It seems that embedded within the very DNA of the government is an outrageous desire to regulate and license all manners of private life.
There are outrageous taxes and licensing for hairstylists, taxes on property we already own – we’re even forced to pay estate taxes when we die.
If those government intrusions aren’t outrageous enough, the government may now also require a license to download printer software for this disturbing reason.
The first commercially available 3-D printer goes back much further than you may think, with its very first patent filed back in 1981.
However, ever since the initial prototypes were designed, 3-D printer technology has accelerated as fast as Moore’s law allows.
And today, the average consumer can purchase a low-end 3-D printer for $500 or so.
But the idea that the average person can print products in the comfort of their own home has given the government pause.
Not only are they worried that Americans will be able to create many consumables 100% tax-free….
…They worry there will be a proliferation of homemade “ghost guns” – i.e. firearms that are legal to own, but completely untraceable.
To understand how this is possible, it’s essential to know that, according to the ATF, a firearm isn’t the same thing as a gun.
In the case of ghost guns, a person is legally allowed to create a “firearm” without a serial number, provided they do not have the intent to sell to others.
Since most firearms are made out of polymer or metal, and since 3-D printers are capable of machining that kind of material, it means that in this day and age, a person can make their own firearm at home.
All they need is a 3-D printer that can work with that material and the software to print the gun.
And the government does not like that idea at all and is now considering requiring a license to download the software.
Why?
Because they need to keep tabs on us.
Back in 2013, the government told Defense Distributed – one of the pioneering companies of at-home firearm production – that their software for gun-making was illegal to distribute because it violated the armaments under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Arms Control Export Act (AECA).
Defense Distributed successfully defended their position that their software was no different than a book showing how to build a firearm (which is legal), and the government reversed the decision in 2018.
Sadly, the company’s victory was short-lived, and the monolith that is the federal government struck back and has limited our freedoms once again in a new decision against 3-D printer software.
Reason.com reports.
“This week, Judge Robert A. Lasnik of U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, in deciding on motions for summary judgment in that suit, State of Washington et al. v. U.S. Department of State et al., agreed that removing those files from the USML was unlawful based on the APA arguments (though not the 10th Amendment ones), and reversed the federal government’s choice to allow free distribution of the files.
…
However, the government has been temporarily enjoined from following through on their “temporary modification of the USML” as the suit progressed. In practical terms, this has been meaningless to any actual interest of the states suing, unless that interest was just to bedevil Defense Distributed, as the files—like most things on the internet—can be and are widely distributed by anyone else who pleased besides Defense Distributed. They’re just files, after all, and nothing on the internet is easier to share.”
In layman’s terms, the government has changed their minds and now is moving forward with adding printer software onto a list of federally regulated assets.
So, if you want to print a gun at home without a license, you can’t.
You can still buy an already-manufactured 80% lower and finish it anonymously (which is precisely the kind of lower a 3-D printer makes)… but printing one?
No, that should be illegal unless the Crown gives you permission.
If this new ruling is allowed to remain, it will be a considerable blow to personal freedom and the Second Amendment.
Fortunately, as of today, many of these files are easily found online and can still be downloaded. One only needs to look in the right places.