20 states are trying to stop the spread of CAD-files on the Internet for printing weapons
Details of the Liberator pistol
on July 10, 2018, a historic event took place: after five years of trial , the trial between the US Department of Justice and the Second Amendment Foundation, which spoke on behalf of the famous freedom press enthusiast Cody Wilson and his company Defense Distributed, distributed 3D files -print pistols and rifles through the Internet, including the famous "Liberator" (Liberator) - the world's first pistol, fully printed on a 3D-printer.
Human rights defenders managed to defend the freedom of speech and the right to freely publish files on the Internet.
Recall that the Second Amendment Foundation and the Defense Distributed filed a lawsuit against the US Department of State when the Obama administration in May 2013 imposed a ban on the distribution of files to print weapons, citing the old law of the Cold War era banning arms exports International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) .
In July 2018, by agreement of the parties, the ban was lifted. In addition, the US Department of Justice agreed to pay all legal costs of the plaintiff and to additionally compensate for the $ 10,000 fee that Defense Distributed had to pay to the State Department as a result of the previous restriction.
It is important that as a result of the agreement, the state recognized that non-automatic firearms up to caliber 0.50, including modern semi-automatic sporting rifles, such as the popular AR-15 rifle and similar firearms, "are not military in nature." Human rights activists consider this not only an important victory for constitutional freedoms and the right to free speech, but also a serious blow to the lobby, which is trying to prohibit citizens from wielding weapons: “For many years, the anti-ganners [ that people are killed by weapons, not other people "- Urban Dictionary] argued that modern semi-automatic sporting rifles are the so-called “weapons of war”, but under this agreement the government recognized that nothing of the kind, ” said SAF founder and executive vice president Alan M. Gottlieb.
But the consequences of such a decision may be unpredictable. On July 30, twenty US states announced a Seattle Federal Court request for a temporary restraining order against Defense Distributed, which had already opened the DEFCAD site (only for American IP) and again began to distribute files for printing weapons.
“After almost 18 months, I was skeptical that this administration [the Trump administration - approx. Lane] is able to do something else that really shocks me, but they did, ” said Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to reporters. “To be honest, it scares ... We believe that it is important to put an end to this immediately and make access to this information as difficult as possible.”
The prosecutor promised to initiate a new lawsuit “within a few hours” (late in the evening of July 30, the lawsuit was filed officially , and a few hours later a temporary restraining order was adopted). Defense Distributed will probably want to force the distribution of files to the states where free distribution of weapons is prohibited. At the very least, the company voluntarily banned access from the IP addresses of the state of Pennsylvania, which made such demands. Non-American IP addresses are also blocked in order to avoid claims of arms exports.
However, the state of Pennsylvania intends to sue Defense Distributed. The company itself filed preemptive lawsuits against the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and the Los Angeles City Attorney to prevent similar claims as from Pennsylvania.
In a joint statement, representatives of 20 US states express the view that the agreement between the State Department and human rights defenders violates the Administrative Procedure Act , as well as the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which allows each state to regulate firearms within its borders.
Cody Wilson said it was too late. He uploaded files to DEFCAD on Friday evening, July 27th. But after adopting a temporary ban on July 31, he had to delete the files again.
