(2nd part)

But, says SAF, when in June 2013 Defense Distributed submitted various
published files relating to a machine called the Ghost Gunner to the
DDTC, it was told that the machine doesn’t fall under ITAR, but that the
software and files are subject to State Department jurisdiction.

“Defense Distributed appears to be caught in what seems to be a
bureaucratic game of merry-go-round,” says Gottlieb. “We’re compelled to
file this action because the bureaucracy is evidently playing games and
it’s time for these agencies to behave.”

It’s hard to see how preventing the publication of blueprints denies
anybody the right to bear arms: there are plenty of other ways to
acquire a gun in the US, after all. The complainants may be on firmer
ground with their assertion that they’ve been denied due process,
however, as the whole saga has been vague and open-ended.

At the heart of the case, though, is the free speech argument. While the
government appears to be categorizing the blueprints as weapons, Cody
and his team claim they’re speech.

It’s an argument that’s been played out before: twenty years ago, the
State Department was defeated in court after attempting to use ITAR in a
similar way to prevent the online publication of encryption tools. And
while the law was then changed to protect ITAR from being ruled
unconstitutional on first amendment grounds, this doesn’t mean that
individual cases can’t be challenged.

The argument for treating the blueprints as weapons rather than speech
is that, once fed into a 3D printer, they effectively are a gun. This,
though, is to see things very conceptually indeed. In reality, of
course, actually producing a gun this way requires a fair level of craft
as well as, of course, raw materials. And the map is not the territory:
nobody could claim, say, that a bit of your DNA is equivalent to you.

Defense Distributed and SAF are seeking compensation for monetary loss,
as well as an injunction from the court allowing them to place CAD files
and information on their website as ‘educational material’ to be
downloaded for free. If they succeed, the implications could be huge.

Matt:
> ​​
> ​
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2015/05/07/3d-printed-gun-designer-takes-aim-at-state-department/
>
> ​----
>
> The inventor of the 3D printed gun, Cody Wilson, is fighting back against
> the State Department with a lawsuit alleging violation of first amendment
> rights.
>
> The suit
> <http://www.scribd.com/doc/264435890/Defense-Distributed-et-al-v-U-S-Dept-of-State>,
> filed by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Wilson’s firm Defense
> Distributed, alleges prior restraint by the government over the online
> publication of blueprints and other information related to the
> three-dimensional printing of arms.
>
> Two years ago, Wilson posted the instructions for making the Lilerator, the
> world’s first 3D-printed plastic gun. Days later, the State Department
> ordered him to remove them, claiming that it needed to investigate whether
> he needed a license for export of defense articles.
>
> Now, though, Defense Distributed and SAF are claiming that by invoking
> International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the government is
> violating the First Amendment right to free speech, the Second Amendment
> right to bear arms and the Fifth Amendment right to due process.
>
> “Americans have always been free to exchange information about firearms and
> manufacture their own arms,” says SAF founder and executive vice president
> Alan Gottlieb.
>
> “We also have an expectation that any speech regulations be spelled out
> clearly, and that individuals be provided basic procedural protections if
> their government claims a power to silence them.”
>
> Alan Gottlieb (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
> ITAR covers the export of technical information relating to arms, which
> requires advance authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade
> Controls (DDTC).​
>
>
>
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