USA –-(AmmoLand.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed took the necessary action of filing a federal lawsuit on Sunday against the New Jersey Attorney General and Los Angeles City Attorney, accusing them of “unconstitutional prior restraint” by attempting to prevent online sharing of 3-D firearms printing technology despite a Justice Department settlement of a lawsuit several days ago.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin. Both New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and L.A. City Attorney Michael Feuer sent letters threatening legal actions that the plaintiffs allege violate their First Amendment speech rights, according to court documents. A settlement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. Justice Department ending a lengthy legal action allows the Texas-based firm to post its 3-D printing information online, as of Aug. 1.
“What Grewal and Feuer are attempting is an unconstitutional exercise of prior restraint,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “They are trying to prevent Defense Distributed and its founder, Cody Wilson, from exercising free speech under color of law.”
“We have the right to publish this information,” added Wilson, “and now the New Jersey Attorney General and Los Angeles city attorney can pay for it.”
Wilson and SAF had been engaged in a lawsuit against the government for preventing the online publication of the 3-D technology. With the settlement announcement earlier this month, Wilson was preparing to resume the online availability of the information, but Grewal and Feuer both advised by letter that they would take action. Feuer also tweeted threats of legal action, the complaint notes.
“This is quickly turning into a classic First Amendment case,” Gottlieb observed. “People publish all sorts of information online, but because this case involves technical information on the production of firearm components on a 3-D printer, these anti-rights officials are trying to squelch it. We cannot allow this to happen.
“You cannot exercise the right to keep and bear arms without being able to buy or make your own firearm,” he said.
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
Their heads will explode when they see 3D printed ammunition.
On the surface it doesn’t sound like anything I would want to take on. You would have to buy a 3-d printer and all the material to do this. It would be much easier and economically sound to buy an actual gun kit or and actual gun.
That being said, it is the principle of the thing to prevent these commie AG’s from forcing anything on citizens that is not legal. I hope Wilson and SAF win, they deserve to.
Agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Put a clause in the suit that the looser will have to pay all lawyer, court, loss of sales costs and also infringement of first Amendment.
It fits in class with zip-gun only and it can’t be detected and until you get the machine it will be more costly to make!!!!!
And you have ZERO, ZIP, NADA idea what a “zip-gun” was or how it was made. Now back to the liberal gun forum.
You’re clearly ignorant of what’s required to make 3D printed gun parts (by far most of a gun’s parts cannot be efficaciously printed) or any of the alternative means of self manufacturing a personal firearm (molding it, forming it, casting it, machining it, etc). Simple processes have been around long before 3D printers and the so-called 3D printed gun plans that Cody wishes to distribute are applicable to virtually any alternative means a fabrication. This is not just about 3D printed guns. Also, the sky is not going to fall with Cody’s release of this information and the vast majority… Read more »
@Billy d As a side note, there is no plastic firearm on the market currently, whether manufactured or printable, that can be undetectable. Parts such as Firing Pins and the ammunition you put in the gun are still detectable. The idea that they defeat Metal Detectors is the same lie that came out in the 80’s when the Glock hit the market in the US. Don’t feed into it. What I think you meant to describe was untraceable, or a firearm with no serialization or registration with the government. At least, that is what your correlation to a zip gun… Read more »
Now the people in power are working on the First Amendment. Our descendants will be as enslaved as the other peoples of the world.
Has anyone been able to fire bullets in any of the printed guns without it blowing up, or being accurate?
Good question, Bill. Ive seen the news clips that show them firing without blowing up. They don’t say what caliber nor do they mention accuracy. I imagine 22LR might work for more than a few rounds, but the accuracy must be poor and just get worse after the first round.
A question I have is how much would such a gun cost?
@Smitty Those printed Liberators have a maximum chambering of up to a .380 ACP for safety concerns. 22LR would work in one if you changed the files to fit, but when Cody originally released it, I believe it was in 380 and his intentions were for it to be similar to the world war two liberator pistols we dropped over france. The purpose of which is to use as a belly gun, no accuracy needed, but the real damage is mental. Dropping Liberators over France meant the Germans never knew who was armed and who wasn’t. Let that form a… Read more »