Trump tweets concern about 3D-printed guns

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - The Trump administration may have permitted Texas-based nonprofit Defense Distributed to publish its 3D-printed gun blueprints to the internet, but that new reality has the president himself expressing some concerns, too. Democrats in New York and Washington, D.C., are taking note.

"I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn't seem to make much sense!" Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.

U.S. Senate Democrats criticized the president for allowing Defense Distributed to publish its 3D printer files, even as they asked him to reverse his administration's decision.

"It's a dollar short and a day late," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. "Where the heck has he been?"

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., added, "He's saying that there's something wrong with this policy—so he should fix it before midnight tonight."

But the August 1 download date on Defense Distributed 's website has no relevance, according to attorney Josh Blackman, who represents Defense Distributed and founder Cody Wilson.

"The genie is out of the bottle. Cody put the files online on Friday," Blackman said. "They've been up several days. This is simply misinformation."

The code for the undetectable, plastic Liberator handgun now has over 4,700 downloads. While the print-it-yourself AR-15 blueprint has more than 3,100 downloads.

But that is not stopping New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from sending Defense Distributed a cease-and-desist letter.

"We want two things. First, stop distribution in the state of New York," he said. "Second, tell us who you've distributed your product to in the state of New York already."

Defense Distributed has already blocked internet addresses from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles due to their litigation or legal threats.

Senate Democrats are hoping the president's tweet means their bill to ban the manufacture of home-made ghost guns will gain an unlikely ally.

"The NRA isn't worried about our safety," Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said. "They're worried that these plastic guns will hurt their bottom line and gun manufacturers and dealers that they represent.

In fact, until the president mentioned the NRA on Tuesday, the powerful gun-rights organization had stayed conspicuously silent during Defense Distributed's five-year legal fight against the federal government. The NRA didn't come to the company's aid after the Obama administration first blocked publication the now-released gun codes in 2013.