The 3D printing of firearms is a severely dangerous threat to American safety. With the blueprints of firearms available online, anyone - a terrorist or any prohibited purchaser - can obtain a fully functioning firearm without a background check though the use of 3D printer.

The Brady Center filed a lawsuit in December of 2018 against the State Department for the disclosure of documents explaining its sudden and dangerous decision to allow blueprints of 3-D guns to be uploaded to the internet, allowing terrorists and prohibited purchasers have easy access to firearms.

This recent decision by the State Department reverses its stance that 3-D guns are a threat to national security. Previously after years of ongoing litigation against Defense Distributed, the State Department successfully argued that the publication of such blueprints was a national security risk that would put untraceable and undetectable guns in the hands of terrorists and other dangerous people with nefarious intentions. However earlier this year the State Department suddenly reversed course and reached a settlement that allowed for the publication of 3-D gun blueprints and even paid Defense Distributed’s attorney’s fees.

Within several days of learning of the settlement the Brady Center filed a FOIA request on July 16, 2018 to the State Department asking for documents explaining its reversed stance. FOIA requires that any relevant documents be produced within twenty day. However after months without any document production, the Brady center filed suit on December 19th, 2018.

Brady is leading the way in holding the Trump Administration accountable for its terrible gun policies, and there is still so much more to come.