The plans were downloaded some 100,000 times before the State Department stepped in, telling Mr. Wilson that he was violating export rules governing sensitive military technology. Later, he joined with a gun rights group, the Second Amendment Foundation, to sue the government for violating his free speech rights. The reason for the settlement, the government said, were changes in how the State Department regulates weapons exports. They filed public information requests for details of how the State Department decided to settle but have yet to hear back, they said. The state attorneys general who filed suit in Washington State said that online gun blueprints would complicate enforcement of firearms regulations, which vary from state to state.

Source: New York Times August 27, 2018 17:04 UTC