crimes.

"We don't know what ballistics will be like on these new weapons, so it brings in too many questions to just say, 'Yes, start wholesale manufacturing weapons in your garage and sell them to folks,' and put no kind of registration or acknowledgment," Charley Wilkison said.

The gun safety groups which filed the restraining orders to prevent the plans from being posted include the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, Inc. and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Back in his Fort Worth home office, Lynn said it's an argument over a product he expects few will actually make.

"It would cost you way more than its worth for an inferior product that would never be used," Lynn said.

Instead, he said he believes it's part of a bigger discussion about the future of 3D printing and how it's regulated as the technology grows more prevalent in homes.

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