Last night I joined Garret on YouTube to answer questions concerning DEFCAD in support of victims of domestic FOSS.
One of the questions we take up is: Why does DEFCAD require a membership even though most 3D gun files have free software licenses?
On June 1, 2021, BIS sent Defense Distributed the first and only EAR enforcement letter concerning the 3D gun question since the completion of the Export Control Reform Initiative, the settlement of Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dep’t of State, and the regulatory transfer of firearms technical data from the USML to the CCL in March of 2020.
BIS Compliance Letter (6/9/2021)
So a simple answer. But this little letter hides a lot.
The policy statement in the BIS letter would seem to contradict the reading of 734.7(c) suggested in 85 FR 4172, which provides for a “CAD/CAM distinction” as an answer to the First Amendment questions raised in Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dep’t of State. Everytown, among others, pressured BIS in the spring of 2021 to erase this reading of the CAD/CAM rule, and BIS would eventually bury a contradictory interpretation (now a distinction without a difference) in official online guidance that they’d tweak for weeks. Their May 28, 2021 publication follows:
FAQs for Commerce Cat I-III Firerams Rule
Gun people understand rogue federal agencies can subvert Congress’ legislative power through the process of official rulemaking. This isn’t even that. This is lawmaking by FAQ.
The BIS revisionism in Question 2 of this FAQ is a fun point of departure, for those still interested. It frames the four most fateful weeks in modern guncad. Shall we read it together?
This story about the Ninth Circuit decision (which allowed 3D gun files back on the Internet) is necessary because DEFCAD immediately published, for free, every 3D gun file from across the Internet on April 28th, 2021. And published loudly. You’ve read this newsletter. When DOJ threatened to prosecute Defense Distributed again, we immediately went to court for a TRO.
An excerpt from our emergency injunction request that same week in Texas:
In short, the feds were saying “No, you can’t publish yet.” And so was The Gatalog.
To ensure judicial notice of their public domain status, we included the best of the Gatalog designs in our April re-release of free files. But this was an outrage for which Gatalog high command required payment. And while it may shock modern sensibilities (in 2024 we all know it’s wrong to ask for money for free files), in the wild weeks of May, 2021, free files were pricey things. Just try to remember these were men of their time!
For the FGC-9 Mk II alone, the Director of The Gatalog (then, as now, a little-known figure) demanded a wire payment of $2,500 to his personal shell company. And so this was the price to officially open source the FGC-9 Mk II.
The reader will note I paid for the FGC-9 the day after May 26th, when the Ninth Circuit mandate issued. But it’s also the same day the Gatalog Foundation was formed in Florida. Could these two facts be related?
By June 1st, 2021, DEFCAD went back to a paywall, The Gatalog became a corporation, and BIS would assume jurisdiction of 3D gun files, pretending nothing had happened the previous four weeks.
JStark was dead a month later.
