RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring is joining suit with other states to halt the Trump administration's efforts to allow 3D-printed gun files to be released on the internet.
Herring joins 21 other attorneys general around the country in filing a lawsuit.
The CAD files would allow plug-and-play access to 3D-print unregistered, untraceable firearms that can also be very difficult to detect, even with a metal detector, Herring said in a news release.
These types of untraceable firearms are sometimes called “ghost guns.”
The lawsuit contends that anyone with access to such files and a commercially available 3D printer could readily manufacture, possess, or transfer such a weapon.
"Even those persons statutorily ineligible to possess firearms, such as violent felons, the mentally ill, and persons subject to protection and no-contact orders," the lawsuit states.
Attorney General Herring and his colleagues won a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration’s prior attempt to allow the release of the files.
The administration is now pursuing formal rules that were finalized yesterday, Herring said.
“My colleagues and I have already blocked the Trump Administration’s reckless plan to make 3D-printed guns more widely available once and we plan to do it again,” Herring said.
“These ‘ghost guns’ are extremely dangerous and can sometimes be virtually impossible to detect. I will continue to fight to keep our communities safe and keep all types of firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.”
The coalition federal lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Seattle in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.