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| Defense Distributed Sues New Jersey, Los Angeles Over Legal Threats |
| 2018-07-30 |
| h/t Instapundit [Reason] Defense Distributed, founded by Cody Wilson, provides the means for people to make weapons at home via software and 3D-printing and milling machines. Today that company, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, has sued the attorney general of New Jersey and the city attorney of Los Angeles. Gurbir S. Grewal, the attorney general of New Jersey, sent a threatening letter to Defense Distributed last week that claimed the company's "plans to allow anyone with a 3D printer to download a code and create a fully operational gun directly threatens the public safety of New Jersey's residents....Posting this material online is no different than driving to New Jersey and handing out hard-copy files on any street corner." Grewal ordered the company "to cease and desist from publishing printable-gun computer files for use by New Jersey residents....Should you fail to comply with this letter, my Office will initiate legal action barring you from publishing these files before August 1, 2018." Defense Distributed's legal right to post its information was won by the company via settlement this month after a long legal battle with the federal government. Before that settlement, the feds essentially wanted to treat the act of hosting or distributing such files as illegal arms exporting. Defense Distributed informed Grewal on Friday that "all actions contemplated by Defense Distributed are fully protected by the First Amendment, and [Grewal's] attempts to prevent such actions constitute an unconstitutional prior restraint and otherwise violate the United States Constitution and the New Jersey Constitution." It reinforced that argument with today's suit against Grewal and Michael Feuer, city attorney of Los Angeles, who issued a similar threat against Wilson's company last week. The lawsuit calls the officials' efforts "an ideologically-fueled program of intimidation and harassment." |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #8 A decent 3D printer costs roughly the same as a handgun. As others have said, you don't need CNC machines to make guns. Or even modern machine tools. Back in colonial times, we made guns without a 5-axis Bridgeport mill, guns good enough to kick some British ass. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2018-07-30 11:44 |
| #7 It's a plastic .22 pistol. You can buy 3D printers for as low as $200. Wouldn't be caught dead firing one. Even more interesting is when metallic 3D printers can be bought for $1000 (for the home hobbyist). |
| Posted by: Glerong and Tenille3784 2018-07-30 10:31 |
| #6 A Ghost Gunner computer-controlled mill will cost you around $1600. You can run it off a laptop |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-07-30 10:24 |
| #5 The start up costs are pretty high. But the cost to put out product is very low so you can recoup it fairly quickly. What cracks me up about this is anyone with a metal mill or press can crank out WWII style submachine guns at a high rate of speed for cheap and the instructions are already online. Seems like the left kinda forgot about this in their hysteria. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2018-07-30 09:44 |
| #4 Good point. I wonder what the actual cost of the printer and mill would be. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2018-07-30 09:07 |
| #3 They don't object to guns, AC - they object to white privilege. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2018-07-30 08:30 |
| #2 and 3D-printing and milling machines. And exactly how many homes are equipped with such machinery, and at what cost? A rebirth of the "Know Nothing" party. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2018-07-30 08:17 |
| #1 A lot of this crap would go away if and when a real DoJ indicts pols for conspiracy to deny citizens of their Constitutional rights. Office doesn't give you immunity to strip citizens of those fundamental rights. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-07-30 06:49 |