Printing Violence: Urgent Policy Actions Are Needed to Combat 3D-Printed Guns

I. How Technological Advances and Online Communities Are Making 3D-Printed Firearms More Available and More Dangerous

Technological advancements have long been accompanied by corresponding public safety challenges that societies must navigate. But the community of 3DPF designers presents a unique challenge due to some participants’ stated indifference to the dangers these firearms pose, as well as the community’s ties with extremist sentiment that actively seeks to stoke violence and undermine gun laws. When that political reality is combined with 3D-printing technology that (1) is largely unregulated to date; and (2) puts incredible power in the hands of those who use it, a perfect storm emerges.

A. From Prototype to Problem: The Advent of 3DPFs

In 2013, Defense Distributed, led by Cody Wilson, published online the blueprint files for the “Liberator,” the first gun fully 3D-printed from plastic.¹Abigail Brooks, “Who Is Cody Wilson, the Man Behind the 3D Printed Gun?” CNN Money, August 1, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20250313054143/https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/01/technology/3d-printed-gun-cody-wilson-defense-distributed/index.html. Although it could fire only one shot at a time—and a few shots before breaking—the Liberator’s release marked a significant moment, demonstrating that people could produce functional firearms and make them accessible beyond regulated manufacturing. The Liberator’s debut generated substantial controversy and concern, as it signaled the arrival of an untraceable homemade firearm. But due to its single-shot nature and low durability, the gun was more of a theoretical threat than a practical one.²Lewis Page, “‘Liberator’: Proof That You Can’t Make a Working Gun in a 3D Printer,” The Register, April 8, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230408143529/https://www.theregister.com/2013/05/10/oh_no_its_the_plastic_3d_gun/, accessed June 29, 2025. 

Since 2013, “the sophistication of 3D-printed firearms has advanced considerably in a relatively short time frame, and weapons enthusiasts as well as extremist actors continue to innovate the technology.”³Kyle Dent, Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, and Maria Zuppello, “Risks and Challenges in Online Communities for 3D-Printed Firearms Among Extremists and Terrorists.” Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, September 20, 2023. https://gifct.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/GIFCT-23WG-0823-3DPrinting-1.1.pdf. In the past decade, three general categories of 3DPFs have emerged:

1. Parts-kit completions, or PKCs, are firearms whose frame or receiver is 3D-printed, while the rest of it is completed by purchasing the remaining components, such as upper receivers or pistol slides, on the commercial market. Those remaining components are unregulated in the United States and thus can be legally purchased without a background check or paper trail. This is the most common category of 3DPF in the US.⁴Dent et al., “Risks and Challenges in Online Communities.”
   

   

2. Hybrid 3D-printed firearms are those with most parts of the gun 3D-printed; the firearm is completed with parts not specifically designed for firearms—such as metal tubes readily available at hardware stores—and therefore not regulated in any jurisdiction.
3. Fully 3D-printed firearms contain almost all 3D-printed components except for minor parts, like a nail to act as a firing pin.⁶G. Hays, Ivan T., and N.R. Jenzen-Jones, “Desktop Firearms: Emergent Small Arms Craft Production Technologies,” Armament Research Services, March 2020, https://armamentresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ARES-Research-Report-8-Desktop-Firearms.pdf.
   

   

3D printing is also being used to produce deadly accessories for firearms. Most notably, designers have been releasing the blueprints for machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) that convert semi-automatic firearms—including Glock-style pistols and AR- and AK-style rifles—into fully automatic machine guns that will continue firing as long as the shooter depresses the trigger and the gun has ammunition. MCDs, which are illegal under federal law and a number of state laws, are a focus for law enforcement as they are increasingly being recovered in crimes.⁷US Attorney’s Office, Western District of Wisconsin, “U.S. Attorney’s Office and ATF Highlight Emerging Threat Posed by Machinegun Conversion Devices,” press release, December 2, 2024, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwi/pr/us-attorneys-office-and-atf-highlight-emerging-threat-posed-machinegun-conversion. The design files for 3D-printed silencers have also proliferated. A silencer reduces a firearm’s sound signature, or report, and eliminates its muzzle flash, making it difficult to determine where a shot originated. Silencers are tightly regulated under federal law.

B. Printing in Three Dimensions

The 3D-printing industry has experienced dramatic growth over the past decade, and the technology is now more affordable and accessible to businesses and consumers. In 2013, the value of the 3D-printing market was estimated at $4 billion,⁸WEDO Metrology,  “The Market Size and Development Overview of 3D Printing Globally and Domestically,” June 17, 2021, http://www.wedo-control.com/en/NewsShow.asp?Bid=1. but by 2024, one industry report pegged the global revenues for the industry at $21.9 billion.⁹ASTM International, “Wohlers Report 2025 Shows 9.1% AM Industry Growth,” March 31, 2025, https://www.astm.org/news/press-releases/wohlers-report-2025. Consumer-grade desktop printers are more accessible than ever: Reliable entry-level models can cost as little as $250 and feature user-friendly touch screens, automated bed leveling, and other improvements that make the technology increasingly available to beginners.¹⁰Hays et al., “Desktop Firearms.”

In recent years, the accessibility of at-home 3D printing has steadily approached that of conventional printing, thanks to cheaper costs and advancements in technology that make using it easier for novices. The basic process of consumer 3D printing is similar to conventional printing: A user sends a digital file from a computer to a desktop printer, which converts the digital file into a real-world representation. 

The obvious difference is dimensionality: 3D printing converts a digital model into a three-dimensional object by adding material in layers.¹¹Dent et al., “Risks and Challenges in Online Communities.” One of the most popular forms of consumer-grade 3D printing uses thermoplastic filament that is melted and deposited onto a print bed.¹²Dent et al., “Risks and Challenges in Online Communities.” The process for 3D printing firearms follows the process typical for someone printing a figurine or an accessory for their furniture, building an object layer by layer. 

The file for any 3D-printed object is created in computer-assisted design (CAD) software. It is then exported as a 3D model known as an STL file. Premade STL files, including those for firearms, can be easily downloaded on the internet (their availability is discussed below). The 3D-model file is then processed by a piece of software called a slicer, which divides the digital model into horizontal layers and generates specific instructions (“G-code”) for the printer. 

The resulting instructions are then transferred to the 3D printer, which interprets them and coordinates the physical printing process. The printer firmware sends precise commands to control the printer’s movements, regulates nozzle and bed temperatures, and manages filament extrusion through the nozzle. As these functions execute the instructions layer by layer, the 3D-printed object gradually takes form.

When 3D printing a firearm, an individual can follow this process to create all of the regulated components, as well as most or nearly all of the other components of the gun. 

C. Thousands of Files for 3DPFs Are Available Online

Today, the digital files for 3DPFs are proliferating online. One 2023 study documented more than 1,000 unique design files in 2,100 places online, including mainstream platforms like Google Drive and the software development platform GitHub. The research revealed a dramatic acceleration in design sharing beginning in 2019, with a massive surge in 2021 and 2022 and a clear shift toward more reliable hybrid and PKC designs.¹³Stefan Schaufelbühl, et al., “Investigating the Availability of 3D-Printed Firearm Designs on the Clear Web,” Forensic Science International: Synergy 7 (January 1, 2023): 100444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100444. 

Online records indicate that some of these designs have been downloaded tens of thousands of times. One of the most popular sites for 3DPF designs claims that a file for a hybrid semi-automatic pistol design has been downloaded more than 15,000 times, while a design for an MCD known as a “Glock switch” has been downloaded more than 11,000 times.

D. GunCAD Community: 3DPF Creators Congregate on Social Media Sites to Perfect and Distribute Deadlier Designs

An online community of creators, sometimes referred to as “GunCAD” (a reference to the computer-assisted design software used to design 3D-print files), has formed to develop, publish, troubleshoot, and even beta test 3DPF designs.¹⁴Small Arms Survey, “Understanding the 3D-printed Guns Movement: A Surprising Mix of Identities and the Risk of Gender-based Violence,” Medium, November 26, 2024, https://smallarmssurvey.medium.com/understanding-the-3d-printed-guns-movement-misogyny-and-a-surprising-mix-of-ideologies-and-7697d76a7bdf. These creators gather on popular social media sites like Reddit, Discord, YouTube, and X, where they publicize new designs and help other users perfect their builds. A more fanatical base of GunCAD gathers in chats on other apps like Telegram that are popular with white supremacists and other extremists.¹⁵Rueben Dass, “3D-Printed Firearms: Global Proliferation Trends and Analyses,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism (2025): 1–35, https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2025.2477849. Despite the concerning behaviors found in these online communities and the obvious nexus with criminal activity, online platforms have failed to sufficiently moderate these online spaces.

Perhaps most troubling is how these communities systematically improve their designs through collaborative testing and iteration. Their efforts have made designs for 3DPFs more sophisticated, producing firearms comparable to commercially manufactured weapons.¹⁶Dent et al., “Risks and Challenges in Online Communities.” These 3DPFs are more durable, easier to assemble, and rely on fewer firearm-specific components than previous models.¹⁷Yannick Veilleux-Lepage and Zoltán Füredi, “Beyond the FGC-9: How the Urutau Redefines the Global 3D-Printed Firearm Movement,” Global Network on Extremism & Technology, blog post, January 8, 2025, https://gnet-research.org/2025/01/08/beyond-the-fgc-9-how-the-urutau-redefines-the-global-3d-printed-firearm-movement/. The reduced reliance on regulated components is especially problematic given that it makes these designs more accessible to those who would not be able to pass the legal requirements—like a background check—required to buy the regulated components on the commercial market. What began with crude, unreliable single-shot pistols has evolved into semi-automatic firearms that increasingly resemble conventional factory-made weapons.

The fundamental anonymity of the internet eliminates any meaningful screening of who accesses these designs. The anonymous distribution pipeline that these communities are building circumvents the existing safeguards in regulated firearm sales, creating parallel and unmonitored channels for weapon acquisition. Designers have no way to determine whether their work and instructions are arming children, convicted criminals, or violent extremists. But for many creators, this is the point: Prominent designers assail any and all regulation of firearms and even publicly celebrate when their designs are recovered in crimes.

