Gun Rights Group Seeks Supreme Court Review of New Jersey 3D-Print File Ban
The Second Amendment Foundation asked the Supreme Court to hear a case challenging New Jersey’s law that criminalizes sharing digital files for 3-D-printed firearms.
On Monday, the Second Amendment Foundation submitted a petition for the Supreme Court to review a lawsuit that targets New Jersey’s 2018 statute prohibiting the distribution of digital instructions for 3-D-printed firearms. The law was originally directed at Defense Distributed, which released files enabling home-manufactured guns, after the state’s former attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, warned the company of legal consequences.
SAF argues that the ban infringes on free-speech rights, likening the files to a printed manual on gun building. The petition also asks the Court to resolve a jurisdictional clash between the Third Circuit, which upheld the ban, and the Fifth Circuit, which reversed a lower-court decision and ordered the case returned to New Jersey. The state’s current attorney general, Jennifer Davenport, has not provided a comment. The filing underscores the broader debate over whether software code receives constitutional protection.
Why it matters
The case could set a precedent on whether digital gun-making instructions are protected speech under the First Amendment.
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