ITAR, for those who don't know, is the insane regulation that says that if your friend Julie from Perth, Western Australia visits and you show her some pointers you picked up on your last visit to Gunsite, you are in violation because you are exporting arms technology inside her foreign noggin. ITAR is so inane that these days the folded sheet of paper that comes with an AR15 accessory is likely to contain more verbiage warning you not to let a non-US citizen look at the instructions than it does actual, you know, instructions.
One would think that ITAR is so overreaching that it would be ripe for a crushing in court. I think a splendid way to do it would be by some patriotic moles in fed.gov arresting someone, perhaps the HMFIC of State, for giving a foreign dignitary a couple pointers on the Camp David skeet range. Of course, I also think it would be nice to have a flying pony and a rocket car.
You can't stop the signal, information wants to be free, and all that EFF jazz...
My gunsmith friend Shannon is fond of telling the tale of the BATFE seminar given towards the end of his schooling, where an agent gave a presentation on the rocks and shoals of their chosen career. As he passed out a handout showing the differences between AR and M16 bolt carriers and fire control parts, explaining to a roomful of trained machinists why they should avoid the latter, one wag in the back of the room raised his hand and asked "Yeah... are these drawings to scale?"
If you are not a scurrilous foreigner, the signal is currently unstoppable
EDITED TO ADD: Joe Huffman offers his musings on the ITAR issue and its back-door gun control implications here.
*Joe has pulled his on advice from his lawyer.
† Barron has done likewise.
‡ Linoge ditto. He points out it's still available via torrents.
FURTHER EDITED TO ADD: I see a few people criticizing Joe for his decision to pull the files off his server. Oddly, none of those people provided a link to their own server where they were currently hosting the files, which adds a bit of a modifier to the value of their criticism, no?
After all, they've done such a Bang Up (pun intended) job keeping Nukes out of the hands of dumbasses right?
ReplyDeleteIt is an evil reg. When my friend's Dillon 1050 first took up residence in my reloading room I did a little research on getting a FFL 06 to make and sell ammo.
ReplyDeleteDiscovered if you hold one you have to cough up $2,500 a year as an ITAR fee even if you never ship a round overseas (or even sell any domestically for that matter).
Right, I'm sure that the DOS and DOD have grave concerns over the 8th Army being met by millions of NORKS wielding Liberator pistols made in the now shuttered factories of the Kaesong Economic Zone. Round eye Yankee dog apostates to the Great Leader beware!!
ReplyDeleteGreg, to be fair that might make the NORKS more dangerous. The liberator will safely fire at least once.
ReplyDeleteWow, first Obama cries over the failure of his gun ban, and now the feds try to shut down the flow of information on the Internet a mere 40 years too late.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I feel guilty after receiving these presents, because I didn't get them anything...
Gah.. DO NOT get me started on ITAR... that @##^% is the bane of my existence... dammit... and yeah, the barn door is WIDE open, depending on who you are and where you are in the food chain...
ReplyDeleteAre these guys really so stupid to think that making a gun currently is some mysterious art that takes a skilled artisan months of work with specialized tools?
ReplyDeleteI can't make one myself, well, not one that would shoot more than a few times, I'm sure I could make one of those PVC shotguns, but I know for a fact there are thousands of Americans that have the know-how and tools to do so, and likely tens of thousands who have one or the other. At pricing less than a 3D printer and the material.
"Weapons Shops of Isher"
ReplyDeleteThe right to download CAD files is the right to be free. ;)
ReplyDelete+5 to TheSev
ReplyDeleteNice to see that the Site was shut down for "POSSIBLE" Violations.
ReplyDeleteSo the State Dept. now has the Authority to say, "Well, you MIGHT be Violating the Law, but we're not sure, but we'll punish you w/o a Trial and take away your First Amendment Rights until WE determine what is Legal or Not."
Gee, maybe the U.N. Blue Helmet Conspiracy Freaks might be right for once? LOTS of 3D Printers in China, you know.
Or Not the U.N., just like Joe said. But since this Regime of Obama's tends to kiss Foreign Butt all the time, it's possible.
ReplyDeleteBut for those who can't afford the cost of a 3D Printer, may I Tune the Signal towards Farmer Frank's Post of a couple of days ago where he, under his FIRST Amendment Right to Freedom of Speech, described the procedure used to convert Plumbing Supplies into the Ye Olde Skool of Pipe Guns?
Wearing a Wookie Suit is Optional.
Generally if a company puts it on the open internet it's not an ITAR issue. If they take it off, then they would not be allowed to make the download available.
