Some People Are Making Guns With 3D Printers. A New Law Seeks to Cancel Their Print Jobs
Some People Are Making Guns With 3D Printers. A New Law Seeks to Cancel Their Print Jobs
Publish Date: 2026-06-13 07:48:00
Source Domain: www.usnews.com
A first-of-its-kind law in New York could force 3D printers sold for homes and business to come equipped with technology blocking them from making guns.
The new requirement, also under consideration in California, attempts to thwart the latest technique for producing untraceable “ghost guns” that have turned up in crimes. But there are questions about whether the technology can work and concerns about its affect on personal privacy and constitutional rights.
About one-third of U.S. states already have taken steps to ban or regulate build-it-yourself firearms that lack serial numbers and evade the background checks required to purchase guns from federally licensed dealers. What makes the new effort unique is that it targets the equipment used to produce the firearms, not the people who make them.
The blocking technology being pushed in two of the nation’s most populous states has the potential to set industry standards for 3D printers. It also could serve as a model for other Democratic-led states wanting to add to their gun regulations, which often already ban certain semiautomatic weapons and allow firearms to be temporarily confiscated from people deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others.
More privately made guns are being used in crimes
Three-dimensional printers have become increasingly common over the past couple of decades.
Since 2012, the number of 3D printers worldwide has grown from an estimated 30,000 to over 3 million while the industry’s value has multiplied from around $2 billion to $26 billion annually, said Bill Decker, executive chairman of the Association of 3D Printing. Though high-end printers cost thousands of dollars, some 3D printers now can be bought for as little as several hundred dollars.
The devices can make toys, prosthetic limbs and even airplane parts. They also can make firearms — or the pieces necessary to assemble them — using digital designs available online. Homemade guns that lack serial numbers often are…