E. “The Second Amendment Is for Shooting Cops”: The 3DPF Online Community Is Suffused with Extremist Sentiment

Beyond enabling dangerous people and extremists to get armed, the online communities themselves often harbor alarming ideologies. Extremist politics were at the root of the 3DPF subculture from the beginning. Cody Wilson first designed the Liberator pistol as an element of his cryptoanarchist project to eliminate the government’s ability to enforce laws altogether.¹⁸Michael Agresta, “Cody Wilson, Austin’s Edgelord Prince,” Texas Observer, March 12, 2018, https://www.texasobserver.org/cody-wilson-austins-edgelord-prince/. As he said at the time, “The technology will break gun control. . . . People don’t like to register their firearms any more. They don’t trust the government.”¹⁹“Designer of 3-D-Printed Gun Challenges Feds to Constitutional Duel,” Fox News,” May 7, 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20150509020212/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/07/designer-3d-printed-gun-challenges-feds-to-constitutional-duel/, accessed June 29, 2025. Not surprisingly for a man who has embraced what he called the “unemployed, over-educated young men with, you know, nothing but hate, who would line up to work” for him,²⁰Agresta, “Cody Wilson, Austin’s Edgelord Prince.” Wilson’s other ventures included a short-lived crowdfunding site called Hatreon, which one expert called “very important to the financial functioning of the white supremacist movement.”²¹Adam Popescu, “This Crowdfunding Site Runs on Hate,” Bloomberg.com, December 4, 2017, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-04/this-crowdfunding-site-runs-on-hate.

It is a commonly held view among these creators that there should be no restrictions on gun ownership. They taunt those concerned about the violence that results from untraceable firearms. They have not only dismissed the threat of dangerous people arming themselves with 3D-printed firearms but have sought to facilitate that outcome by including in their design files guides for maintaining anonymity and avoiding detection while building firearms.²²Veilleux-Lepage and Füredi, “Beyond the FGC-9.” Across both mainstream and alt-tech platforms popular with extremists, a disturbing number of those community leaders promote 3D printing of firearms not as a hobby, but as a strategy for people opposed to liberal democracy to use violence and the threat of violence to enact their preferred system of government. Cody Wilson has laid out his goal as one of coercion: The “founding fathers simply saw that the public militia was the reason to preserve the right to bear arms [and that arms are] useful as instruments to bloodily overthrow your government. I hate to put it in such sharp terms, but let’s be honest about what it is. Guns are implements of war. War is a tool of political change.”²³Foghorn, “An Interview with Cody R. Wilson of the WikiWeapon 3D Gun Printing Project,” The Truth About Guns (blog), October 9, 2012, https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/an-interview-with-cody-r-wilson-of-the-wiki-weapon-3d-gun-printing-project/.

The antipathy toward government among some prominent figures in the movement includes disdain for law enforcement. The phrase “The 2nd Amendment is for shooting cops” has become a meme in this space and was referenced in the case²⁴United States of America v. Peter Celentano, No. 1:24-mj-01204, Court Exhibit 1 from 10-21-2024 Detention Hearing (JD), US District Court for the Western District of New York (filed October 22, 2024), 11, https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69278977/7/united-states-v-celentano/. against a prominent GunCAD figure²⁵Rajan Basra [@rajanbasra], “3D-Printed Gun News: Peter Celentano, aka ‘Dr Freeman1337’, Was Charged This Week in New York with Illegally Possessing Machine Guns. A Highly Influential Gun Designer in the Scene—Who Would’ve Guessed He’s Also a Talented Trombone Player?,” https://T.Co/4ypZX30L45. who pleaded guilty to illegal possession of machine guns.²⁶US Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, “Genesee County Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Machineguns,” press release, May 29, 2025, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/genesee-county-man-pleads-guilty-possession-machineguns.

Although many of the designers in these spaces might claim that their activities are in service of opposing tyranny and authoritarianism by enabling self-defense through firearms, their statements often belie those motivations. For example, Jacob Duygu, known online as JStark1809, created one of the most popular hybrid designs, named the FGC-9 for “Fuck Gun Control-9mm,” and founded an influential network of 3DPF designers. A recent report found that while Duygu “presented a universal message and spoke out against xenophobia and racism” in public, his anonymous online comments revealed misogynistic, xenophobic, racist, and antisemitic views. Dugyu was a misogynistic extremist incel who made disturbing posts about violence against women, saying that attractive women “deserve a painful death” and that “[e]very rape, every beating, every murder, the young women in western europe deserve nowadays.”²⁷Rajan Basra, “Behind the Mask: Uncovering the Extremist Messages of a 3D‑Printed Gun Designer,” International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, October 19, 2023, https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ICSR-Report-Behind-the-Mask-Uncovering-the-Extremist-Messages-of-a-3D%E2%80%91Printed-Gun-Designer.pdf. He also said that the misogynist perpetrator of the 2014 attack in Isla Vista, California, who killed 6 people and wounded 14 others,²⁸Rebecca Solnit, “One Year After the Isla Vista Massacre, A Father’s Gun Control Mission Is Personal,” The Guardian, May 23, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/23/one-year-isla-vista-massacre-victim-father-gun-control. “was right.”²⁹Basra, “Behind the Mask.” He used the N-word, proclaimed that Islam needed “to be exterminated from the face of this earth,” and told one apparently Israeli user, “We should have killed your grandparents too.”³⁰Basra, “Behind the Mask.” 

