blog
The 80 Percent ATF Lawsuits
September 30, 2020
Legion,
There are now two federal APA lawsuits challenging the way the ATF classifies unfinished receivers. The first was brought last month by Everytown in New York, and the second was brought yesterday by Giffords in San Francisco.
We should probably expect a third.
These suits attempt to do the same things, which are: 1) get a federal judge to declare all ATF 80% classification letters and manufacturing guidance illegal, and 2) start a new APA rulemaking process based on Everytown and Giffords’ preferred definition of a firearm (read: anything that can become a firearm is now a firearm).
The plaintiffs have no standing to sue the ATF, but as we have seen in the New York case, the agency itself is actually a willing and complicit party. Motivated agents within ATF supplied the record Everytown and Giffords needed to make their complaint, and the agency’s attorneys have declined to dismiss or challenge the plaintiffs’ standing.
You mean the plaintiffs, the defendants, and the judges are all on the same side?
Yes. These are mock actions dressing up a Bloomberg rewrite of your 2A literally coordinated by a buttmad ATF and DOJ.
DD v. Grewal (5th Cir. & 3rd Cir.)
August 25, 2020
Legion,
You may have heard the Fifth Circuit recently reversed the district court in our Texas case against Gurbir Grewal and will allow our First Amendment suit against his wretched state laws to proceed. That opinion is below.
The Third Circuit held out for that decision in the Fifth and then issued a divided panel decision trying to get us to go away. I don’t think we’ll be making it that easy for them.
In the above opinion, note the ten page dissent. It is a good guide for the circus New Jersey is putting us through.
I’d also recommend you check out professor Blackman’s latest article on our legal efforts. This can be found here.
Regarding the Blue State Tax we announced last month, this is now official DD policy. Until New Jersey residents can keep their government to themselves, they will pay the tax.
If you would like to support this litigation, please join LEGIO.
DD v. Washington (9th Cir.) Dismissed
July 22, 2020
A one paragraph order from our panel in the Ninth Circuit.
Upon a review of the record, the briefing on the motion to dismiss, and the responses to the court’s June 19, 2020 order, we conclude that these appeals are moot because no present controversy exists as to which any effective relief may be granted to appellants.
This two-year railroading began with liberal attorneys general finding a liberal judge to illegally give them the standing to strip away our legal victory in Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dep’t. of State. When we appealed this obvious misuse of the forum, we learned that we were the ones that didn’t have the standing to bring a case. Funny how that works.
Of course we will now appeal to the entire Ninth Circuit, but further comment is now warranted.
The Liberator files were published seven years ago. They are still online at DEFCAD and anywhere else you care to look. We created Ghost Gunner to finance the supposed access every American has to the federal courts. Yet in these seven years the merits of our cases have never been heard. District judges invariably kick the can through procedural conceits and appellate panels delay and defer, refusing to review plain legal error made in open view. The SCOTUS is no friend. It allows Heller to rot.
This panel’s decision is past contemptible. It is an aggressive dereliction. I’m saying there is more rule of law in China. So on to the next phase of our operations.
I’m tired of paying the expenses Blue Staters have made us incur. In truth, no one in New Jersey deserves a Second Amendment. Neither does anyone in Washington. You’re not using it, and yet you make those of us working in Texas pay the highest of prices to advance it.
So if you want the benefits of our efforts, you’ll now pay the tax.
DD v. Washington (9th Cir.) Standing
July 15, 2020
Legionnaires,
The Ninth Circuit has asked DD and SAF to explain just why, after getting fucked by judge Lasnik and half the states in the Union, we would have standing to appeal said fucking. On July 10 we filed the first brief on this question.
I personally enjoy the part where you’re seven years into complex, multi-state litigation and the error accumulates so completely that a new panel of judges asks how it’s even possible that you’re a party to your own federal fist-fucking.
In other news, you’ve likely seen the recent legislative formulations to completely outlaw homemade firearms and the possession of equipment like the Ghost Gunner in the Biden era.
We’ve got this one in the Senate by Menendez and company. Would redefine a firearm to anything that has the platonic potential to become a firearm. Would ban creation of firearms by anyone without FFL.
There are two House bills. One would ban all polymer major components in firearms in the service of fighting “undetectability” (a tactic from 2013), and define a new standard of “traceability” in order to outlaw the private, home production of all firearms. The other bans the Ghost Gunner, the common drill press, and whatever would take their place in the new regime.
The Anglo-American traditions of the republican riflemen, cabined by woke capital. Progress is a 10-day waiting period for your once-a-year permitted purchase of a .22 smart pistol* from the one non-essential gun store in your county.
