“Ghost guns,” underage sex, and the First Amendment: Defense Distributed’s legal saga

Enlarge / DefDist's Paloma Heindorff holds up the letter from the Department of State that started it all. (credit: Defense Distributed)

Plenty has happened since Ars last took a moment to outline the legal mishegas involving Defense Distributed, its founder Cody Wilson, and the future of 3D-printed guns.

After a surprising settlement with the Department of Justice in summer 2018 ended a five-year legal battle, Defense Distributed finally had the go-ahead to legally publish its 3D-printable firearms CAD files online. Wilson initially announced the files would be restored on August 1, 2018-but he put them up early, on July 27.

Within days, several US states sued to stop the distribution. On July 31, a federal judge in Seattle granted a "temporary restraining order" (TRO) preventing Defense Distributed from further publishing its 10 firearms files. Wilson and Defense Distributed complied.

Read 53 remaining paragraphs | Comments