Dugyu also directed threats of violence against those he deemed “traitors” to his home country of Germany. He told one user that he’d “love to shoot traitors like you when the day comes” and another that “when the shit goes down i will gladily [sic] join the so called Nazis as you call them and slaughter you during the military coup that will erupt one day.” Dugyu also seemed to make explicit how he hoped his firearms designs would be used: He complained that one user wouldn’t “even buy illegal guns to plan the day of the rope,” a reference to the depiction in a racist novel of the day that white supremacists hang their perceived enemies. In another post, Dugyu complained that no recent anti-government extremist movements in Germany “actually had a body count.” When a user replied, asking what he’d done to contribute, Dugyu bragged of “[contributing] big league,” presumably a reference to his FGC-9 design.³¹Basra, “Behind the Mask.”

This combination of anonymous distribution, methodical weapon improvements, and extremist influences creates a self-reinforcing and dangerous ecosystem that poses significant challenges to public safety worldwide.

II. The Existing Domestic Legal Framework For 3DPFs

 Under federal law, gun dealers must conduct a criminal background check on the customer seeking to purchase a gun before completing their purchase.³²18 U.S.C. § 922(t) At the point of sale, customer information is captured by the seller and, in the standard firearm manufacturing process, licensed gunmakers must serialize their firearms so police can trace crime guns back to their original purchasers should they be used in a crime.³³18 U.S.C. § 923(i); 26 U.S.C. § 5842 Foundational federal gun laws bar firearm possession by a variety of people who would pose a danger if armed—including those with felony or domestic violence convictions, people with certain severe mental illness, and people under a domestic violence restraining order—and the national instant background check system has blocked over 5 million sales due to these and other prohibitions.³⁴8 U.S.C. § 922(d), (g); Everytown Research analysis of Connor Brooks, “Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2019–2020,” US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), November 2023, https://bjs.ojp.gov/document/bcft1920.pdf; and data obtained by FBI FOIA requests, 2021–2023. Though the majority of the transactions and denials the FBI and BJS has reported are associated with a firearm sale or transfer, a small number may be for concealed-carry permits and other reasons not related to a sale or transfer. Although federal law does not require a background check on a private sale conducted by a person who is not a licensed gun dealer, it is illegal to be engaged in the business of selling firearms without a license.³⁵It is unlawful to “engage in the business” of manufacturing firearms without an appropriate federal firearms license, meaning essentially that a person may not make DIY guns with the intention of selling them for profit. 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a), 921(a)(21)(A). Easy access to purchasing or making firearms without a criminal background check subverts and undermines these core laws—and the 3D-printed gunmaking problem frustrates enforcement of those life-saving prohibitions.

In recent years, a separate but related crisis of ghost gun kits— easily modified building blocks of firearms that online retailers sell without serial numbers or background checks—has exposed the intense public safety hazard of DIY gunmaking. Ghost gun kits rapidly became the weapons of choice for people prohibited under the law—including criminals and gun traffickers who wanted guns that couldn’t be traced. Fortunately, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) promulgated a rule in 2022 making clear that these kits do indeed qualify as “firearms” under federal law and are subject to the same regulations as traditional firearms.³⁶Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms, 87 FR 24652 (Apr. 26, 2022), https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/definition-frame-or-receiver. In March 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the ATF’s authority to issue the rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok and affirmed that many ghost gun kits and frames are indeed “firearms” under a plain reading of the federal statute.³⁷Bondi v. VanDerStok, 604 U.S. __, 145 S.Ct. 857 (2025). https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-852_o7jp.pdf. Also see Everytown for Gun Safety, “The Supreme Court Upholds Life-Saving Ghost Gun Rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok. Here’s What You Need to Know,” March 26, 2025. And indeed the ATF’s ghost gun rule has helped, along with new related state laws, to drive down the prevalence of those kit guns in crimes committed in recent years. 

With ghost gun kits in shorter supply, people looking to evade the law are turning to 3D-printed guns, which have the same advantages as the guns made from kits and have become ever more attractive as the technology advances and the materials grow stronger. Lawbreakers also use 3D printers to illegally manufacture MCDs as well as silencers, which are heavily regulated under the National Firearms Act and require ATF approval to own.³⁸26 USC §§ 5841, 5845, 5861, 5871; 18 USC § 922(o).

If a person posts 3DPF blueprints on the internet such that they are available to any foreign persons, the U.S. Department of Commerce has generally deemed them illegal exports under the Export Control Reform Act.³⁹U.S. Department of Commerce, FAQs for the Commerce Categories I-III (final rule), Control of Firearms, Guns, Ammunition and Related Articles the President Determines No Longer Warrant Control Under the United States Munitions List (USML)(85 FR 4136), Jan. 23, 2020, 17–23. In other words, uploading from the United States a 3DPF CAD file to any internet site that is easily available to a non–US person is a felony under federal law and punishable by up to 20 years in prison.⁴⁰50 USC § 4819, 15 C.F.R. § 734.7 And yet some extremists continue to post these files freely—and some file-sharing sites continue to host them without reservations.⁴¹Some sites use a membership system that requires users to attest that they are US residents, even though the sites still host files that are downloaded thousands of times. 

