Judge extends 3-D gun blueprint ban until case is resolved

A federal judge in Seattle has issued a preliminary national injunction blocking a website from offering 3-D-printer gun blueprints until the case is resolved in court.

Judge Robert S. Lasnik of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington had granted a temporary restraining order on July 31, 2018. That order was set to expire tomorrow, as he considered arguments made by 19 states that asked for an injunction, and the Justice Department, which felt it wasn’t needed.

While Lasnik acknowledged there were considerable First Amendment questions related to the case, he added that “the Court finds that the irreparable burdens on the private defendants’ First Amendment rights are dwarfed by the irreparable harms the States are likely to suffer if the existing restrictions are withdrawn and that, overall, the public interest strongly supports maintaining the status quo through the pendency of this litigation.”