To me, one of the most fascinating advancements in my lifetime has to be the 3D printer. The idea of anyone being able to own a device that will fabricate a three-dimensional object out of just strings of plastic is kind of a game-changer. Suddenly, people can make their own parts for various things, fabricate their own prototypes, they can do all sorts of things with it.

Perhaps the coolest, though, is that we can now manufacture our own firearms, either in part or in whole. thanks to the technology.

Yet some people are very upset that those plans were ever online. They’re going to be even more upset if this plan goes through and they’re back online.

A federal rule change could soon make it legal to put 3D printed gun blueprints — first introduced by a Texas man — back online after being blocked from the internet twice.

The Trump administration has proposed transferring authority of some small arms and ammunition exports from the U.S. Department of State to the Commerce Department — a move that would effectively relax regulations that have previously prevented the 3D printed gun blueprints from being posted online.

The Trump administration gave the requisite 30-day notice of the rule change to Congress on Nov. 13, meaning the White House could announce the transfer of authority any day, ending a long fought battle by Austin-resident Cody Wilson to allow the blueprints to be made publicly available.

Meanwhile, gun control activists warn that the change could make firearms available to dangerous people who would otherwise be prevented from purchasing a gun.

I hate to break it to those people, but criminals have been able to get their hands on guns for decades without having to pass a background check. The P.A. Luty backyard submachine gun rendered gun control effectively null and void years ago. That ship has long set sail.

Besides, 3D printer files are already in the wild. Tons of people have them, myself included, who don’t really have any interest in building a firearm. I’ve got them in case that changes and the anti-gun scolds successfully keep those plans off the internet.

The truth is, they don’t want people like you or me to be able to build a gun without their permission. They don’t want us doing anything without their permission. They’d make us raise our hands like little children before going to the bathroom if they thought they could get away with it.

Yet technology has made them obsolete and they know it. We don’t have to ask for permission to build a gun that’s perfectly legal to own. If I had the required licenses and build 3D-printed guns for sale, requiring background checks and FFL transfers, none of these people would care all that much. But law-abiding citizens being able to build these for their own use? That’s heresy in their minds.

Again, criminals have been able to do this for years and they won’t stop.

So why stop the law-abiding citizens of this great land from building otherwise legal guns?