State policymakers have begun to address the dangers of unregulated 3D printing in multiple ways:

• Five states allow people to self-manufacture firearm frames and receivers, including by 3D printing, but they require 3D-printed components to be serialized and in many cases require the owner of the frame or receiver to go through a background check or have the requisite state license for firearm possession.⁴²Those states are Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Vermont. See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 29-36a; 720 ILCS 5/24-5.1(e) and (f);  Md. Public Safety Code Ann. § 5-703, 704; ALM GL ch. 140, § 121C(c-f) and § 121D; and 13 V.S.A. § 4083(c) and § 4084. These laws attempt to prevent illegal gun possession by anyone who would not be able to buy a gun from a federally licensed dealer. The serialization requirements enable law enforcement to trace firearms recovered at crime scenes, even those that were built by an individual.
• Six states explicitly prohibit the 3D printing of firearms by anyone who is not licensed to manufacture firearms.⁴³Those states are California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. See Cal. Pen. Code 29010 (2023 Amendments); C.R.S. 18-12-111.5(5); 11 Del. C. § 1463; HRS § 134-10.2; N.J. Stat. § 2C:39-9(l); and R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-47-8(e). Two other states generally prohibit any firearms manufacturing by unlicensed persons.⁴⁴Those states are Nevada and Washington. See Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 202.3635 and Rev. Code Wash. 9.41.326 (1) and (3). An additional two states prohibit the possession of unserialized frames and receivers, making legal self-manufacture of unserialized parts or firearms impossible.⁴⁵Those states are New York and Oregon. NY CLS Penal § 265.01(10) and ORS 166.267. And yet these laws are exceedingly difficult to enforce, because DIY gunmaking happens behind closed doors and all of the equipment needed for 3D printing is so easily accessible. A person comfortable breaking the law faces few if any obstacles to doing so.
• That’s why three states—California, Delaware, and New Jersey—have done more to limit the availability of gun blueprints.⁴⁶Cal Civ Code § 3273.61; 11 Del. C. § 1463; N.J. Stat. § 2C:39-9. Delaware and New Jersey make it illegal to distribute any files within the state that can be used to program a 3D printer to make a firearm, while California creates a civil cause of action against these actors.

But even if these robust state laws work to drive down the scale of the DIY problem with 3DPFs, it is still far too easy for people to find these files and use their printers to break the law and get armed. 

A comprehensive solution would ensure that all printer companies intervene to make these dangerous print jobs impossible. But to date, neither states nor the federal government have taken action to require 3D-printing hardware or software companies to block 3DPFs.

III. From 3D Printers to Crime Scenes

3DPFs are increasingly being recovered in a range of dangerous contexts, highlighting their growing accessibility and potential for misuse. Data collection on 3DPF recoveries at crimes is nascent, with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, in a December 2021 audit, explicitly calling for better tracking of these recoveries by the ATF.⁴⁷US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, “Audit of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Monitoring of 3-D Firearm Printing Technology,” December 2021, https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/22-016.pdf. In a subsequent report, the ATF concluded that privately made firearms “made through the use of 3D-printers have been increasingly encountered” by law enforcement in crime gun investigations.⁴⁸Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA): Volume IV: Protecting America from Trafficked Firearms—Part V: Privately Made Firearms Updates and New Analysis,” January 2025, https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/report/nfcta-volume-iv-part-v-%E2%80%93-pmf-updates-and-new-analysis/download. A recent academic study documented 186 international law enforcement encounters with 3D-printed firearms from mid-2014 to August 2023, with the majority (110) occurring in North America. The study found a 13-fold increase in incidents from 2020 through 2022 compared to the previous three-year period.⁴⁹Stefan Schaufelbühl et. al., “The Emergence of 3D-Printed Firearms: An Analysis of Media and Law Enforcement Reports,” Forensic Science International: Synergy, 8 (2024):, 100464, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X24000111.

The following sections examine the rising number of 3DPFs seized by law enforcement, from illegal manufacturing operations, teenagers, extremists, and people seeking to evade existing firearm laws. 

A. DIY Home Armories

Law enforcement agencies around the world are confronting weapons factories facilitated by 3D printing hidden in plain sight. 

For example, in 2024, law enforcement in New York State recovered over 100 3D-printed guns, as well as 3D-printed MCDs, from Peter Celentano, an administrator of one of the largest online platforms that provides 3D-printing designs.⁵⁰New York State Police Press Release, “Multi-Agency Arrest of Bergen Man for Over One Hundred 3D Printed Weapons,” Nov. 26, 2024, https://troopers.ny.gov/news/multi-agency-arrest-bergen-man-over -one-hundred-3d-printed-weapons; Andy Greenberg, “The ‘Ghost Gun’ Linked to Luigi Mangione Shows Just How Far 3D-Printed Weapons Have Come,” Wired, Dec. 10, 2024, https://www.wired.com/story/luigi-mangione-united- healthcare-3d-printed-gun-fmda-chairmanwon-v1/.
During Celentano’s detention hearing, prosecutors highlighted that he had expressed violent anti-government views online and sought to hide 3DPFs in “stash houses” when he learned of the investigation, even arranging for firearms to be dumped in the Erie Canal.⁵¹Transcript of Detention Hearing, United States v. Celentano, No. 24-MJ-1204 (US District Court for the Western District of New York, October 21, 2024), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nywd.152928/gov.uscourts.nywd.152928.13.0.pdf; Transcript of Initial Appearance, United States v. Celentano, No. 24-MJ-1204 (US District Court for the Western District of New York, October 18, 2024), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nywd.152928/gov.uscourts.nywd.152928.12.0.pdf.

