SAF, Defense Distributed Add More Defendants to First Amendment Lawsuit

Press release:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed have amended their lawsuit to include four more state and local officials, 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 earlier this summer.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, now names New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas Wolf, Delaware Attorney General Matthew Denn, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, along with original defendants, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and L.A. City Attorney Michael Feuer. A settlement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. Justice Department ending a lengthy legal action that would have allowed the Texas-based firm to post its 3-D printing information online, as of Aug. 1.

But the defendants, according to the amended complaint, “are so eager to abridge the Second Amendment’s right to keep and bear Arms that they are willing abridge the First Amendment as a means of doing so.”

“Under the color of state law, the Defendants are denying us our civil and constitutional rights by waging a coordinated and politically‑fueled campaign to censor Defense Distributed,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.

“What these public officials are attempting is an unconstitutional exercise of prior restraint,” he added. “They are trying to prevent Defense Distributed and its founder, Cody Wilson, from exercising free speech.”

Wilson and SAF had been engaged in a lawsuit against the government for preventing the online publication of the 3-D technology. But when the settlement was announced earlier this year, the officials named in the complaint launched an effort to block it from taking effect.

“This has turned into a classic First Amendment case,” Gottlieb said. “Only because this case involves technical information on production of firearm components on a 3-D printer have these anti-rights officials acted to squelch it. We cannot allow this to happen.”

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.