NJ Cease and Desist Letter

State of New Jersey
PHILIP D. MURPHY OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Governor DEPARTMENT OF LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY
DIVISION OF LAW
SHEILA Y. OLIVER PO Box 080 GURBIR S. GREWAL
Lt. Governor TRENTON, NJ 08625-0080 Attorney General
Defense Distributed
2320 Donley Dr., Suite C
Austin, TX 78758
July 26, 2018
To Whom It May Concern:
You are directed to cease and desist from publishing printable-gun computer files for use
by New Jersey residents. The files you plan to publish offer individuals, including criminals,
codes that they can use to create untraceable firearms—and even to make assault weapons that
are illegal in my state. These computer codes are a threat to public safety, and posting them
violates New Jersey’s public nuisance and negligence laws. If you do not halt your efforts to
proceed with publication, I will bring legal action against your company before August 1, 2018.
The computer files that you plan to publish will undermine the public safety of New
Jersey residents. These files allow anyone with a 3-D printer to download your code and create a
fully operational gun. More than that, the codes you plan to post will enable individuals to print
assault weapons that are illegal in New Jersey. And because the printed guns would not have
serial numbers, they would not be traceable by law enforcement. Worst of all, you are going to
make the codes available to everyone—regardless of age, criminal status, or history of mental
illness. That would undermine New Jersey’s comprehensive scheme for keeping guns out of
dangerous criminals’ hands, and it would undermine the safety of our residents.
Not only are your codes dangerous, but posting them would also be illegal. New Jersey’s
law is clear: an individual who interferes with public health, safety, peace, and comfort violates
our public nuisance law. See James v. Arms Tech., Inc., 359 N.J. Super. 291, 329-33 (App. Div.
2003). As New Jersey courts have held, “[n]o one can seriously debate” that regulated guns are
“dangerous instrumentalities” and thus implicate our public nuisance law. Id. at 320. So when a
group of manufacturers “flood[ed] the gun market” through a high volume of sales, while failing
to develop “reasonable safeguards over the distribution scheme” and “refus[ing] to oversee or
supervise the control of handgun distribution in order to prevent the foreseeable channeling of
guns to such an illegal market,” New Jersey courts found they could be held responsible when
their actions “facilitate[d] the illegal sale of weapons to criminals and other unlawful users.” Id.
at 312. That is what your actions will do as well—make do-it-yourself guns available to anyone,
even if the individuals are prohibited from owning guns because of prior convictions, history of
mental illness, or history of domestic violence, even if the weapons they print are illegal in my
Hughes Justice Complex • TELEPHONE: (609) 292-4925 • FAX: (609) 292-3508

New Jersey Is An Equal Opportunity Employer • Printed on Recycled Paper and Recyclable
July 26, 2018
Page 2
state, and even if they plan to use their weapons to further crimes and acts of violence. Because
your actions will flood the illegal firearms market and pose a direct threat to the public safety of
my state, they constitute a public nuisance.
Worse still, your comments make clear that you hope your actions will undermine all the
efforts of states like New Jersey to keep guns out of criminals’ hands. You have stated, “All this
Parkland stuff, the students, all these dreams of ‘common sense gun reforms’? No. The internet
will serve guns, the gun is downloadable.” 1 You have also stated, “I’m not worried about public
safety.” 2 And on July 10, 2018, you tweeted a photo of a gravestone engraved with the words
“American Gun Reform.” 3 These comments show that you have no intention of precluding your
printable-gun computer files, including designs for assault weapons, from winding up in the
hands of criminals, minors, and the mentally ill. Not only does that reveal a lack of regard for
safety, but it also shows that your interference with the public’s health and safety is intentional
and per se unreasonable. James, 359 N.J. Super. at 330.
Finally, your widespread dissemination of printable-gun computer files is negligent

because it encourages an illegal gun market, which will foreseeably lead to increased crime and
violence in New Jersey, and which will lead to an increase in expenditures of public funds for
combatting crime and protecting our resident’s health. See id. at 308-24 (finding a legally valid
negligence claim against same manufacturers of guns that flooded the illegal market). Your
planned method of making codes available and your public comments show that you are ignoring
and violating your duty. By broadly sharing an inherently dangerous product, you should
reasonably foresee the resulting governmental and public costs and must bear them. Id. at 323-
24.
As the chief law enforcement officer for New Jersey, I demand that you halt publication
of the printable-gun computer files. Should you fail to comply with this letter, my Office will
initiate legal action barring you from publishing these files before August 1, 2018.
Sincerely,
Gurbir S. Grewal
Attorney General
1
Andy Greenberg, “A Landmark Legal Shift Opens Pandora’s Box for DIY Guns,” Wired (July 10, 2018), available
at https://www.wired.com/story/a-landmark-legal-shift-opens-pandoras-box-for-diy-guns/.
2
Tess Owen, “Get Ready for the New Era of 3D-Printed Guns Starting August 1,” Vice News (July 18, 2018),
available at https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/ev8xjn/get-ready-for-the-new-era-of-3d-printed-guns-starting-
august-1.
3
Cody R. Wilson (@Radomysisky), TWITTER (July 10, 2018, 12:25 P.M.),
https://twitter.com/Radomysisky/status/1016765282017337344.

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State of New Jersey

PHILIP D. MURPHY OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

To Whom It May Concern:

Hughes Justice Complex • TELEPHONE: (609) 292-4925 • FAX: (609) 292-3508

Finally, your widespread dissemination of printable-gun computer files is negligent

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