Enlarge / Software engineer Travis Lerol takes aim with an unloaded Liberator handgun in 2013. (credit: AFP / Getty Images News)

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday against Defense Distributed, the Texas organization that promotes 3D-printed guns, in a lawsuit that it brought last year against the State Department.

In a 2-1 decision, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was not persuaded that Defense Distributed’s right to free speech under the First Amendment outweighs national security concerns.

The majority concluded: