When is a 3D-printed gun file protected speech? That’s a hard question to answer, but according to the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals,...

When is a 3D-printed gun file protected speech? That’s a hard question to answer, but according to the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, not when such a file is distributed in the state of New Jersey. On February 12, the 3rd Circuit  Court unanimously ruled in the case Defense Distributed v. Attorney General of New Jersey a lower court decision throwing out the challenge to a state law that criminalizes the distribution of certain digital instructions or code that can be used to 3D-print firearms to unlicensed individuals was the correct decision. At issue is a 2018 cease-and-desist letter from New Jersey’s attorney general to Texas-based Defense Distributed citing public nuisance and negligence laws after the...