Proving that some folks aren't sure how the internet works, several states are striving to make it harder to make firearms and firearm components privately.
In recent news from California, New Jersey, and New York, blue state prosecutors and lawmakers are making an extra effort to curb the availability of digital gun plans and devices that can help legally produce home-built guns, which are allowed under federal law.
In New Jersey, the Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed A4975 last month in a 50-26 roll call along party lines. The bill makes it a crime to possess digital instructions to manufacture guns and gun components, including receivers or magazines. Under the proposal, a person who is not licensed or registered to manufacture firearms but possesses any digital firearm instructions is guilty of a fourth-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
Meanwhile, in New York, Manhattan's Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg has penned a letter to Creality, a Chinese 3D printer maker – one of the largest in the world – to urge the company to do more to block its machines from having the capability to make gun components. Further, Bragg wants Creality to police its cloud community for such CAD files.
"We have an aggressive and holistic approach to combating gun violence alongside our law enforcement partners, but we cannot do it alone," said Bragg. "We are hopeful that we can partner with these companies and make a meaningful impact on public safety."
At the same time, on the West Coast, the Superior Court of California on March 28 ruled in favor of San Diego County, granting a preliminary injunction against Defense Distributed, barring the Texas-based company from selling its Ghost Gunner desktop 3D milling machine in the state. The Ghost Gunner can complete an 80 percent lower, among other tasks. San Diego County was backed in the suit by the anti-gun group Giffords on a pro-bono basis.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Loren Freestone claimed in his ruling, "There was no freewheeling historical right to manufacture one’s own firearms."
That position has been repeatedly challenged in recent years.
"Since the earliest colonial days, Americans have been busily manufacturing and repairing arms," wrote legal scholar Joseph G.S. Greenlee in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. "Meanwhile, restrictions on self-made arms have been rare throughout American history. All restrictions on arms built for personal use have emerged within the last decade and from only a few states."
