Brady Center Fights|3D-Printed Guns

WASHINGTON (CN) - The government's attempt to keep 3D-printed guns out of the hands of terrorists got a boost Thursday with an amicus brief filed in support an appeal by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

The U.S. Department of State ordered Texas-bases Defense Distributed to remove from the Internet what was essentially a do-it-yourself kit for making untraceable and undetectable guns. The kit included blueprints for 3D printed guns that could easily be carried through security checkpoints and used to wreck havoc.

"Especially in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, we simply cannot afford to hand terrorists and other dangerous people the tools they need to take innocent lives and perpetrate acts of terror on American soil or anywhere else," Brady Center president Dan Gross said.

"What happens when these new, untraceable and undetectable guns wind up in the wrong hands, or easily slip through metal detectors at airports?" Gross asked. "As we have already seen, preventing those bent on violence from getting their hands on guns is a matter of national security.

Brady's brief to the Fifth Circuit argues the Second Amendment does not give the right to make and publish plans for 3D-printed guns, and supports the State Department's ban on exporting those plans outside the United States.

"The Second Amendment doesn't protect the right to make untraceable guns that could easily be used by terrorists, drug cartels, or other criminals," said Jonathan Lowy, the director of Brady's Legal Action Project. "This case shows just how far the corporate gun lobby will go - fighting for a supposed right to export blueprints for anyone in the world to print, sell, or use an assault weapon or an undetectable plastic gun. They are willing to sacrifice national security for the sake of their extremist agenda."

Brady's brief, which was written by John Kimball, Martin Krezalek, and Nicholas Tambone of the Blank Rome law firm in New York, contends that the United States has the right to regulate the export of firearms, and that Defense Distributed's attempt to give detailed plan to print guns to anyone with an internet connection amounts to international firearms exportation.

The mission of the Brady Center is to drastically cut the number of annual deaths from gun violence. The center's goal is to cut the 32,000 annual gun deaths per year in half by 2025 through a strategy designed to keep guns out of the wrong hands through increases in gun background checks, by stopping the 5 percent of gun dealers that supply 90 percent of all crime guns, and by changing the conversation about gun safety in homes, according to the center's stated mission online.

Follow @https://twitter.com/sabrinacanfiel2

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit