A federal judge's ruling on Monday blocks people from posting 3D-printed gun blueprints online.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik's decision extends a previous temporary restraining order from late July that
prevented the Texas-based nonprofit Defense Distributed from posting 3D-printed gun designs on the Internet. Defense Distributed founder
Cody Wilson has said the decision violated his
First Amendment rights.
The judge's ruling on Monday, however, said that posting 3D-printed weapon plans could cause unspecified "irreparable harms."
"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Amendment rights are dwarfed by the irreparable harms the States are likely to suffer if the existing restrictions are withdrawn and that, overall, the public interest strong supports maintaining the status quo through the pendency of this litigation," Lasnik wrote in his ruling.