Even in countries where firearms ownership and gun parts are far more regulated than in the United States, law enforcement has seen a significant uptick in 3DPFs. In 2024, officials seized 21 3DPFs from a home in Perth, Australia.⁵²Alyssa Thomas-Sam and Mike Lorigan, “3D-Printed Guns on Rise in Australia, with Seizures of Lethal Firearms Up Across Nation,” ABC News Australia, November 4, 2024, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-04/3d-printed-guns-rising-australia-semi-automatic/104538082; Australian Border Force News Release, “Several 3D Printed Firearms Parts Seized; Man Charged in NSW North West Region” April 9, 2025, https://www.abf.gov.au/newsroom-subsite/Pages/Several-3D-printed-firearms-parts-seized; -man-charged-in-NSW-North-West-region.aspx. In Spain, law enforcement dismantled an illegal 3DPF workshop, recovering 19 3D-printed handgun frames, explosive precursors, white supremacist materials, and more than 30 manuals on homemade explosives and 3DPFs.⁵³Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, “Printing Terror: An Empirical Overview of the Use of 3D-Printed Firearms by Right-Wing Extremists,” CTC Sentinel 17, no. 6 (June 2024): 31–45. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, https://ctc.westpoint.edu/printing-terror-an-empirical-overview-of-the-use-of-3d-printed-firearms-by-right-wing-extremists/; “Spain Dismantles Workshop Making 3D-Printed Weapons,” BBC News, April 19, 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56798743. In 2024, Canadian law enforcement officials recovered 13 3D printers and several 3D-printed firearms parts from the home of Pascal Tribout, along with antisemitic propaganda and a German military uniform from the 1940s.⁵⁴Vanesa Listek, “Quebec Man Admits to Hate Speech and 3D Printed Gun Scheme,” 3DPrint.com, January 6, 2025, https://3dprint.com/315432/d-quebec-man-admits-to-hate-speech-and-3d-printed-gun-scheme/. 

These cases illustrate how 3D printers can transform an ordinary garage or basement into an illicit firearms operation, a growing challenge for law enforcement. Unlike firearms purchased through licensed dealers or gun parts shipped through the mail—which often generate paperwork and records that can expose trafficking activity—3DPF operations leave few if any traditional indicators of gun trafficking. As a result, these clandestine armories can operate undetected, making it significantly harder for law enforcement to identify and disrupt trafficking networks built around 3DPFs. 

B. The Teen Gunmaker

Unsurprisingly, young people are early adopters of new technology and are learning how to use 3D printers. Alarmingly, as 3D-printing technology becomes more available, teenagers are increasingly manufacturing their own firearms—and selling them to their peers, who cannot legally purchase guns because of their age—often without the knowledge of the adults in their lives.

Police across the country have recovered 3DPFs that teens have manufactured, among them a 13-year-old in Seattle who obtained a firearm from a 14-year-old running a 3DPF manufacturing operation,⁵⁵Ashley Hiruko, “Teens Are Using 3D Printers to Make Guns in Seattle Area,” KUOW, June 7, 2023, https://www.kuow.org/stories/teens-are-using-3d-printers-to-make-guns-in-seattle-area. a 14-year-old operating a 3DPF business out of his home in Detroit,⁵⁶Andres Gutierrez, “Teen Arrested After Detroit Raid Uncovers Illegal 3D-Printed Gun Operation,” CBS News Detroit, September 6, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/detroit-raid-uncovers-illegal-3d-printed-gun-operation/. and a 16-year-old in Des Moines who was charged with attempted murder for shooting another person with a 3D-printed gun.⁵⁷osé Mendiola, “16-Year-Old Charged for Allegedly Shooting Man with 3D-Printed Gun in Des Moines,” Des Moines Register, April 10, 2024, https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2024/04/10/ 16-year-old-charged -allegedly-shooting-man-with-3d-printed-gun-des-moines-easton-boulevard/73278287007/. In another case, a 14-year-old boy in Utica, New York, was arrested after allegedly firing a 3D-printed gun and striking a home and car. The incident prompted authorities to search a nearby residence, where they discovered a 16-year-old operating a 3DPF manufacturing business.⁵⁸Rylee Kirk, “16-Year-Old Uses 3D Printer to Make Guns for Sale from Central NY Home, Police Say,” Syracuse.com, January 24, 2025, https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2025/01/16-year-old-uses-3d-printer-to-make-guns-for-sale-from-central-ny-home-police-say.html.

These cases portend a disturbing possibility with serious implications for public safety: As schools purchase 3D printers and train students how to use them, the problem of 3DPFs could soon enter the classroom. As teenagers gain the means to produce 3DPFs, the prospect of these weapons entering or being printed in schools is a credible and urgent threat.⁵⁹ In 2023, a 19-year-old in Colorado Springs was arrested in part because of a screed that included “a list of firearms and how to 3D print them,” as well as schools and other locations that the suspect allegedly planned to attack. Tony Keith and Katelyn Quisenberry, “Teen Suspected of Planning to ‘Shoot Up’ Multiple Colorado Springs Area Schools and Churches Arrested,” KKTV 11 News, April 6, 2023, https://www.kktv.com/2023/04/06/teen-suspected-planning-shoot-up-multiple-colorado- springs-area- schools-churches-arrested/.

