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Does the State Department have the right to prevent anyone selling designs for 3D printed firearms?

Asked by RealEyesRealizeRealLies (30951points) July 29th, 2013

Interesting 8min documentary here illustrating two separate firearms enthusiasts efforts to make their gun designs available on the web. They are designed so that anyone can print a firearm at home with their very own 3D printer.

At 3:24 on the video, one of the players, Defense Distributed (love that name) posts a banner stating the following:
“Days after uploading plans for the Liberator, Defense Distributed pulled all files at the request of the State Department”.

But the scary part… If you stop the video at 3:24, and read the last line of copy above the State Department emblem… it reads:
“the United States government claims control of the information”.

That is scary to me. May I remind you the words of Robert A Heinlein warned us of:
“When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.”
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Oddly, at 7:15 on the video, the creator of Defense Distributed questions nearly the same point:
“Some people can have this information. Some people can’t. That’s interesting. Why is that so?”

That’s a valid observation and excellent question. I’d like to know the answers to that question too.
______________

The other player in the video has designed another small arms pistol. Giving his design away for free, he says it’s too late, as already thousands of downloads have occurred. He is confident that others will take his design and improve upon it. He encourages it.
__________

Reality check. We have the right to bear arms. Neither of these two fellas seem lunatic to me, but rather more concerned with enabling citizens to protect American liberties while we still can.

Whether you agree or disagree with gun control is NOT THE QUESTION HERE.

The question here is simply, does the State Department have the right to prevent anyone selling designs for 3D printed firearms?

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