This should make them run with scissors, blindfolded and downhill in a forest. You remember the 3D Gun printing outrage and persecution under Obama?
BELLEVUE, WA – The Department of Justice and Second Amendment Foundation have reached a settlement in SAF’s lawsuit on behalf of Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed over free speech issues related to 3-D files and other information that may be used to manufacture lawful firearms.
SAF and Defense Distributed had filed suit against the State Department under the Obama administration, challenging a May 2013 attempt to control public speech as an export under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a Cold War-era law intended to control exports of military articles.
Under terms of the settlement, the government has agreed to waive its prior restraint against the plaintiffs, allowing them to freely publish the 3-D files and other information at issue. The government has also agreed to pay a significant portion of the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees, and to return $10,000 in State Department registration dues paid by Defense Distributed as a result of the prior restraint.
Significantly, the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber – including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms – are not inherently military.
DOJ, Second Amendment Foundation Reach Settlement In Defense Distributed Lawsuit
That is not gonna go well with the Opposition. It will probably take a couple of days for them to process this or even find out about it. Top of my head (IANAL) the silly notion some congresscritter and other politicians had to have AR/AK and similar guns registered under NFA rules just went to the shitcan.
I reckon good legal minds will have more on this and more profound that anything I can come up with.
Did DD ever publish their files in book form?
Years ago, when the government tried to use that same law to suppress PGP (the famous email encryption program), they were defeated when its author published the program text in the form of a printed book. The idea was that judges may not understand software, but they understand that the 1st Amendment protects the publishing of books. So the program was exported in paper form, and then scanned in other countries and posted on the Internet.
Some years later, the same thing was done with the design for a encryption-breaking machine. I still have that book — the only one I have seen published in recent years that is marked “Public domain” rather than “Copyright J. Blow 1984”.
A big part of this is the plan to move most small arms off the Munitions List, so that they aren’t covered by ITAR. That saves lots of small manufacturers a lot of money in state dept. fees every year.
Man if only they didn’t settle, real precedent would make life much easier for anyone working in an industry where literally everything you do or produce can be saddled inder the yoke of itar/ear.