Source: B/FlickrSource: B/Flickr3D printing is making it easier to create and produce products in much shorter time frames. The technology can be used to print everything from material for bridges, new homes and now, thanks to a decision by the U.S. State Department this week -- guns.

After years of debate, the Defense Distributed website is now able to make templates for 3D printing guns available to the public, thus ushering in the "age of the downloadable gun."

Years ago, the site first offered customers plans for a 3D-printed gun called the Liberator. However, the State Department ordered the removal of Defense Distributed, taking it and its products offline, arguing that the website was in violation of the International Trade in Arms Regulation (ITAR), restricting how guns are exported.

Now, with support from the Department of Justice and the Second Amendment Foundation, Defense Distributed can once again post plans for 3D printing guns with approval from the federal government who has agreed to rewrite federal laws making it legal to 3D print guns.

“Under this settlement, the government will draft and pursue regulatory amendments that eliminate ITAR control over the technical information at the center of this case," said Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb in a statement. "They will transfer export jurisdiction to the Commerce Department, which does not impose prior restraint on public speech. That will allow Defense Distributed and SAF to publish information about 3-D technology," he continued.

According to a statement on Defense Distributed’s site, "Defense Distributed relaunches DEFCAD after reaching a settlement agreement with the US Department of State, concluding a multi-year federal lawsuit. The age of the downloadable gun formally begins."

With permission to sell plans for firearms under .50 caliber, including semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15, the decision is already attracting criticism from gun control advocates.

"We're extremely concerned about a sudden settlement by the DOJ allowing blueprints for 3-D printed guns to be posted online, and we're looking forward to learning through our FOIA request exactly how this came to be," tweeted The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a nonprofit gun control organization.

To contact the author of this article, email mdonlon@globalspec.com