ReplyDeleteThe tricky part of ITAR is the dual use clause. If the spring in your widget is the same as the spring in an M-4 your part can be restricted for export.
I never had a huge problem State, Defense or Commerce with briefings because we stayed to open materials. If you can watch Gunsite training TV shows, it is open sourced material.
Gerry
Woodman, they probably do; remember, these are people who consider most ANYTHING involving machines and tools to be either mysterious or something that must be controlled.
ReplyDeleteOr both.
We should tell them to go to Youtube and search 'Pakistan gun makers', they'd crap their tailored apparel at the results. Not to mention the stuff Mr. Luty put together.
Firehand,
ReplyDeleteSay hello to my li'l friend. :)
I think the DD guys understand the hyperbolic-media world we live in. What they're doing is nothing new, we all know that. But old things done with new technology gives tin-pot dictators a case of dirty underwear, and guarantees plenty of media blathering. They're just trying to show the world how bad things have gotten, not break any new ground.
ReplyDeletejf
@Bubblehead Les; Yes you could direct friends to Farmer Frank's post. I can't seem to find it anywhere.
ReplyDeleteThis signal can never be stopped. These files are making their way everywhere now. Besides the Liberator files, AR15 lower files, 30-round AR mag files, the addition of various pieces of information such as the blueprints to a STEN MKII, home made pipe guns, etc., can all be included into a convenient zip file and sent to friends*.
-Rob
*Friends who are inside the US, of course.
There are similar rules regarding robotics and CNC. We have to take classes every year as to what the new regulations are for certain types of equipment. it is patently stupid.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you can make a gun with this file and a 3d printer that cost $8000 is not why they are freaking.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, you can download CNC files for a better quality metal gun here:
http://cncguns.com/downloads.html
Then you can buy a CNC milling machine for far less than $8000 here:
http://www.littlemachineshop.com/products/product_category.php?category=1241045623
No, what strikes fear into the hearts of tyrannical politicians is the thought that the next person they meet on the campaign trail may be armed with an undetectable, untraceable firearm, and the only solution is the politically suicidal method of having a security detail frisk everyone you meet.
They are scared as hell.
"All information wants is for us to stop anthropomorphizing it."
ReplyDelete:( no one can share stuff with me ... sniffle, sniffle
ReplyDelete(thanks for the link Tam and if i do come to visit, I'll make sure I not remember anything I'm shown or told).
They will lose this one the second it hits a courtroom.
ReplyDeleteThe EFF already won this one. They tried to outlaw exporting the RSA encryption algorythm as a munition, so the EFF printed it on a t-shirt as a political statement, and deliberately wore it past a Customs check.
Ther SCOTUS slapped down applying ITAR to information pretty damned fast at that point.
Print the CAD file text on a t-shirt.
OldNFO is right, but having been on the low end of the food chain re ITAR, I can confirm it is taken VERY VERY seriously, and you can be steamrolled because of it. Be careful out there.
ReplyDeleteTam, on the advice of Joe I've pulled my link as well... It's still up at Mega, and a few other places as well.
ReplyDeleteI've done the same and replaced it with a torrent link.
ReplyDeleteNow, it's everywhere and nowhere.
So, let me get this straight. If I take a relative from out of country to the range, I'm violating this rule?
ReplyDeleteOne would think that ITAR is so overreaching that it would be ripe for a crushing in court
ReplyDeleteGiven that it explicitly deals with export, and thus an international boundary, I doubt that a lot.
The Feds' power to regulate international affairs is pretty well established...
(It's stupid, but that's not the same as "unconstitutional".)
They might as well try to shut down the entire internet.
ReplyDeleteSigivald,
ReplyDelete"This t-shirt is a munition"?
"This t-shirt kills fascists."
ReplyDeleteAwesome! :D
ReplyDelete@Tam, Thanks for the support both here and at my place.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't count me out of the fight. I'm regrouping and will reengage within a few days with a post.
Fight smart. Brute force is for brutes.
"This T-shirt is a munition."
ReplyDelete"This T-shirt kills Fascists."
Damn! I want to buy that!
Rob Allen -- So it's both immanent and transcendent? How religious!
I decided to yank the file as well. At this point, the only real source is torrents.
ReplyDeleteI'm just waiting for Anonymous to threaten to distribute the Liberator CAD plans along with Obama's actual birth long-form birth certificate, and then I'm buying popcorn.
ReplyDeleteGuys,
ReplyDeleteThe cheapest printer necessary to print the liberator is $700, not $8000.