Following a push from groups like Connecticut Against Gun Violence, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced Monday that he would join a multi-state lawsuit against the federal government for settling with a Texas nonprofit that plans to make blueprints for a 3D gun available online.
The lawsuit filed in the Western District of Washington at Seattle argues that the federal government violated federal law and the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and that the government’s actions will have far-reaching implications for national security and the safety and security of state residents, including Connecticut residents.
Connecticut is joining Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.in the action.
The states argue that the government’s actions were arbitrary and capricious, and that they effectively tie the hands of state firearms regulators who seek to promote public safety by keeping firearms out of the hands of those who, for various reasons, should not have them.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the federal Directorate of Defense Trade Controls are named as defendants.
Earlier this month the Texas nonprofit Defense Distributed reached a settlement with the Trump administration resolving a 2015 government challenge to its public posting of the instructions for manufacturing guns with 3D printers. The challenge was started in 2013 during the Obama administration.
“The action by the federal government is outrageous and flies in the face of the most basic notions of public safety and responsible gun control,” Jepsen said Monday. “I have grave fears not only for the safety of Connecticut residents but also for our police officers and law enforcement professionals if these plans are allowed to be made public, as absolutely anyone would be able to make and sell untraceable, undetectable plastic guns. The danger of this situation and the path of irrational gun ownership it portends simply cannot be overstated, which is why my colleagues and I have filed a lawsuit today to stop this underhanded, wrong-headed and deeply alarming situation created by the very federal officials who are charged with ensuring our national security and public safety.”
Read our earlier report on the issue.
