Connecticut has announced it’s joining a group of states suing the federal government over a settlement reached in June with a Texas group that wants to distribute blueprints to create untraceable guns by 3D printing.
A motion to dismiss the case brought by Defense Distributed was filed two months before the settlement. But, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said something then changed within the Justice Department.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jepsen said. “The federal government had won the case. It was game over for Defense Distributed.”
Defense Distributed, the nonprofit group based in Austin, Texas, hinted at a potential release of the blueprints by promoting on its website that “the age of the downloadable gun” will begin Wednesday.
Jepsen said if the documents are released, irreparable harm will be done by the guns.
“They are largely undetectable and completely unregulated and this poses a grave risk to law enforcement who’ll be up against these guns, to the public at large, and to our national security because they can go into the hands of terrorists,” Jepsen said.
Advocacy groups recently reached out to Jepsen’s office asking for intervention.
The Newtown Action Alliance, formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting in 2012, was one of them. Po Murray is the group’s chair.
“You can download these files and if you have a 3D printer that can cost anywhere from $100 to $1000, you can make your own plastic guns and in addition, you can also make metal guns as well,” said Murray.
Jepsen said a temporary restraining order could be issued against Defense Distributed to prevent the release. That order would come from a judge in a Seattle, WA District Court—where the lawsuit was filed.
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