So I saw this article about how the State Department forced the removal of plans for a 3D printed gun. What is interesting is not that the plans were pulled, but who pulled them and why. Note, that the plans themselves did not violate any US law, anymore than instructions on the internet for construction of all sorts of nefarious weapons. No, the State Department justified the actions
"because they believe they may violate international arms regulations"Specifically, it appears that they ran afoul of is ITAR. Anyone who has been involved in any technical development in the US is quite familiar with ITAR as compliance with that particular regulation requires all sorts of 'governance' based reporting. It is not a surprising development that a lawless administration would use ITAR regulations to shut down an enterprise that is at once embarrassing and in defiance of their control. This is one of the subtle regulations based in international treaties and agreements that is being used to subvert US self rule in lieu of a quasi-global government.
Another chilling aspect is the same 'guilty until proven innocent' approach by the ITAR regulators that is used by the IRS. As noted in the Forbes article, the 'take down' letter stated:
"Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with final [commodity jurisdiction] determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled"In other words, "we'll let you know when you can exercise your constitutional rights".
A sobering aspect to this is the question of will it spur Congress to deal with the elephant in the room that is ITAR and do the right thing to unravel it's power. I think with all the other shiny scandal objects floating around that will just not happen. The answer is in what has happened since this story broke. Not a resolution, a committee meeting, or congressional inquiry. No one there wants to do the hard work to unravel this nut and stop the international infringement on Americans basic rights.
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