are all the same is men of color and women of color is the way we try to instill a sense of fear. they fear that the sobering consequence of what could happen >> how about having a police department that is respectful of the public that they work or? how about having a police department that is held to a higher standard? there is a certain point when children just don't listen, just don't listen. should they die for that? should we accept that as a society? is it really the best we can do to tell her children to be more responsible than the adult serving their community's?

with 3-d. guns begin headlines will spend time delving into their history and future. stephen gutowski is a staff writer at how long have you been writing about firearms? >> guest: eight or nine years now, in college really. >> host: explained the issue would have 3-d. again is. yes go 3-d. again is essentially a firearm that is manufactured with parts made mostly from 3-d. material. >> host: how long that they've been around? >> guest: the first one that made a lot of headlines was created by cody wilson. that was in 2013 and it's been out for about five years now.

>> host: what do you need to make a 3-d. gun? >> guest: it depends on what you're trying to do. bears sorted different parts you can manufacture with a 3-d printer. you can make a lot of things with a 3-d printer but to make one that can withstand the pressure of a cartridge going off you really do need a fairly expensive equipment, several thousand dollars worth of equipment, high-end 3-d printers it's not the kind that you can buy for $150 on line. has to be substantial. >> host: how far along is the technology? >> guest: you know it's been really back in 2013 is a single shot firearm, 380 and it doesn't last very long. you can only fire a few shots to

that particular firearm. i'm not aware of a gun that has come along that has been that level of 3-d. material. still has metal but most of the newer designs have inserts in the barrels. certainly people all over the world and the country are making their own designs as well. >> host: we are talking about the use of metal and again. when you're printing something worthy of printing and how much of the gun is. from the plastic's? >> guest: it depends on the design of the gun and what you are trying to achieve. cody wilson's liberator is mostly 3-d. parts. it's 16 parts that are 3-d. and then there is the metal that sets up the primer and a cartridge. that is not 3-d. or that something you would have to obtain. it also includes a metal plate

and then other designs you are simply printing one part and 3-d printing on an ar-15 is a popular thing to do. that is the regulated part of the gun. there is really only one part in united states that tend to be regulated where if you were to buy one from a store you to get a background check. some people like to print that part because the rest of the parts you can buy mail order and have them sent to your house. >> host: how far are we from three deep. guns being just as reliable and just as accurate, just as powerful as traditional firearms? >> guest: probably, sort of depends on home much of the gun you want 3-d. but if you want the entire tend

to be made of 3-d. material there isn't a gun that exists for that yet. maybe coming but certainly it's plastic and firearms just by their nature need to withstand a lot of force and plastics and heat as well in plastics are not able to withstand that kind of force at least over long period of time. they tend to be very crude designs that are meant to be a -- . >> host: questions about 3-d. guns and the issues that come up in the headlines. stephen -- stephen gutowski is with us until minor clock this morning. if you support 3-d guns in this current debate (202)748-8000. that's how we split up on line.

as you are calling and we want to show viewers some of the eclipse of 3-d. guns from the floor of the senate last week richard blumenthal of connecticut talking about his concerns about technology. >> we have joined together in this cause to prevent a new wave of lethal gun violence in our streets resulting from that these plastic undetectable and untraceable weapons. we are talking about assault rifles, pistols, shotguns all of them homemade. they are ghost guns. they are the new frontier and the new face of gun violence in this country. >> host: stephen gutowski taking on a few those concerned specifically undetectable untraceable ghost guns. >> guest: first off

undetectable is the way it's done in 3-d guns of course and what that refers to is the gun that could pass through a metal detector or an x-ray machine at an airport. it's a concern. people can make guns completely out of plastic and how's that going to be a? something that we can keep from getting onto an airplane or something of that nature. now as i alluded to earlier at this point there is no design. doesn't include metal parts so presumably a metal detector would -- a gun like this and even the liberator design by cody wilson is likely not undetectable. we have a law already that governs this. you are not allowed to make or possess a gun in the united states that is undetectable.

