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As the world's first 3D-printed handgun starts to be replicated, authorities are
scrambling to react to a technological advancement that only a few weeks ago sounded more like science fiction than fact.. But according to a leaked bulletin by the Department of Homeland Security, any effort to stop the printing of these guns might be in vain.
A May 21 DHS bulletin distributed to several law enforcement agencies across the country, and obtained by Fox News, basically states that there might be nothing that can be done to stop people from downloading and printing plastic guns.
"Limiting access may be impossible," the memo states.
The memo essentially agrees with what 3D printing gunsmith and founder of Defense Distributed Cody Wilson has been saying all along: you can't control information on the Internet. In fact, even though the Department of State compelled Wilson to take down the blueprints for its gun parts and the Liberator handgun, the "gun" files have been download hundreds of thousands of times "gun" files have been download hundreds of thousands of times, and are extremely easy to find with a simple Google search.
"Significant advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns," reads the bulletin, which was compiled by the Joint Regional Intelligence Center.
SEE ALSO: Is Downloading and Manufacturing a 3D-Printed Gun Illegal?
Legislators, both at the federal and state level, are also starting to react. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) has proposed legislation to renew the Undetectable Firearms Act, which would keep plastic, hard-to-detect guns illegal. And in California and in the District of Columbia, local legislators have announced their intention to introduce legislation to stop 3D-printed guns. But for the DHS, even these efforts might prove useless.
"Proposed legislation to ban 3D printing of weapons may deter, but cannot completely prevent their production," states the memo. "Even if the practice is prohibited by new legislation, online distribution of these digital files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded music online distribution of these digital files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded music, movie or software files."
The bulletin also explains how these guns might be hard to detect by magnetometers. Fox News quotes an anonymous law-enforcement source who thinks that the only solution for detecting these weapons might be widespread pat downs.
Wilson, responding to that anonymous comment, posted on Defense Distributed's Tumblr blog that "this is a non-credible, generalized threat. [..] A police state capable of stopping the Liberator is a greater threat than terrorism itself."
Image via Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via
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