A federal judge extended his ban on the distribution of 3D-printed gun blueprints online in a case that will test the legal limits of the new technology and free speech.
“The court finds that the irreparable burdens on the private defendants’ First Amendment rights are dwarfed by the irreparable harms the states are likely to suffer if the existing restrictions are withdrawn,” U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle ruled, CNET reported[1] Monday.
Lasnik made the original judgement[2] on July 31 to ban the distribution of 3D-printed gun blueprints online.
Gun rights advocates call the ruling not only a violation of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, but also the First Amendment right of free speech.
Cody Wilson, the founder of the nonprofit digital publishing firm Defense Distributed and creator of 3D-printed gun designs, argues the distribution of code qualifies as an act of free speech.
The case will go forward, but no further hearings have been scheduled at the time of publication, Ars Technica reported[3] Monday. Defense Distributed will appeal the judge’s ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Wilson told CNET.
“The order is a manifest injustice and a farcical admission of abridgment of the freedom of speech,” Wilson said in an email statement to CNET. “I’ll be pleased to correct this judge at the Ninth Circuit.”
Author C.J. Awelow made Wilson’s code for the 3D-printed gun, the “Liberator,” available in a book on Amazon Aug. 1 — the day after Lasnik’s first ruling. The book was removed on Aug. 22 for violating unspecified policy rules, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported[4].
