Government Takedown Order Comes Too Late To Block 3D-Printed Gun Plans

The plans have spread around the world

A Texas man removed 3-D plastic gun blueprints from his website on Thursday afternoon, after the US State Department said he had violated United States export control laws, but not before the plans had been downloaded across the world. …

But it's unlikely that the maneuver will prevent people from accessing the plans, Wilson said. He doesn't see this censorship as a defeat – the government can't prevent the spread of the plans for 3-D guns on the global Internet, he said.

"This is the conversation I want," Wilson said. "Is this a workable regulatory regime? Can there be defense trade control in the era of the Internet and 3D printing?"

The blueprints were downloaded more than 100,000 times between Monday and Wednesday, Forbes reported.