Hours after a federal judge forced a group in Texas to remove online blueprints for 3-D printed firearms on Tuesday, gun-rights groups in California said they were publishing the files on a separate website.
The Firearms Policy Coalition and other groups pulled the plans off the website of pro-gun group Defense Distributed before the court order and are now sharing those same files on a new site, said Craig DeLuz, a spokesman for the group.
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Hours after a federal judge forced a group in Texas to remove online blueprints for 3-D printed firearms on Tuesday, gun-rights groups in California said they were publishing the files on a separate website.
The Firearms Policy Coalition and other groups pulled the plans off the website of pro-gun group Defense Distributed before the court order and are now sharing those same files on a new site, said Craig DeLuz, a spokesman for the group.
“This is a free-speech case,” said Mr. DeLuz. “There is no law prohibiting the online publication of this information.”
U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday to eight states seeking to block Defense Distributed from posting the files online, writing that the proliferation of 3-D printed guns would have many negative effects. Defense Distributed complied with the order and pulled its files off its website.
The court case followed a settlement between Defense Distributed and the U.S. State Department that allowed the files to be posted. The State Department had included the design files on a list of munitions subject to export controls, barring their distribution. Defense Distributed fought back in court, arguing among other things that it was violation of free-speech rights. The State Department settled the case, reversing its position and allowing the files to be posted.
Gun-control advocates said the files would enable individuals to avoid background checks by using 3-D printers to make guns at home.
On Tuesday, Judge Lasnik wrote in his seven-page ruling that if an injunction isn’t issued, “the proliferation of these firearms will have many of the negative impacts on a state level that the federal government once feared on the international stage.”
Judge Lasnik wrote that the government “shall preserve the status quo” as if “the modification had not occurred and the letter had not been issued” that allowed Defense Distributed to post the blueprints.
“After yesterday’s order, federal firearm import and export laws once again prohibit the distribution of these downloadable gun files,” said Bob Ferguson, Washington state’s attorney general, who won the order on behalf of the states. “Anyone who posts downloadable guns to the internet is violating federal law.”
Mr. DeLuz said his group wasn’t party to that legal action—and that no law prevents the group from posting the files. “We’re going to dare these eight attorneys general to challenge us,” said Mr. DeLuz.
By the end of the day Wednesday, the California gun-rights groups’ website was offline. Mr. DeLuz said the site was shut down after Amazon Web Services sent a message saying the content wasn’t in compliance with the temporary restraining order.
Amazon declined to comment.
“We will definitely be putting the site back up,” said Mr. DeLuz.
Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com