BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed today filed a motion in federal court in Texas seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to prevent enforcement of a new law that they believe is a direct infringement of their First Amendment rights.
On Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 2465, which is specifically aimed at censoring SAF and Defense Distributed, violating their First Amendment rights under color of law. During a press conference, Grewal acknowledged that this new measure was designed to prevent publication of instruction codes that would explain how to produce a firearm with a three-dimensional printer.
The motions were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. It is part of a broader civil rights action against several governors, attorneys general and other government officials that was brought by SAF and Defense Distributed.
“We’ve had to take this extraordinary step to defend our First Amendment rights because Attorney General Grewal has literally threatened to ‘come after’ us, or anyone else, who is ‘contemplating making a printable gun,’” explained SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Grewal and the governor aren’t merely trying to stop what people do, now they’re also trying to dictate what people think. That amounts to extremism on steroids.”
The complaint was filed in Texas, Gottlieb noted, because that’s where Defense Distributed is located.
“Defense Distributed had reached a settlement with the government on this issue,” he said, “but various state attorneys general quickly tried to interfere. New Jersey is carrying this nonsense one step further by attempting to censor the company and the foundation. We are hopeful that the federal court quickly intervenes and stops this Orwellian behavior.
“This isn’t about guns,” Gottlieb added, “it’s about information and ideas, and the right of a free society to share that knowledge without fear of demagoguery by government officials who want people to live in their bubble.”