>> host: this is the locked up and are i cited last week. >> guest: even if you were able to make in. completely plastic gun with no metal parts they would pass through a metal detector that would fill -- be illegal under federal law. it would be a felony. then you get into the idea of ghost guns a common term we hear a lot about and literally what that refers to is the firearms manufactured at home are not required to have serial numbers. it's legal for someone in the united states to manufacture firearms. you cannot sell them to others or give them away without obtaining a license first. that's something that has been legal since the founding of the

country and it's something that there has long been various technologies for doing this. basically 3-d printing is just basically a way of accomplishing that. >> host: taking calls from viewers. joe was in alabama that line supporting 3-d guns. go ahead. >> caller: stephen i'm so glad that c-span has someone on there this morning that knows what they are talking about, about the plastic gun. this is ridiculous. myself if someone had a gun. by a 3-d printer i would not fire at them as he could figure a way to put a there'll. but to fire plastic gun somebody

is going to make one of those guns. there will be -- for the person makes a gun then the person on the other end of it. this is ridiculous. >> guest: that's a fair assessment. if you make a chamber for a firearm or a barrel after a stick their all these risks involved when you go to fire live rounds from it. if you don't do the printing properly which takes a lot of knowledge cert me the gun could absolutely explode. >> host: far rockaway new york on those -- on the line that oppose. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. it does feel like this is making a commercial for people that are wasting money and they endanger

themselves. this 3-d gun idea is so horrific with all the guns already out there and people being enticed and pushed into doing harm to other people. this is ridiculous. that's all i have got to say. >> guest: anything you want to pick up on? >> guest: i mean certainly like any other technology there are bad actors. i'm not aware of any case yet that involves a 3-d. gun in any sort of crime so that is not something i've seen happen yet. .. and things of that nature. i agree with a couple of colors

before that most times these things kind of exploding your have a conceptou a safetying a gun, issue with the firearm itself, so i think it is ridiculous to even have something like that to get to theit public. i'm glad it's very expensive for people to make them. if it was cheap, there'd be a lot of people making them. >> guest: yeah, i mean, certainly it is not something for everyone i would say. 3-d printing even beyond done a something for enthusiasts. it's not necessarily for everybody. that'sne another reason i -- we will see the sin in the hands of criminals. i understand. >> host: if you support 3-d guidance, 202-748-8000. if you oppose them, 202-748-8001

appeared want to hear your comments, questions get the time to ask if you do have questions about this technology. stephen gutowski, who is cody wilson. he mentioned them a couple times. >> guest: cody wilson is a gun rights activist in austin, texas and he is basically a pioneer in 3-d printed guns. he developed the liberator, which was the world's first god made mostly from 3-d printed part and he did it as a proof of concept, but he's trying to show the intersection of new technology and gun rights in a way that he thinks is very meaningful and probably a little bit provocative. >> host: show our viewers to cody wilson is. he was on fox news yesterday talking about 3-d gun technology. here's a bit of what he had to

say. >> to a certain degree, you are protectinge and saying are protecting and saying i'm just making information available. i'm not responsible for what people do once they gettre the information. but the fact is, cody, there are real-world consequences here. what if somebody takes your information, makes the gun and then goes out and kills someone, potentially god for dead kills a member of your family. would you have any responsibility? would you feel any remorse? >> i credit the question is like anon on this question come as good faith that i believe in the second amendment to the point is that it's all right and it should be expected that there will be social cost for protecting the right like this. why is the people's right to keep and bear arms on the bill of rights and even protected? we know there are downsides and consequences to allowing free people doing a means of self-defense. we should expect and have a mature attitude that bad things can happen.

