New Jersey AG Grewal Moves to Block Plans for Printable 3-D Firearms
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Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jersey attorney general, speaks at Seton Hall University School of Law in February 2018. Photo by Carmen Natale[/caption] New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Thursday moved to shut down a Texas firearms developer that has planned to release computer files on Aug. 1 that would give users a blueprint to create firearms using 3-D printers. Grewal sent a cease-and-desist letter to the developer, Defense Distributed, of Austin, Texas, demanding that the files not be released, and threatening litigation. Calls to the company were not answered. “You are directed to cease and desist from publishing printable-gun computer files for use by New Jersey residents,” Grewal said in his letter to the company. “The files you plan to publish offer individuals, including criminals, codes that they can use to create untraceable firearms—and even to make assault weapons that are illegal in my state. “Defense Distributed’s plans to allow anyone with a 3-D printer to download a code and create a fully operational gun directly threatens the public safety of New Jersey’s residents," Grewal said. “Posting this material online is no different than driving to New Jersey and handing out hard-copy files on any street corner. The federal government is no longer willing to stop Defense Distributed from publishing this dangerous code, and so New Jersey must step up.” According to media reports, the company's move to start offering the plans, which include plans for an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, comes after a settlement in a lawsuit between the U.S. State Department and the company. "The age of the downloadable gun begins," Defense Distributed stated on its site, according to a report in USA Today. Its founder, Cody Wilson, tweeted a photograph of a grave marked "American gun control." Defense Distributed, Grewal said in the letter, plans to “make do-it-yourself guns available to anyone, even if the individuals are prohibited from owning guns because of prior convictions, history of mental illness, or history of domestic violence, even if the weapons they print are illegal in my state, and even if they plan to use their weapons to further crimes and acts of violence. … Not only are these plans to publish printable-gun files dangerous, they also violate New Jersey law.” Defense Distributed made national headlines by developing files that enable consumers to create fully operational firearms with a 3-D printer. Wilson developed a printable plastic pistol known as the “Liberator .380” in 2012 and put the plans online, but was blocked by the federal government, the attorney general's statement said. Grewal contends that publicizing the files will “flood the illegal firearms market.” The letter also says that Wilson has “no intention of precluding [these] printable-gun computer files, including designs for assault weapons, from winding up in the hands of criminals, minors, and the mentally ill.” "I demand that you halt publication of the printable gun computer files,” Grewal said. “Should you fail to comply with this letter, my office will initiate legal action barring you from publishing these files before August 1, 2018.”