On December 4th, 2018, Defense Distributed filed an emergency motion in Texas for a temporary restraining order against the state of New Jersey in response to Senate Bill #2465, which criminalizes online speech related to the manufacture of firearms. This was the second such filing we have attempted in as many months.
Today, the presiding judge in our case again abstained from ruling on the motion and left our company exposed and in jeopardy of total shutdown at the whims of a backwards political class in New Jersey.
The temporary restraining order motion may be viewed here.
Defense Distributed has for over a month been trying to block a new and dangerous law (Section 3(l)(2)) in SB 2465 which was built to make our entire company and all our internet activities illegal.
SB 2465 is not just an attempt to make downloading firearms-related files illegal within the state of New Jersey, it is a hilarious attempt to make *any* website in the world hosting such files illegal if someone from New Jersey can find *any* way to access it. Or at least this would be hilarious if the federal judiciary wasn’t totally spineless.
More than the attempt to censor the entire Internet by mere state law, the statute makes it illegal to “share” and “offer” and “distribute” files from person to person via any means, not just the Internet. DEFCAD is now down again because of this outright and strict liability ban on advertising and mailing digital files. No judicial power will yet assist us.
New Jersey can sue us in federal court in WA and say DD has the right to mail files to users of DEFCAD, while it can sue us in state court under the theory that mailing or sending files to residents of their state violates public nuisance law. All the while, they can create and attempt to enforce a new criminal law that makes it a felony advertise or offer our sites or files on the Internet.
If you are reading this message and from or in New Jersey, know that if we simply showed you a link to a working DEFCAD marketplace, or emailed you about the same, we would all now face criminal liability.
We will be making updates on this situation here. Please Join LEGIO to support us in our efforts.