*smart pistol here means an IoT ERPO-delivery and surveillance device which can be disabled based on social credit score and household voice recordings.
If you would like to support this litigation, please join LEGIO.
DD v. Washington (9th Cir.)
May 27, 2020
Legionnaires,
Yesterday DD filed our appellant’s brief in the Ninth Circuit. This is the appeal from the decision in State of Washington v. Dep’t of State et al., No. C18-1115-RSL (W.D. Wash).
You may access the brief below.
The argument will look familiar. The States simply didn’t have standing to bring the challenge. They could not describe a legally cognizable harm. This harm could not be traced to the outcome of DD v. U.S. Dept. of State, and, finally, there is no relief the court could give to possibly redress the harm.
If you would like to support this litigation, please join LEGIO.
State of Washington v. DD and US Dept. of State
May 11, 2020
Legionnaires,
On May 8, DD filed a response to the blue state attempt to dismiss their 2018 action against us and the State Department in Seattle.
A funny thing about this phase of the appeal: Should the states succeed in dismissing the case as moot, our original publication license from the State Department reactivates. As does the modification to the ITAR that allows anyone to share 3D gun data online, unrestricted.
Why would the blue states risk this outcome?
1. They’re hoping no one notices them backing out of the fight
2. They’re more afraid of appellate review in this case than in stopping the dissemination of 3D guns files.
Why would DD fight this motion to dismiss?
1. There is a high likelihood the states will simply sue again when it’s politically convenient. We should definitively remove the jurisdiction question and prevent the states’ game from escaping judicial review.
If you would like to support this litigation, please join LEGIO.
Fifth Circuit Update
May 5, 2020
Legionnaires,
Yesterday the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Defense Distributed v. Grewal, No. 19-50723. You may listen to the recording here.
This morning the Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal with the Ninth Circuit in the most recent ITAR case AG Ferguson and company brought in Washington (State of Washington, et al. v. U.S. Dep’t. of State (W.D. WA), No. 2:20-cv-00111-RAJ). You can review this document below.
Not looking great now for the blue state paradisiacs. Unable to meet their basic obligations as states amid the viral panic, their dream of policing the Internet nationwide is increasingly shown for what it is.
I talk about this a bit in a recent interview with Thaddeus Russell.
If you would like to support this litigation, please join LEGIO.
DD Appellate Actions
April 22, 2020
Legionnaires,
Our many legal actions proceed apace:
In Defense Distributed v. Grewal, No. 1:18-cv-00637-RP (W.D. Tex.) and No. 19-50723 (5th Cir.), the Fifth Circuit has scheduled oral arguments for May 4th. AG Grewal attempted to delay the date with a vague appeal to legal emergencies related to Covid (I have written about this tactic elsewhere), but his request was denied.
The AG of Pennsylvania has presented a bold public stand against DEFCAD’s recent file publication. But in his case against us, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Defense Distributed, No. 2:18-cv-03208-PD (E.D. PA), he has asked for an indefinite delay of proceedings.
What could this mean?
DEFCAD 2020
April 15, 2020
Legionnaires,
Thank you for making DEFCAD’s March relaunch such a success. We’ve signed up thousands of new members and transferred even more files.
It’s a good time to launch a digital product in this country.
You may have seen rumblings online from the nation’s many attorneys general that the operation of our site is somehow illegal. Rest assured that this is rank propaganda meant to produce animal obedience and dissuade the ignorant from pursuing the files.
Publishing the files this way was always an option. We fought it for five years simply on principle. Our patient resistance to this form of distribution was mistaken by Ferguson and his blue state coalition. They developed an entire set of policies upon the belief they had discovered a new form of gun control.
But every US person has the unquestioned right to receive and transmit the files at DEFCAD, including over the Internet. These same attorneys, our nation’s best I am told, have confessed as much in court.
Contract Y and DEFCAD
March 27, 2020
Legionnaires,
I bring you good tidings. As you head into your weekend lockdowns, I’d like to mark a special occasion.
DD resumed shipments of the Ghost Gunner 3 this week. Global supply lines would appear to be stabilizing since February, and DD doesn’t expect further manufacturing interruptions or delays.
And a special note on Contract Y from the Defense (Contributed) days of 2018. I can reveal that contract was for the technology necessary to run an ITAR-compliant file-sharing service. I can reveal this because the contract is now fulfilled, and DEFCAD, the world’s largest firearms repository, has announced its reopening.
March 27 is Goliad day in Texas.
Because we borrow so much from the spirit of those 400 martyred, we thought we’d mark the occasion.
crw