>> the government has made decisions for certain people should be prevented from having guns and they should be easier to trace it easier to detect. you are going around all of that, cody. >> i disagree. with respect i disagree. the arms and transferring interstate commerce, but the government has never regulated the production of firearms you are allowed to on. an american cangh do to can do this the right to make a gun and there's a requirement to get a serial number onco it. again, i'm sorry bunch of politicians will go to the reality of this just last week, but this is the way it's always been. >> host:en stephen gutowski come you cannot cody wilson interviewedld them? yesterday estimate several times. >> host: what is his end goal? is he making any money off the 3-d gun blueprints they became the center of this controversy last week? >> guest: know, and he's developed that in his sole intent is to publish it freely

as sort of an open-source version of a firearms company i suppose it's his idea for defense distributed. he saved money in other ways. he's created a mini cnc machine for use in creating air 15 blowers and certain other firearms made from incomplete templates, which is another way people tend to manufacture firearms for their own personal use goodies make money off of selling nose. as far as 3-d printed guns go, no. this is wholly a pieceer of actf his son for him. >> host: of nice monroeville, pennsylvania for the line of a post. go ahead. >> caller: hello, i am against 3-d printed guns, and when i don't think they can do much about it. they will be printed anyway no matter what.

the thing is, in our society is so violent. violence is engraved intt our society. you know, you take the militias and all of that and you take all of the violence that is coming in outcome even watching television stories at all, it encourages violence and it encourages persons. we are encouraged more or less to take quick action not to think about anything and not think about the consequences. so people are frustrated about how things are going to get resolved, how this country is going to get back on track. people are so frustrated, it drives people into stupidity. it drives them intoot stupidity. it is no wonder that there is

murderous, mass murders. >> host: stephen gutowski, do you want to comment on anything? tesco the fact that people will continuee to have guns no matter what the government does is relevant to what is going on, especially considering that the core of the case with cody wilson, what he was actually -- what actually happened in that case, what the state department is telling him had nothing to do with whether or not you could pray to you could create their own guns or manufacture firearms or whether it was legal for american to have these blueprints. it was more about whether it's legal to publish them on the internet. the claimant in this case is the cody wilson actually did wrong was publishing his designs on the internet. there's actually something more of a first amendment case, but in the meantime, while he's been

fighting with the government the last five years over that question, these plans have been all over the internet. they are very easy to obtain and have been for years. for at least the last five years. >> host: on the first amendment debate, senator bill nelson was on the senate floor any address this issue last week amid this controversy. here's what he had to say. >> mr. president, there aren't many limits on our first amendment rightsde of speech. you cannot say fire in a crowded theater. why in the world would you assert first amendment rights to publish instructions to do a plastic gun that someone could take through a metal detector into a crowded theater in their shooting in that theater instead of shouting fire, which is clearly an understood limitation

upon our first amendment rights of speech. >> host: stephen gutowski come in your thoughts on that argument. >> guest:ts well, gun designs and gun blueprints have been legal for americans to own and have been published everywhere in thousands of books and on the internet for literally centuries in the country. the idea that this is a new thing is ridiculous. also, the idea that you're going to take a liberator, which is a single shot manually reloaded fire and that probably can only fire a couple of rounds before it's not good anymore and cause mass panic or terror is also a bit far-fetched as well. >> host: andrus in port charlotte florida. go ahead. >> caller: yes, sir.

i support the 3-d printed guns to be sold to members of the united states government like the cia and our military and also to state governments who may need those weapons. and so, i support 3-d printed guns because it's progress as well. as long as the law is narrowly tailored, we won't let -- and have done a slippery slope. >> host: >> host: stephen gutowski, is there a desire for these guns in certain parts of our government or certain parts of the military? >> guest: know,fo i don't thinks so from a practical standpoint. it is not really a very useful firearm in terms of something you would actually arm with if you're a government official or if he wanted to use for military purposes or whatever. as far as whether or not the government is going to want to buy 3-d printers and start making liberators, i don't and

that's going to happen. but certainly the idea that this is progression or developing technologies, i think that is a fair point. certainly something -- one of the reasons we have the ability to manufacture firearms for personal use in the united states and one of the recent cody wilson wants to be able to post these designs online is to allow people to innovate off of them. that is definitely an issue here. >> host:at stacy is in mclean, virginia on the line for a post. go ahead. >> caller: good morning, america. good morning, john. thank you for taking my call. two questions. i was on the washington free begin with the same organization that funded the steel dossier. my second question was i believe these plastic guns are being made to shoot law-enforcement because they would read the

first people to stare down its guns if they were walking through, let say, a metal detector. i think those guns are mainly meant to hurt people who are the firsti responders in who are in law enforcement. >> host: stephen gutowski. >> guest: first of all, the free bk did not fund this dossier. let's be clear on that. the second question about law enforcement concerns for 3-d guns. again, not aware ofor any instae when a 3-d printed firearm has been used in a crime to this point. again, a question how useful they would be t for criminals to possess the knowledge and equipment to make one. certainly it is not a common way forr criminals to obtain guns. they get them from viewing the are buying them other criminals.

