Starting August 1, Americans will able to legally manufacture both guns and gun parts from their homes. It’s a move that can potentially put guns more easily in the hands of people who otherwise might not have been able to legally purchase a weapon.
The decision stems from a legal battle between a Texas man, Cody Wilson, and the U.S. government. In 2015, Wilson was focused to remove blueprints he had put on the web for a 3D-printed gun he called “The Liberator.” He claimed that the forceful removal was an infringement of his free speech rights, while the government argued he was violating federal export laws for military hardware (since the blueprint could be used to print guns outside of the U.S.).
The Trump administration reversed the Obama-era decision in June and settled the case against Wilson, giving him clearance to once again post his blueprints. Wilson has said he will republish the instructions for The Liberator on August 1, as well as blueprints for 3D-printed AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifles and 3D-printed “bump stocks” that allow AR-15 rifles to fire faster, CNN reports.
Several states have sued the federal government in an attempt to block the instructions from being published. Some of the blueprints have already been posted online.