#1stAmendment

The ban on the publication of 3D printed firearms blueprints has been extended in a ruling by a federal judge in Seattle. Cody Wilson’s Defense Distributed won the right to publish the plans and files to print weapons back in July, when a federal judge and a number of states moved to block the publication. On Monday 27th August the Court placed a Preliminary Injunction on publication of the files essentially extending the ban on publication as the case against Wilson progresses.

The State Department is considering expanding rules to prevent US manufacturers, or US citizens, from publishing unclassified technical information relating to the manufacture of any weapons, including firearms and ammunition. If the information is distributed in anyway that a non-citizen could access it (which essentially means any transmission of the information to the general public even if the information never leaves the USA) it would need to be first cleared first by the State Department. Publishing includes, but not limited to, blog posts, posting comments on blogs, gun forums, in books, on DVDs and on Youtube.