Get involved on 3d printed gun problem

I don’t normally jump in on the anti-gun issues or the 3d printed gun issues but please stay with me, this is bigger than the US and our love/hatred for the second amendment. We need to pay attention to the information laws being passed these days. 3d printing has become huge and a lot of rich people with connections are scared, instead of embracing the tech they are openly trying to pass laws to keep us from using 3d printers. They are also trying to spread miss information about 3d printing, like that it’s dying. I can think of 3 articles I have seen in just the past couple months on just that subject spread by people that have little to no knowledge at all about 3d printing. But things are starting to get worse.

Censorship Imminent

Today Popular Science Posted an article on the Ruling Stating that 3d printed gun files are not protected under freedom of speech. I know some of you are thinking “So what? We don’t need 3D Printed guns”. I’m not here to debated gun control. Digital information just took a huge blow. We are being told that this is knowledge we can’t own. “because it’s dangerous” How long till they use this to apply to a letter opener (a stretch I know)? Or until they Decide that a design looks too close to a product someone wants taken down gets places like Thingiverse or youmagin shut down. Digital censorship of any kind is a bad road to travel down. The community needs to start focusing on this sort of thing.

Ordinarily, of course, the protection of constitutional rights would be the highest public interest at issue in a case. That is not necessarily true here, however, because the State Department has asserted a very strong public interest in national defense and national security. Indeed, the State Department’s stated interest in preventing foreign nationals—including all manner of enemies of this country—from obtaining technical data on how to produce weapons and weapon parts is not merely tangentially related to national defense and national security; it lies squarely within that interest.

That is a quote from the ruling. Between this and corporate attempt to push piracy laws that will make it harder for companies to sell 3d printers and makers to use them, we are in a lot more trouble than most people think. If no one stands up to contest things like this, we can all expect things to only get more restricted to the point where owning a 3d printer cold be illegal in some places. I for one don’t want to see that happen. If you do nothing else at least start the conversation. If enough people talk about it someone will eventually hear it that can do something about it. All I want is to spread the word and keep the 3d printing community informed. Please share and start the conversation.