Federal judge blocks release of 3D-printed gun files

Talk about examples of shutting the barn door after the horses have not just left, but also foaled.

NEW YORK (WENY) — A federal judge has blocked the Trump Administration from allowing 3D-printed gun files, or ghost guns, to be released on the internet.

According to New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. District Judge Richard Jones granted a multistate request for a preliminary injunction of the files.

Allowing the release would yield widespread online access to downloadable files with specifications for particular firearms, including AR-15s.

The ghost guns were given their name because they are unregistered and untraceable. They lack a serial number and can be difficult to detect, even with a metal detector.

“Ghost guns threaten the safety of every man, woman, and child in America,” Attorney General James said. “We filed this lawsuit to stop the Trump Administration from making it easier for our schools, our offices, and our places of worship from turning into killing fields, and, thanks to the court, the president has been rebuffed in his attempt to cater to the one constituency he cares about: the gun lobby.”

The National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates, however, argue that 3D-printed gun blueprints are already available online, and that disseminating them further should be allowed as free speech.

On Friday evening, Judge Jones ordered a preliminary injunction, blocking the administration from allowing the files to be released, while the lawsuit brought by Attorney General James and a coalition of 20 additional attorneys general from around the nation continues in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.