They should just require all ammunition to have serial numbers etched into the casing and the slug. When ammo is purchased, it is attached to an ID. People keep their ammo locked up to avoid being framed. People can shoot the ammo with any homemade contraption they want. Problem solved - until people learn to make their own ammo. Obviously possible for shotgun shells, but maybe not feasible for accurate rifling bullets.
this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
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This goes way, way beyond 'guns.' It is an assault on property rights and freedom of expression as concepts generally. It would fully outlaw Free Software firmware (which is what the entire 3D printer hobby, having started with the RepRap project, is based on!). It would cut the Maker movement as a whole off at the knees.
It's absolute tyranny in ways entirely unrelated to guns themselves.
"might stop anyone from 3D printing guns"
I can guarantee you that it won't even do that.
It's like making a normal printer that's mandated by the government to never print dicks
It absolutely will not stop some people. But those are not the ones committing gun crimes
A "ghost gun" is any gun without a serial number.
So you have to ban more than the 3D printer data files.
You will need to ban metal files as well. That's how real ghost guns are made.
They'll get there. They hate the idea of individual people being able to make things for themselves or having any other escape from consumer serfdom.
I'm no gun person, but you could easily make a gun on a lathe or a mill drill, too. Get a CNC one and you don't even need to know how to use them.
Are we going to start fitting them with "you might be making a gun" detectors, too? Of course not.
Edit: Turns out they are... I choose to blame my ignorance on the paywall.
Are we going to start fitting [CNC lathes and mills] with “you might be making a gun” detectors, too? Of course not.
I've got some bad news for you about just how fucked-up these proposed laws actually are.
I'm pretty sure the law says any machine that takes sets of automated instructions, which includes CNC cutters and lathes
You absolutely need to know how to use any machine tool. You can't just download a file to a CNC mill and have it spit out a gun. I worked as a machinist when I was in college, it takes a lot of skill and talent to setup a CNC to make parts.
I know. I meant relative to using a manual machine.
You could make the same argument for 3D printers.
You can't load a file on a 3d printer and print a gun either...
On top of that, making a firearm is %100 legal.
Not in some jurisdictions. Know your local laws!
Yes it is 100% legal, I've done it myself. And there are actually single shot pistols you can download and print.
I'm not in anyway in favor of the legislation, just pointing out that machining a functioning anything isn't as easy as you said.
It's not 100% legal in some places. Know your local laws!
Have you tried using an agentic AI?
Because people are already doing exactly that.
They're using agentic ai to autonomously program, physically setup and gauge, and then run parts? Where are they doing this and who are "people"?
Idk when you were in college, but tormach has come a long way with automation. It wouldn't surprise me if someone had automated paths & tool changes and was able to pump out gun parts without much human intervention.
Once the machine is set up yes, they can absolutely do that. That's how they're manufactured for the most part.
But the idea that any untrained, inexperienced person has the ability to physically setup, make jigs, indicate in said jigs, make a cad file, turn it into a cam program, load it into a machine, indicate in the stock, select the correct tooling and set it up, etc, etc, etc... It's a magnitude more difficult than 3d printing, and the machines that do that kind of fully automated work costs in the millions.
Honestly, the only difference would be the jigs and clamping, and making sure the tools are in the correct loading bay/socket. Everything else can be done by a 3rd party and distributed like it is with 3d printing. even the stock can be pre selected, it's not any different than recommending abs over nylon or tpu.
I think the difference in magnitude only applies to the price of the machine.
What's you background? Do you work with or operate machinery?
What kinda old ass 1900s grade equipment are you working with?
I'm not trying to be a dick, I just want to know if I'm talking to a layman or a professional.
Sorry, long day, I was the dick there.
I'm in Autodesk most of the time, but have operated (read: babysat) on occasion, our multi-axis mill.
My point is that once the full workflow is set up and documented it can be transmitted.
Maybe I'm thinking about it differently than you in terms of final output. I'm not talking about copying a Glock piece by piece. I'm thinking closer to the type of gun Tetsuya Yamagami used to assassinate Abe. Basic, simple, and repeatable if not reusable. Something so easy it could eliminate moving or flipping the workpiece all together. Silencers could also be fairly simple to automate.
I can make a shotgun with a pipe, a tack, and a rubberband. Don't even need fancy tools. And that's especially crude. Prisoners in jail have made working firearms from toilet paper.
What's to stop people from rooting the printer?
The law. It would become a criminal offense to use open source firmware.
And that's exactly what the tech oligarchs' true goal is.
Perhaps we should organize against those bottom-feeders?
The desire for convenience.
This is just dumb people being bought by gun lobby groups...on top of all of this bullshit, guns are %100 legal to make. It's not illegal to make a firearm for personal use, even if you could 3d print one completely.
Know you're local laws. It IS illegal to 3d print guns in NY amd CA already.
How big of a problem is this even? I've only heard one case of someone using a ghost gun in a murder and that didn't stop the police from finding the suspect.
Guns are extremely simple devices. It's not something you can solve with 3d printing legislation... It's just people giving lip service to gun control IMO.
If you know how to 3d print a gun, you can easily find out how to make a zip gun with a bit of pipe, the kind you'd probably need to 3d print a "ghost gun" regardless.
Like ffs I saw a YouTube video or a dude getting two pieces of pipe, closing one end and putting a nail in it, then making a one shot shotgun out of cheap fucking material. You just need closed space and to hit the end of the fucking bullet. Guns are not magic. They're simple as fuck, and hard to regulate partially because of how simple they are.
These laws are probably more for surveillance than preventing ghost guns.
https://armamentresearch.com/luty-sub-machine-guns-past-present-future/
Famous examples that don't use 3d printing, the Luty guns he made as a crypto anarchist psycho trying to disseminate open source plans lol. The knowledge is very easily accessible.
And this is basically how former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was assassinated
It's not just gun control.
It's control of information and surveillance of every bit of data and every part printed for any reason.
It's not even just surveillance! It is destruction of property rights generally, including the right to repair and the ability for individuals to own their means of production.
These laws are probably more for surveillance than preventing ghost guns.
They are, 100%. Watch Louis Rossman 's video on the New York law (if you can stomach his vlogs for that long) - it's had a shitload of money dumped into lobbying for it by none other than overly controlling industrialist Michael Bloomberg himself. They are trying to crush user ownership of manufacturing right off the bat.
Not a major problem AND going after 3D printing doesn't actually solve the problem - the core components that make a gun a gun, such as the barrel, firing pin, etc., still need to be manufactured in the "traditional" way (unless you're trying to make a single use, one shot gun, but even that has better alternatives than 3D printing).
As it's been pointed out above, the pieces of equipment - lathes, mills, CNC machines - required to make the aforementioned parts require no licencing, no safety mechanisms to prevent gun part manufacturing.
The CA law includes all manufacturing machines that take sets of instructions, if I'm not mistaken
You don't even need a CNC machine. Basic hand tools and some pipe are enough to make a zip gun.
A lathe takes no instructions and is potentially the most useful tool of all listed for the purposes of making a gun.
Shit, just browse makerlab.com and you’ll find all sorts of gun parts!
Won't stop anyone, but luckily I lost my 3D printer in a boating accident.
Real glad I may have allegedly acquired a printer at some point in the last six years.
Allegedly.
If you make it illegal to 3D-print guns, only criminals will have 3D-printed guns.