‘Hysteria’ over 3D-printed guns is unnecessary, critic says

It’s unlikely a criminal is going to take the time to acquire a 3D-printed gun over stealing a firearm or getting one from someone else, according to Dave Workman, senior editor of TheGunMag.com and member of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Workman says people fighting to prevent a Texas company from publishing online blueprints for plastic guns are just “engaging in hysteria.”

“Frankly, I don’t know any criminal who would waste his time going through the printing and acquiring a 3D printer,” he told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. There are plenty of guns available without going through the “nonsense” associated with 3D printing, he added.

The Trump administration said it would allow for the online publication of instructions for 3D-printed guns in June.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued the administration over the decision on Monday. That prompted U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the online distribution of blueprints.

Workman says the restraining order will give the judge a chance to realize he’s dealing with a First Amendment issue, not a Second Amendment issue. Because, he says, it is an issue of prior restraint — censoring material before it can be published. Cody Wilson, the gun-rights activist behind the push to allow 3D-printed gun blueprints to be published online, is likely, “well covered by the First Amendment,” Workman told Rantz.

The issue will be back in court on Aug. 10.

Listen to the entire conversation below.

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