Father Of Parkland School Shooting Victim Appalled Over Downloadable 3D Gun Plans
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
WASHINGTON (CBSMiami/CNN) - The father of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High student who died in the Valentine's Day mass shooting is appalled at the idea that people will be able to legally download plans for 3D printed guns.
Late Tuesday, a judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order preventing the release of the blueprints.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson called the move a total victory.
"For any entity or individual to post that information online, it is illegal under federal law," Ferguson told reporters. "Just as it was before the federal government made the unfortunate decision to allow it."
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed on the third floor of Building 12, calls the blueprint release "horrible on a lot of levels."
In an interview with CNN, Guttenberg said he was in Washington DC last week and "nobody in DC on a legislative level even knew about this."
"Unfortunately it appears this administration did a reversal of a policy that they did not need to do and they didn't communicate it," he said. "Those of us in the gun violence prevention movement have been putting out information about it over the past five to six weeks, but let's face it, traditional media was not covering it and the legislators didn't know. One party, when I was there last week, got sufficiently horrified, the other did not."
He told CBS4's Ted Scouten this would be the biggest rollback of public safety in our lifetimes. "If you can't pass a background check and you want a weapon, you'll be able to get one now," he said. "If you're at risk of the red flag laws we passed and you want a weapon, you'll be able to get one and no one will know it now."
In June, a gun-rights group, Defense Distributed, reached a settlement with the government that will allow it to post 3-D printable gun plans online. According to the settlement, the plan wasn't supposed to be online until Wednesday but more than 1,000 people had already downloaded plans to print an AR-15 style semiautomatic assault rifle, according to the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
The settlement ends a multiyear legal battle that started when Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson posted designs for a 3-D printed handgun he called "The Liberator" in 2013. The single-shot pistol was made almost entirely out of ABS plastic -- the same material Lego bricks are made from -- and could be made on a 3-D printer.
Twenty-one state attorneys general sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Jeff Sessions Monday, urging the government to withdraw from the settlement.
Tuesday morning President Donald Trump expressed skepticism over the ability to legally download plans for 3-D printed guns, saying he's spoken with the National Rifle Association about them because the technology "doesn't seem to make much sense!"
I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn't seem to make much sense!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018
Wow, look who tweeted after my interview. Mr. President, last week your Secretary of State said the same thing, he was looking into it. Your administration did this, now it may be to late to stop this. https://t.co/hbjaOM7o4q
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) July 31, 2018
Trump has previously offered tepid support for tougher gun restrictions, particularly after the Parkland high school shooting in February, but later backed off those positions to align himself with NRA proposals.
Here in South Florida, many gun right's advocates are against it. Walter Philbrick was a police officer for years and is now a reserve. He also is a former gun shop owner.
"Being a police officer, the gun should not be sold," he said. "Because number one it's not traceable, two, the bullets that go out leave no rifling in the bullet so you can match the gun up to the bullet a week from now."
He went on to say he sees problems with the gun. "I could be a terrorist, I could rob a bank and shoot somebody and just throw the gun down," he said as an example. "The thing about the traceable, when you buy a gun legally they can trace the fire arm from manufacture, to the gun dealer to you."
For some who believe strongly in the Second Amendment like Pablo Arzola, owner of Zulu Armoury in Doral, it's a tricky issue to balance a person's right to protect themselves with a homemade gun versus the unknown dangers a 3D printed gun could cause.
"If this can help evolve for the right, in the right direction forward, I'm all about it," he said. "But the moment we see this take a leap for the worse, I think the government has to come and bring down the hammer."
Arzola said he believes if the blueprints become available and people print the weapons and use them to harm others or commit crimes, they should face severe penalties. He also believes a greater focus needs to be placed on training for law enforcement, security scanners and security guards to notice weapons and spot telltale signs of people who might be planning crimes or have other evil intent.
Meanwhile, the TSA says they have encountered these weapons in the past and their security screeners are always on the lookout for any weapons.
"TSA has been aware of these guns for years," said TSA Spokesperson Sari Koshetz. "We train for any type of evolving threat. If you bring them to the checkpoint we will find them, we will stop them and we will fine you."
CBS News has obtained incident TSA incident summaries that show prior to the current controversy surrounding printable guns, the TSA has been encountering those types of devices at check points. The reports describe "3D printed realistic replica" handguns and 3D printed "lower receivers," components consistent with parts of so-called assault rifle style weapons, being found at checkpoints in Nevada and New Hampshire.
The agency can point to at least four incidents since 2016. In a 2016 incident a loaded 3D printed "realistic replica" revolver was found in a passengers carry-on bag in the Pre-Check Line at Reno's airport.
In January, at Las Vegas McCarran Airport a 3-D printed lower receiver (basically what's considered the firearm portion of an AR-15 style rifle) was found in a passenger's carry on bag at a checkpoint.
In a statement, TSA Asst Administrator Michael Bilello tells CBS News, "TSA Officers are trained and on the lookout for 3D guns. We have proven detection capabilities and screening protocols in place. In the world of airport and aviation security, "a gun is a gun.'"
Efforts by democratic lawmakers in Washington DC to stop this, including Congressman Ted Deutch and Senator Bill Nelson have been blocked.
(©2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.)
