Defense Distributed Legal Fund

[hso]

Defense Distributed's goal is to defend the 2A by make obtaining a firearm trivial enough that even trying to place restrictions on gun manufacturing becomes useless. Since the government doesn't care for such affrontary as defending the parts of the Constitution they're opposed to they doubled down and are working to suppress the 1st. In this case, demanding that DD take down any and all plans from the internet on printing and milling firearms. DD has taken on the current administration and has sued the State Department and John Kerry challenging them on this very important 2A and 1A issue. Since you're reading this on the internet it is especially important for not just the 2A, but the freedom to communicate, assemble, publish in all the ways we do so in this day and age.

If you click on the "Manifesto" menu item at the group's website, you're taken, somewhat melodramatically, to an essay from the poet John Milton entitled, "Areopagitica: Plea for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing." Preceding any semblance of a free press in England, it, in short, rejects censorship and demands the freedom of the written word. The analogy for Defense Distributed is obvious: Attempting to constrain ideas will always be futile in the long run.

There's another level of depth. Milton was writingn 200 years after the introduction of the printing press, the technology that forced the issue of press freedom. At one point, creating written material took time or a lot of people or both. Then it didn't. At first, the printing press was resource-intensive. Then it wasn't.

See where this is heading? 3D printers are new and clunky and expensive. They're hard to find, even in Manhattan. But that will change, and the idea that is contained in a 3D-printable file will be as impossible to contain as a forbidden text is today. Defense Distributed is, by its existence, hoping to make the same statement that Milton is. Access to printable guns is inevitable, just as access to print once was.

I get their emails and they sent a donation solicitation for the lawsuit so I thought a lot of people might want to kick in $10 or more now that other 2A and civil right heavy weights are supporting DD. Putting the Antis and other control freaks on notice we're not going to faint at the first sign of pressure is important.

I'd like to send an update today about our case in the Fifth Circuit against the State Department, and to ask for your help.

Defense Distributed is a non-profit that has for years struggled against the United States government's unique opposition to our public innovation in support of the Second Amendment and the universal right to bear arms.

Over the last three years, we've pioneered the digital production of arms, miniaturized milling techniques, materials research and landmark legal action in defense of your First and Second Amendment. And our efforts are funded 100% by individual donors and small donations.

Last week DD was joined in court by 16 Congressmen, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, the Cato Institute, and the Madison Society Foundation. These parties filed amicus briefs on our behalf, recognizing that our case is for nothing less than the future of free speech on the Internet, and a fight for the future of the Second Amendment.

For the last three years, DD has managed to fight this fight on its own. This year we were joined by the Second Amendment Foundation, but our effort is becoming much larger and more difficult as the months go on.

To give you some perspective, the NRA plays in important defensive role on the Hill, but that organization spent more than $20 million this last year. For less than 1% of that sum, Defense Distributed has developed fundamental technologies for the 3D printing and milling of arms and their components for the public, permanently publishing our advances and improving the common man's capabilities, while simultaneously fighting in court and continuing to create products like the Ghost Gunner. If the NRA plays defense, DD is trying to play offense-- expanding your franchise. We do a lot more with a lot less.

So I am asking for your help before the end of the year. Will you consider giving at least $10 to our fight? You'd be concretely contributing to new technologies and the future of the Second Amendment, and because we are organized as a non-profit, your contributions can also be treated as tax-deductible.

Donate

I only wanted to ask for support for our legal effort one time this year, and this is it. Let me know if you have any questions about our efforts, and thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

Cody Rutledge Wilson

 

[danez71]

Thanks HSO.


This is a 1st and 2nd Amendment fight that could have a huge impact long term.

 

[barnbwt]

All the ITAR hoopla several months back (and still pending...) stems directly from the administration's attempt to sidestep the law in order to curtail DD's operations. They're 'legit' enough to have attracted some big guns in the form of Gura and others, so I feel they are deserving of our support.

Perhaps more so than many of the local-issue firearms efforts we all support from time to time.

TCB

 

[hso]

This is a 1st and 2nd Amendment fight that could have a huge impact long term.

Precisely!

 

[pjeski]

I'm in

 

[Ryanxia]

Donated. This issue will have far more implications than people realize as metal 3D printers and home CNC machines become more advanced and affordable.

 

[hso]

I'm all for using legal means like this to beat the Antis whenever we can.