Texan man claims he’s selling 3D-printed gun plans despite court order blocking his company from posting them online

'It is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger,' injunction reads

Cody Wilson says the ruling against his firm is ‘hysterical’ (AFP/Getty Images)

A man from Texas has said his company is selling blueprints for 3D-printed guns online despite a federal order barring his company from posting the designs online until a court case is resolved.

On Monday, US District Judge Robert Lasnik granted a preliminary injunction blocking Cody Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed, from posting the prints online. Mr Lasnik had previously filed a temporary restraining order blocking the designs from being published.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Wilson called the judge’s preliminary injunction “hysterical”, arguing that the ruling had not stopped his ability to sell designs.

“I feel no way that we’ve been interrupted,” he said. He added that it’s not a “suspension of operations but instead an authorisation”.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the US State Department after the federal government agency reached a settlement with Defense Distributed earlier this summer.

The states argued that online access to plastic guns, with no serial number to trace the gun, could be acquired by felons and terrorists and could pose a security risk.

Mr Lasnik wrote in the preliminary injunction that "it is the untraceable and undetectable nature of these small firearms that poses a unique danger".

The injunction continued: “Promising to detect the undetectable while at the same time removing a significant regulatory hurdle to the proliferation of these weapons – both domestically and internationally – rings hollow and in no way ameliorates, much less avoids, the harms that are likely to befall the States if an injunction is not issued.”

Mr Wilson has since argued that blocking him from posting prints online disregards his First Amendment rights.

On Twitter, he wrote “FARCE” along with a screenshot of a section of the preliminary injunction, including the following line: “That right is currently abridged, but it has not been abrogated. Regulation under the AECA [Arms Export Control Act] meant that the files cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States”.

Mr Wilson told reporters that he estimated he had already sold hundreds of designs by the time he attended his press conference on Tuesday.

Mr Wilson’s lawyer, Josh Blackman, told the Texas Tribune that there was no “prohibition on distributing” the designs directly to people in the US.

State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who led the multi-state lawsuit, said he trusts the federal government will hold Mr Wilson "accountable" in a statement to The Independent:

“Because of our lawsuit, it is once again illegal to post downloadable gun files to the internet,” Mr Ferguson said. “I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson, a self-described 'crypto-anarchist', accountable to that law. If they don't, President Trump will be responsible for anyone who is hurt or killed as a result of these weapons.”

Mr Wilson has been in an multi-year legal battle with the federal government since 2013; he manufactured the first fully 3D-printed pistol that year.

During the press conference he said he had previously chosen not to sell designs as he considers himself an “open source activist”.