Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Sponsored by AT&T. I'm Dan Premack. On today's show, the next big tax cut and the incredible shrinking General Electric.

But first, the firefight over 3D printed guns. Tomorrow is August 1st, which for a lot of us means it's time to begin thinking about back-to-school shopping.

But for others, it's a day they can go to the internet and download blueprints for how to make

guns via 3D printers. So yeah, let me repeat that. Starting tomorrow,

you can load up the Google machine and figure out how to make your very own firearm,

without needing to go to a gun store, go through a background check, get a license, or really

anything else like that. Now, the basic backstory here is that these blueprints actually

were available for two days in 2013, at which point

the State Department got them pulled.

But that prompted a lawsuit, with the creator of the blueprints arguing that the State

Department had violated his free speech rights.

And that led to a recent settlement.

With this do-it-yourself gun-making, let's call it a library, scheduled to reopen for

business tomorrow.

Now, to be clear, it is highly

unlikely that your average gun enthusiast is going to start 3D printing his own guns. For starters,

it's ridiculously expensive. And even if you're someone who wouldn't pass a background check,

there are much easier ways to go about getting a firearm. But it's also understandable that

people are freaked out about it. Nine states

yesterday sued for an emergency ban, and even President Trump tweeted his concern this morning.

Remember, 3D printing has gotten fairly advanced. For example, there's a Massachusetts

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