A Texas-based business is prohibited from marketing and selling in California a computer-controlled cutting device that is intended to produce anonymous “ghost guns,” according to a judge in the San Diego Superior Court’s ruling, which is the second major victory for San Diego County in the early stages of its lawsuit against the business.
The county sued Defense Distributed and a number of related companies for illegally marketing and selling the device in California under the name” Coast Runner” and slapping a new name and paint job on the” Ghost Gunner” milling machine, which is prohibited from being sold in California.
The region claimed that “gun violence is roiling the country,” as evidenced by the claim that “ghost weapons like those that can be produced using the Coast Runner can be used to create it.”
Judge Loren Freestone confirmed on Thursday that his initial order, which he made last month, had granted the county’s request for a preliminary injunction. In the meantime, the lawsuit’s outcome prevents Defense Distributed from selling or marketing the Coast Runner and any other substantially comparable ( computer-controlled ) milling machine in California.
In his decision, Freestone wrote that” The Citizens have demonstrated that Defendants have good attempted to escape the law by largely rebranding the Ghost Gunner as the Coast Runner.” The Coast Runner and The Devil Gunner both have a similar title, as well as a similar construction, pieces, and features. The Coast Runner’s guide also makes allusion to the Devil Gunner by using the letters “GG,” and the driver’s manual for the two items is also remarkably similar.
County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who has fought for gun-safety regulations, called the initial order” a huge step forward in our fight to keep ghost gun manufacturers responsible for choosing profit over open safety.”
A request for comment on the court’s decision was not responded to by Defense Distributed’s counsel, nor did Ghost Gunner Inc. and Coast Runner Industries Inc.
The county’s first significant legal defeat in 11 months after it filed the lawsuit in partnership with Giffords Law Center, the constitutional finger of the gun control advocacy group named after former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot and wounded in a mass shooting and assassination attempt during a public speaking event. Pro bono, the county is represented by attorneys from Giffords Law Center and Sullivan &, Cromwell.
A federal judge in San Diego ruled in October that the defendants ‘ request to move the case to a Texas court was also remanded to San Diego Superior Court, where the county had filed the case for the first time.
The defendants then filed a lawsuit against Defense Distributed under California’s anti-SLAPP laws, contending that the county’s lawsuit was unlawful retaliation for bringing federal court case against the state and for using its First Amendment right to free speech through political advocacy. However, Freestone rejected that motion in February, stating that the county’s lawsuit did not result from the defendants ‘ political advocacy or prior litigation.
All of that led to the preliminary injunction decision, which the judge determined determined that the county “demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits” of its claims.
In its lawsuit, the county claimed that Coast Runner Industries, which was established shortly after Defense Distributed lost a federal lawsuit in October 2022, is “merely an alter ego of Ghost Gunner Inc. and Defense Distributed.” The lawsuit had challenged the California law that forbids the sale and promotion of CNC-milling machines, which are primarily used to make firearms.
The judge acknowledged the county’s claim by noting that Coast Runner was also incorporated by the two founders of Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner shortly after Defense Distributed lost its federal lawsuit. Coast Runner marketing materials also clearly identified its connections to Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner, Freestone wrote, adding that” the timing reasonably suggests that Coast Runner was intended as an end-run around the law.”
According to Freestone,” The Ghost Gunner website also indicated that Californians would receive a Coast Runner in place of a Ghost Gunner.” They are reasonably connected to the product’s sale and distribution, they say.
The defendants argued in his ruling that the Coast Runner device was not specifically intended for the manufacture of firearms because it was classified by the United States Department of Commerce as a general-purpose machine. The judge ruled that the Ghost Gunner is also classified in that way and that there is no real dispute that it was made for the production of firearms.
The defendants also argued that the Second Amendment does not apply to the state laws they are accused of violating. The judge determined that the California statutes prohibiting CNC milling machines likely do not violate the Second Amendment in part because the Coast Runner is not an “arm” protected by that statute.
Freestone wrote,” It is not a weapon by itself.” Instead, it can be used to create a particular weaponry type.
Ghost guns can be used to describe weapons that have been created by hand from parts in a prepackaged kit, as well as from a 3D printer, a CNC milling machine, or in a 3D printer. They lack serial numbers, which makes them difficult for law enforcement to track, and make them attractive to criminals or other gun owners.
The county claimed in its lawsuit that California’s increase of ghost guns has been alarming. According to a 2023 report from the California Office of Gun Violence Prevention, it claimed that in 2015, California authorities recovered 26 ghost guns in connection with crimes, but by 2022 that figure had soared to 12, 894.
The injunction ruling was praised by Esther Sanchez-Gomez, the Giffords Law Center’s litigation director, as a “major victory for gun safety” and Californians.
Sanchez-Gomez stated in a statement that” we look forward to making the injunction issued today permanent.”
The county’s lawsuit filed last year was its first civil lawsuit of its kind brought by it since the Board of Supervisors made a decision to sue gun owners in 2022.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2025.
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