Gatalog Sued By California Over 3D Gun CAD Files

California Legal professional Normal Rob Bonta and San Francisco Metropolis Legal professional David Chiu have launched a brand new authorized assault on free speech and the proper to maintain and bear arms, submitting a criticism on February 6, 2026, in San Francisco Superior Courtroom towards the Gatalog Basis Inc., CTRLPew LLC, and people Alexander Holladay (recognized on-line as “CTRL Pew”), Matthew Larosiere (recognized on-line as “Fuddbusters”), and John Elik (recognized on-line as “Ivan The Troll”). The swimsuit targets the distribution of digital information, pc code, and directions for 3D-printing firearms and sure firearm equipment, claiming violations of California Civil Code sections 3273.61 and 3273.625, in addition to the state’s broad Unfair Competitors Regulation (Enterprise & Professions Code § 17200 et seq.).

To gun rights and free speech advocates, this lawsuit represents yet one more overreach by California officers determined to suppress technological innovation and particular person liberty within the face of advancing 3D printing capabilities.

The core allegation is that Gatalog and associated entities make obtainable over 150 designs for “deadly firearms and prohibited firearm equipment” through web sites akin to thegatalog.com and ctrlpew.com, which hyperlink to file-sharing platforms akin to Odysee. Prosecutors even boasted that investigators downloaded information from a San Francisco IP deal with and allegedly constructed a functioning Glock-style handgun.

However what the criticism actually assaults is info; pure speech within the type of code, blueprints, and directions.

Distributing digital information that describe manufacture objects utilizing extensively obtainable instruments is constitutionally protected expression. Code is speech, as federal courts have lengthy acknowledged in instances involving encryption software program and different digital designs. The U.S. Supreme Courtroom has upheld the precept that the First Modification shields expressive conduct, together with the publication of technical knowledge. Makes an attempt to criminalize or enjoin the dissemination of such info echo failed efforts to dam on-line gun blueprints within the 2010s, when states sued to stop Protection Distributed from posting information, efforts that in the end crumbled underneath free speech scrutiny.

California’s legal guidelines at concern prohibit distributing “digital firearm manufacturing code” to unlicensed people and, as of January 1, 2026, knowingly aiding or facilitating the “illegal manufacture of firearms” by unlicensed individuals utilizing 3D printers. These statutes are viewpoint-based restrictions that single out disfavored speech about firearms whereas ignoring related code for different instruments or gadgets. Additionally they run afoul of the Second Modification’s core safety of the proper to own arms for self-defense. The Supreme Courtroom’s Bruen (2022) determination calls for that gun laws be according to historic custom. But, there’s no 1791 or 1868 analog for banning the sharing of producing directions in an period earlier than fashionable manufacturing existed.

The criticism paints a dire image of “ghost weapons” as an escalating disaster, citing recoveries rising from 26 in 2015 to over 11,000 yearly (together with auto-sears) from 2021 to 2025. It claims 3D-printed firearms are “simple to provide” and “absolutely assembled in lower than a day.” But these statistics usually lump collectively traceable and untraceable incidents, and lots of “ghost weapons” are merely selfmade firearms constructed legally by people exercising their rights. Federal knowledge from the ATF reveals ghost gun recoveries rising nationally, however correlation isn’t causation; rising numbers might mirror higher reporting or legislation enforcement focus quite than a direct hyperlink to on-line information.

Extra importantly, the true risk to public security isn’t knowledgeable residents accessing open-source designs; it’s criminals who disregard legal guidelines anyway.

Background checks and serialization necessities goal law-abiding individuals, whereas dangerous actors construct or purchase weapons illegally no matter digital availability. 3D printing empowers people to train self-reliance in manufacturing, very similar to house gunsmithing has for hundreds of years. Banning code doesn’t cease decided criminals; it solely disarms accountable residents who may use such data for lawful functions, akin to prototyping or private protection instruments, in restrictive jurisdictions.

The defendants, successors to teams like Deterrence Disbursed, function as a community-driven effort to democratize entry to firearm data. They promote associated merchandise and solicit donations, actions protected as industrial speech tied to expressive content material. The swimsuit’s alter ego and conspiracy claims seem designed to pierce the veil of restricted legal responsibility and chill affiliation amongst like-minded people.

Matthew Larosiere, an lawyer and authorized commentator recognized on-line as “Fuddbusters,” instructed AmmoLand that California’s lawsuit hinges on a basically flawed premise:

“California’s hook seems to be ‘The Gatalog Basis LLC,’ they usually tie all of the named Defendants to it, and allege the Basis is accountable, not directly, for all their woes. There may be one downside with this. The Gatalog Basis is an entity I based with the intent to make a publication about gunsmithing. That by no means occurred. The thought stalled, and the publication by no means left the starting stage. The Basis beforehand had a checking account with $4 in it, which was closed attributable to inactivity. One other entity sued the Basis up to now, however dropped all claims towards the Basis once they discovered that the Basis was nothing greater than a stalled prospect of a interest journal. Once more, this may have been apparent to California if that they had bothered to do any type of cheap pre-suit investigation.”

This case suits a sample of California officers focusing on 3D gun innovators. Previous fits towards Protection Distributed and others sought to dam the distribution of information, usually failing on jurisdictional or constitutional grounds. By framing code as “facilitation” of crime, the state makes an attempt an finish run round First Modification protections, much like how some jurisdictions have sought to carry platforms accountable for user-generated content material.

Professional-2A advocates see this as an existential combat: If governments can ban the sharing of producing knowledge, what’s subsequent, prohibiting books on gunsmithing, CNC milling tutorials, and even chemistry texts for reloading? The precise to maintain and bear arms contains the sensible capability to accumulate and keep them, which, within the digital age, encompasses info on lawfully produce them.

The criticism seeks a everlasting injunction, civil penalties, and different aid to close down these operations. Supporters of liberty hope the court docket acknowledges this as censorship dressed as public security. The combat over 3D-printed firearms isn’t nearly plastic weapons; it’s about whether or not People retain the liberty to innovate, share data, and defend themselves with out authorities gatekeepers deciding what info is simply too harmful.

In an period when expertise empowers people, California’s newest salvo threatens to tug the First and Second Amendments into the Stone Age. The Gatalog case may set a harmful precedent, but when historical past is any information, courts will in the end maintain that code is speech and that the proper to arms can’t be nullified by banning bytes.

Robert Cekada Poised to turn out to be Subsequent ATF Director After Affirmation Listening to

Protection Distributed Wins A Preliminary Injunction In opposition to ATF’s “Ghost Gun” Rule

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA teacher and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed individuals from all walks of life, and on the Structure. John lives in Northern Virginia along with his spouse and sons, observe him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.