C. Extremists Around the World Are Weaponizing 3D Printing

Compounding the danger of 3DPFs is their proliferation among extremists, particularly those motivated by violent ideologies. Extremists around the world have increasingly turned to 3D printing to acquire firearms.⁶⁰Veilleux-Lepage, “Printing Terror.” ; Rueben Dass, “3D-Printed Firearms and Terrorism: Trends and Analysis Pertinent to Far-Right Use,” Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses, 16, no. 3 (2024): 19–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48778663. Often motivated by anti-government philosophies and a desire to prepare for violent conflict, these groups see 3DPF manufacturing as both an ideological statement and a way to circumvent oversight.⁶¹For example, see Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021,” March 1, 2021, https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/UnclassSummaryofDVEAssessment-17MAR21.pdf One expert has observed, “While terrorist and criminal groups have a long history of manufacturing firearms, additive manufacturing has significantly lowered the cost and skill necessary for production, to the point that 3DPFs can rival commercially manufactured firearms in terms of accuracy, durability, and reliability.”⁶²Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021.” In several documented cases, people affiliated with extremist movements have been found in possession of 3DPFs and accessories designed to make firearms more dangerous, like MCDs. 

For example, in 2023, law enforcement recovered two 3D-printed pistol frames, MCDs, two 3D printers (including one painted with swastikas), an improvised explosive device, Nazi flags, Hitler posters, and a calendar with an antisemitic New Year’s resolution from Ryan Bradford, a California man prohibited from possessing firearms because of past felony convictions. Before his arrest, Bradford used online platforms to promote antisemitic violence, posting threats and neo-Nazi propaganda while sharing firearm blueprints and offering to help others produce 3DPFs.⁶³Criminal Complaint, United States v. Bradford, No. 2:23-mj-00397, (Central District of California, July 28, 2023), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.894513/gov.uscourts.cacd.894513.1.0.pdf.

Another case illustrating the dangerous intersection of extremist ideology and illicit 3DPFs involves Thomas Develin, a former Ohio National Guard member who was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for producing and selling 3DPFs in 2023.⁶⁴US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, “Former National Guard Member Who Made Antisemitic & Violent Statements Online Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years in Prison for Making, Selling ‘Ghost Guns,’ ” press release, February 28, 2023, https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/former-national-guard-member-who-made-antisemitic-violent-statements-online-sentenced. While employed as a security guard at Jewish institutions, Develin posted antisemitic and violent statements online, including threats directed at the very community he was assigned to protect, as well as toward other minorities and women.⁶⁵ Criminal Complaint Affidavit, United States v. Develin, No. 2:22-mj-00460, (Southern District of Ohio, June 28, 2022), https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ohsd.269960/gov.uscourts.ohsd.269960.1.1.pdf. Law enforcement recovered 26 firearms from Develin’s residence—including several 3DPFs—along with body armor, night-vision goggles, nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 3D-printed MCDs, and a bump stock.⁶⁶Criminal Complaint affidavit, United States v. Develin.

The adoption of 3D printing by right-wing extremists is not unique to the United States. Internationally, extremists have also embraced 3D printing as an ideological statement and a tool of violence. In countries where firearms laws are stronger than in the United States, 3D printing has become a tool to circumvent licensing requirements, mandatory background checks, and the registration of firearm components. The availability of digital gun blueprints online has allowed people around the world to manufacture weapons outside of regulatory frameworks. The most prominent example occurred in 2019, when Stephan Balliet, a self-radicalized neo-Nazi, tried to storm a synagogue armed with at least one gun with 3D-printed parts. After his attempt to enter the synagogue failed, Balliet shot four people, two fatally, in other locations.⁶⁷Rajan Basra, The Future Is Now: The Use of 3D-Printed Guns by Extremists and Terrorists,” Global Network on Extremism & Technology, blog post, June 23, 2022, https://gnet-research.org/2022/06/23/the-future-is-now-the-use-of-3d-printed-guns-by-extremists-and-terrorists/; Daniel Koehler, “The Halle, Germany, Synagogue Attack and the Evolution of the Far-Right Terror Threat,” CTC Sentinel 12, no. 11, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point,  (December 2019): 14–20, https://ctc.westpoint.edu/halle-germany-synagogue-attack-evolution-far-right-terror-threat/. Balliet livestreamed the attack and published a screed encouraging others to replicate his methods, explicitly promoting 3D printing as a tool for armed insurrection and racial violence.⁶⁸Koehler, “The Halle, Germany, Synagogue Attack.” 

“For all of you, who live in no fun countries [with robust gun laws] this may be of interest. All you need is a weekend worth of time and $50 for the materials.”

