Defense Distributed

Defense Distributed is an online, open-source hardware and software organization that develops digital schematics of firearms in CAD files, or "wiki weapons", that may be downloaded from the Internet and used in 3D printing or CNC milling applications. Among the organization's goals is to develop and freely publish firearms-related design schematics that can be downloaded and reproduced by anyone with a 3D printer or milling machine, facilitating the popular production of homemade firearms.

The company is best known for developing and releasing the files for the Liberator, the world's first completely 3D printed gun. On May 5, 2013, Defense Distributed made these printable STL files public, and within days the United States Department of State demanded they be removed from the Internet, citing a violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

On May 6, 2015, Defense Distributed, joined by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), filed Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dept. of State in the Western District of Texas, leading the State Department to eventually offer a settlement in 2018. On July 27, 2018, Defense Distributed released ten CAD files to the public domain at DEFCAD before a federal judge in Washington State enjoined the settlement in Defense Distributed I. On April 27, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction, and ordered the district court to dismiss the suit challenging the settlement. Shortly thereafter, Defense Distributed again released its library of files to the public domain. Multiple federal and state lawsuits are pending which challenge the legality and of this settlement, and the protected speech content of 3D printable gun files.