there have been a few homemade guns that manage to make their way into criminal cases, but even i was extremely rare. >> host: for folks who aren't familiar with washington free begin,th how would you describe it? >> guest: it is a national free newspaper with conservative editorial in it. we practice what we like to call combat journalism. >> host: what does that mean? >> guest: it means that we go and cover things that perhaps the rest of the media does not. guidance is a fantastic example. i cover exclusively firearms for the free beacon, which is something quite rare in the media despite the fact there is polling that shows, you know, most american -- almost half of american households have a firearm in their home. very important, big issue is very leather untrammeled

coverage. >> host: it is free beacon.com. a couple minutes left with stephen gutowski, staff writer there. here in bethesda, maryland on the line for those who opposed. >> caller: thank you, good morning. two points to make. the first on technology. technology has a funny way of advancing. that is precisely what cody's designs are designed to do, promote technology. for those who think it's not going to be a big deal, it is plastic, it won't work out well, that probably will change in the designs will probably enable guns that will be very efficiently used. number two, as the law, the firearms act is concerned, was at a funny habit of being broken. this just like murderers in the hat than. with red

the third and last point, basically picking up on what someone else just said, which is there is nothing we can do about it. another caller had said he would be limited to so to law enforcement or the military because foreign governments take their way -- [inaudible] even if the u.s. or try to put a control on these weapons, the fact of the matter is foreign nonstate actors are going to pick up on the technology, which is a little bit developed. even if we pass all the laws to give that technology from the u.s. >> guest: yeah, the point about technology advancing is fair. now certainly there is not the ability to make a very reliable firearm from 3-d printed parts. it is almost exclusively from 3-d printed parts. maybe that'll change in the future. i don't know.

certainly, we have laws that govern these things as you alluded to. the walls absolutely do get broken. but beyond sort of changing human nature and effect in society, i'm not really sure a solution for that. but you know, i think things that we go like on the face should be the actual acts of murder and criminals and should continue to be illegal. 3-d printed on technology doesn't change our current laws which deal with all of that even if the technology to do so becomes easier at the time. >> host: in our last 60 seconds, what is the status of the case that cody wilson is involved in and now several state attorney generals. when is the next step in this process and what is going to happen next?

>> guest: the state department to make a claim about cody wilson publishing good and designs actually tried to give up that claim on the department ofat justice. eight states attorneys generals including d.c. attorney general sued the state department actually and got a temporary restraining order against them to prevent them from enforcing that settlement. and so now as things stand it goes back to the status quo of cody wilson being prevented from publishing the designs. the next step is a hearing on august 10th, which will address whether or not the temporary restraining order becomes permanent. >> host: can we assume you'll be writing about it? free beacon.com. stephen gutowski, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. >> guest: thank you.

>> we don't live in the same

part of the country, same location. we don't have the same particularly outlook to where we are all the same as men of color and women of color is the way to instill a sense of fear. you can call that respect, but it is a fear that the sobering consequence of what could happen. >> how about having a police department that is respectful of the public they work for. how about having a police department that is held to a higher standard than the children are supposed to be respectful. there is a certain point when children just don't listen, just a listen. should they die for that? that's what they're called teenagers for. should be set that as a society? is that really the best we can do to tell our children to be more responsible than the adults

trying to serve the community? >> dear congressman chris collins spoke to reporters in buffalo wednesday about insider trading charges filed against them by federal officials and whether he will remain on the ballot for reelection in november. [inaudible conversations] >> thank you all for coming today. before i get started, most of you here know my wife, mary, of over 30 years. thanks for being here. the national press may not know mary sue as both our local press