Can This Lawsuit Overturn California’s 3D-Printed Gun Ban?

In response to the recent signing of AB 1621 into law in California by Governor Gavin Newsom, Pioneers of the 3D Printed Gun, Defense Distributed has filed a pivotal lawsuit.

This lawsuit, Defense Distributed v. Bonta, could set a precedent for regulating privately made firearms, also known as “Ghost Guns.” 

AB 1621 criminalizes the purchase, possession, and use of CNC machines & 3D printers to make a firearm or firearm parts. Defense Distributed’s lawsuit challenges the law under the recent Supreme Court decision, NYSRPA v. Bruen.

In Bruen, the Supreme Court ruled that Second Amendment challenges must be rooted in the amendment’s text, informed by history. In the same ruling, the court struck down the means-end scrutiny test often used by lower courts to uphold State level gun control laws. 

Defense Distributed claims that there is no historical tradition of regulating the tools or parts used to make private arms. This means there is no historical precedent for California’s ban on CNC Machines & 3D Printers.

The Vice President of the Second Amendment Foundation Alan M. Gottleib had this to say: 

“What we’re talking about is a milling process, which is common in modern manufacturing of a wide range of products, including firearm frames and receivers. Despite the long-standing tradition of personal firearms manufacture by private citizens, California has now criminalized the process.”

Additionally, as part of the lawsuit, Defense Distributed also addresses another California law: SB1327.

SB1327 makes any person who challenges California’s gun laws in court liable to pay the state’s attorney’s fees at any stage of the litigation. It’s a law that the American Civil Liberties Union described as using “flawed logic.” 

“California responds to the historic Bruen decision by 1) banning your right to make a gun, and 2) booby-trapping their state courts for anyone who’d dare to ask for it back,” explained Cody Wilson, Founder of Defense Distributed, “Yet another example of liberals shredding the 1st Amendment to deny the 2nd.”

Defense Distributed has an established track record of winning similar cases. In 2018 the Justice Department settled a case with Defense Distributed (Defense Distributed v. United States Department of State), resulting in the publishing of 3D-printed firearms files online.

Defense Distributed & The Second Amendment Foundation are seeking a Federal Court Injunction against the enforcement of the laws (AB 1621 & SB1327). 

Here’s Defense Distributed’s lawsuit against California: