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This guy threatened to shoot up a school with a 3D-printed gun

A Utah man is facing criminal charges after police say he threatened to carry out a mass school shooting using a 3D-printed gun.

Austin James David West, 23, was charged earlier this month with making a threat of violence, which is a Class B misdemeanor and in Utah carries a sentence of up to six months in jail and a maximum $1,000 fine.

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West wanted to use a 3D-printed gun specifically because they are untraceable (they don’t require background checks and don’t typically feature numbers), according to Deseret News.

News of his arrest comes amid a national conversation around the public safety threat posed by 3D-printed firearms. Gun control groups and state officials have been scrambling to block self-described crypto-anarchist Cody Wilson from publishing blueprints for 3D-printed guns online, which he resumed doing in late July after abruptly settling a yearslong legal battle with the U.S. State Department.

In the search warrant unsealed Tuesday, police cite texts that West exchanged with a friend in which he discussed his intent to attack Broadview Entertainment Arts University’s campus in Salt Lake City, Deseret News reported.

Read: Crypto-anarchist resumes putting 3D gun blueprints online after judge’s order

“The text messages sent by the suspect reference killing people with a 3D-printed gun so the gun could not be traced back to him,” the warrant states. “The message contained images of what appears to be a male in a video holding a rifle while standing over another male that is lying on the ground.”

James David West, 23 (Photo: provided by Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office)

Police reportedly served the warrant at West’s parents’ house on Aug. 8, where he lives, and seized a 3D printer.

It’s worth noting that 3D printing is still not nearly sophisticated enough to produce guns that function like regular firearms at this point.

Nonetheless, the notion that someone like West would opt for a 3D-printed gun because they’re untraceable is exactly what law enforcement have expressed concerns about.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to aggressively pursue individuals who manufacture 3D-printed guns. “We will not stand for the evasion, especially the flaunting, of current law,” Sessions said, “and will take action to ensure that individuals who violate the law by making plastic firearms and rendering them undetectable, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.”

Read: States are suing to get blueprints of 3D printed guns offline that have already been downloaded thousands of times

On Monday, a federal judge in Seattle upheld a ban on Wilson uploading blueprints for 3D-printed guns online. But on Tuesday, Wilson had found a loophole in the judge’s order and is now selling his blueprints exclusively to Americans, and says he will transmit them to buyers either by secure means online, by mail, or by email.

Cover: In this Aug. 1, 2018, file photo, Cody Wilson, with Defense Distributed, holds a 3D-printed gun called the Liberator at his shop in Austin, Texas. A federal judge in Seattle has granted an injunction that prohibits the Trump administration from allowing a Texas company to post 3D gun-making plans online. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)