After a years-long hiatus, news just dropped in one of the major legal skirmishes. The Third Circuit threw out a challenge to New Jersey's file-sharing ban on Thursday. Just before that, California sued our guest for publishing gun files on the open internet.

That guest is Florida gun-rights lawyer Matt Larosiere. He joins the show to explain California's claims against him as well as the federal lawsuit he filed against California in Florida.

Larosiere accused California of filing suit for purely political reasons. He argued the state's claims are weak and its demand for nearly $8 million in damages is absurd. He claimed the state is effectively trying to impose its will on other states, even though neither he nor the other defendants ever went to California or intentionally shared information with anyone there.

He believes the Constitution is clear that gun designs and files are protected speech. Even if you drill down into more technical computer code associated with 3D printing of guns, Larosiere argued those files are protected by the First Amendment as well. That's why he was hopeful the test the Third Circuit created for judging the nexus between gun files and the First Amendment would actually help his case, despite that court ultimately dismissing a claim against New Jersey's file-sharing ban.

Special Guest: Matt Larosiere.

To do that, we have the Independence Institute's David Kopel on the show. Kopel has written extensively on gun policy and been cited repeatedly at the Supreme Court. So, there are few people better qualified to dissect what the VanDerStok ruling means.

Kopel argued the decision upholding the ATF's "ghost gun" kit ban is relatively narrow, but still likely applies to more than just the Polymer80 "buy build shoot" kits discussed at length by the majority. He also explained why the majority decided the case as a facial challenge and why he, along with Justices Thomas and Alito, disagrees with the use of that standard.

He said the Trump Administration could have tried to intervene in this case, but didn't move fast enough. However, he argued that it can still try to undo the rule despite the decision. Kopel also gave his view on where the balance of the court lies on gun issues and whether there's a reliable way to read what they might do with other pending gun cases.

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Special Guest: David Kopel.

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Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University, joins the show to give us his insight into this case and the Court's recent uptick in gun cases.

He argued that the Court's acceptance of two cases challenging ATF administrative power alongside an NRA First Amendment case and an actual Second Amendment case should be read as an increased appetite for gun cases. He noted that the Supreme Court has actually been taking fewer and fewer overall cases in recent years but more and more gun-related ones. He doesn't think that can be brushed aside, even if most of the cases don't deal with Second Amendment claims.

Still, Professor Adler said he isn't confident the Court will side with the gun-rights plaintiffs in the so-called ghost gun case. He argued the way they intervened in the lower court case to issue stays on multiple rulings against the ATF should be read as tell for where the justices plan to go on the merits. He said a move like that might be more predictive of intent than most stays issued by federal courts.

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Special Guest: Jonathan H. Alder.

That's why we've brought Rob Picus on the show. Rob is one of the key organizers behind the gunmakers match, a shooting competition for people who build their own firearms. He has become engrained in the homebuilding community.

He said companies that make 80 percent frames or receivers have begun to test the new legal landscape. At least one company has made the unserialized and unfinished parts available for sale apart from the jigs and drill bits needed to finish them. Since the ATF rule considers the parts being sold alongside what's required to build them into a working gun the same as selling a working gun, the strategy to remain compliant appears to just be selling everything separately.

Rob said Polymer80, one of the market's biggest companies, is also moving towards selling unfinished receivers on their own. Still, there are a lot of unanswered questions with potentially disastrous consequences for anyone who answers wrong. Rob explains the potential pitfalls.

He also gives his view of the state of the effort to reform the NRA from the inside. Rob is a board member of Save the Second, which was formed to try and oust current NRA leadership and impose new internal controls after accusations of financial impropriety began hounding the gun-rights group. However, he admitted the reform movement has been much less successful than he'd initially hoped as this week's news that dissident board member Philip Journey is not being renominated for this year's ballot by his fellow board members.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss how California and New York are pushing back against the Supreme Court's gun-carry ruling.

Special Guest: Rob Pincus.

Wilson is a pioneer in 3D-printed guns having developed the first prototype called The Liberator. His Ghost Gunner mini-CNC machine is among the popular ways to finish the unfinished gun receivers commonly available on the market.

As such, he read through the entire 364-page final guidance on the new ban from the ATF. We discuss the ins and out of what exactly is illegal now, how that will impact the firearms industry, and some of the surprises in the final regulation.

Wilson says he feels the regulations are unjust and unconstitutional. He said he plans to file suit against the administration over the changes. 

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I talk about what we've found out about President Biden's new ATF director nominee Steve Dettelbach.

Special Guest: Cody Wilson.

In fact, he and his company have even focused on making some of that technology more common. Defense Distributed is now selling the third iteration of its "ghost gunner" mill. The miniaturized CNC machine can finish AR-15 receivers from blocks that are about 80 percent finished.

And, now, it can do even more. It can actually take a raw brick of metal and turn it into a part necessary to make a receiver. They call it a zero percent lower.

I saw the mill in action at SHOT Show 2022 and Cody describes the inspiration behind the latest project. The ATF has proposed a federal rule change that would expand its authority to determine what constitutes a firearm receiver and, therefore, who would have to obtain a license to make and sell them alongside serializing the guns and keeping records on who buys them. The new rule would allow the agency to determine a wide scoop of unfinished gun parts are "readily convertible" to finished receivers, but the agency said it does not plan to try and regulate raw metal blocks.

That's the point where Wilson said he saw an opportunity to get ahead of the regulation even before its finalized. And the zero percent project was born from that idea. Now, the company has successfully created and rolled out a design to consumers.

Still, Wilson faces significant legal battles across the country over state and federal attempts to block either the manufacture of personal firearms or even block sharing plans for how to make them. He provides an update on the state of the multiple lawsuits Defense Distributed is still embroiled in.

He also addresses why he decided to retake such a public-facing role at the company after he pled guilty to a crime resulting from him paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl, especially given the concerns unserialized guns are often used by criminals. Wilson said being the public face of the company is dangerous and he wasn't willing to have others take his place in that role.

Plus, Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman and I discuss San Jose's first-of-its-kind attempt to force gun owners to pay an annual tax and acquire liability insurance.

Special Guest: Cody Wilson.