—Balliet’s post minutes before attempting an attack on a synagogue in 2019

In 2025, three men in the United Kingdom were convicted of planning a terrorist attack at an Islamic center. In addition to crossbows, hunting knives, and a tomahawk, law enforcement also recovered a 3DPF from one member of the group.⁶⁹Vikram Dodd, “Three Nazi Extremists Convicted of Planning Terrorist Attack in England,” The Guardian, May 14, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/14/three-nazi-extremists-convicted-of-planning-terrorist-attack-in-england. In Finland, law enforcement arrested four members of a neo-Nazi terror cell seeking to incite a race war, and confiscated four 3DPFs as well as other 3DPF parts. Before their arrest, the people involved shot at an African family’s mailbox.⁷⁰Reuben Dass, “3D-Printed Weapons and the Far-Right: The Finnish Accelerationist Cell,” Global Network on Extremism & Technology,” blog post, Oct. 6, 2023, https://gnet-research.org/2023/10/06/3d-printed-weapons-and-the-far-right-the-2023-finnish-accelerationist-cell/.

These incidents underscore how 3D printing enables extremists to arm themselves in the shadows, and fuels concerns about armed right-wing attacks and the spread of violence through decentralized online spaces. Such platforms not only offer access to 3D-printing blueprints and expertise, but can also drive radicalization through the promotion of extremist propaganda, hate speech, and armed violence.

D. 3D Printing Guns to Circumvent Existing Laws

In the United States, relatively permissive gun laws enable most adults to legally purchase firearms with minimal restrictions. One category of people generally prohibited from owning firearms is those with a felony conviction; under federal law they are barred from possessing guns.⁷¹18 USC § 922(d), (g). But people who are legally prohibited from owning firearms due to criminal convictions can evade required background checks by 3D-printing guns. 

In addition to 3DPFs, law enforcement is increasingly recovering illegal 3D-printed MCDs, such as Glock switches. From 2019 to 2023, law enforcement reported a 784 percent increase in MCD recoveries.⁷²Everytown analysis of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment, Volume IV, Part V. Also see “ ‘Glock Switches’ and Auto Sears,” The Smoking Gun, https://smokinggun.org/glock-switches-auto-sears/. The simplicity and small size of these devices make them fairly easy to 3D-print. 

The following cases illustrate the ways in which criminals across the country are using 3D printing to evade firearms laws:

IV. Emerging Intervention Strategies Aimed at Halting the Spread of 3DPFs

In light of the growing threat of 3DPFs, a handful of innovative companies and academic institutions have stepped up efforts to find a technological solution to the problem. 

Perhaps most notably, the technology is advancing to the point where a well-trained AI algorithm can be deployed to detect design files for 3DPFs, components, and accessories. If such files are detected, the software can block the printing of 3DPFs. These detection algorithms can be integrated into multiple points in the 3D-printing workflow, including the slicer software, cloud print management software, and directly into the printer firmware. This multilayered approach provides hurdles at various points to an individual looking to 3D print a gun, but requires the creation and maintenance of an extensive database of firearm models for training and identification purposes.

At least one private-sector company is now offering this new technology to clients looking to prevent 3DPFs from being created under their watch, such as school districts, libraries, and universities that make 3D printers available to students and the public.⁷³“3D GUN’T: Print & Go’s Solutions to Prevent 3D Printed ‘Ghost Guns,’ ” Print&Go, November 4, 2024, https://printandgo.tech/blog/3d-gunt-solution-to-prevent-3d-printed-ghost-guns. Other 3D-printing companies and academic institutions in the United States have also begun to innovate with detection technology. 

Although these efforts are relatively new, the progress made appears to indicate that technology can potentially prevent the production of 3DPFs. It will require a concerted effort to develop this technology further and help ensure its widespread adoption across the 3D-printing industry. While schools and libraries may be ideal first adopters, ultimately such technology should become standard throughout the industry. There is precedent for this: Upon the advent of high-quality color printers, the printing industry employed technology to block the printing of counterfeit money, a strategy that remains in place today.⁷⁴Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, “Blocking the Blueprint: Technological Barriers Against 3D-Printed Firearms,” Global Network on Extremism & Technology,  blog post, November 6, 2024, https://gnet-research.org/2024/11/06/blocking-the-blueprint-technological-barriers-against-3d-printed-firearms/.

Companies in the field would do well to view such technology as protecting the image of the burgeoning 3D-printing landscape more broadly and mitigating potential risks. Indeed, in a March 2025 letter, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office wrote to Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology, one of the largest manufacturers of 3D printers, noting that the company’s printers had been seized in several recent criminal cases involving the production of 3DPFs. The District Attorney asked the company to remove online blueprints for guns and gun parts from its cloud platform and to adopt security measures in its products to detect and stop the printing of 3DPFs.⁷⁵Manhattan DA Press Release, “DA Bragg Calls on 3D Printing Companies to Address Proliferation of Illegal Firearms,” press release, March 2, 2025, https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-calls-on-3d-printing-companies-to-address-proliferation-of-illegal-firearms/.

V. Policy Solutions

A. Lawmakers Should Pass Legislation

Lawmakers can take aggressive action to spur change in this area and help prevent the printing of 3DPFs. The most comprehensive solutions would apply nationwide, and Congress should work immediately to pass the innovative laws described here. But even without federal action, state policymakers can take meaningful action to curtail 3DPFs. Existing state interventions like the ones described in Section II provide a useful start—and we also need new policy innovations to tackle this problem comprehensively. 

Some of the core protections already in place in many states simply make it a crime to print guns at home. These laws, which bar unlicensed gunmaking and require background checks and serialization for all firearms, have a strong deterrent effect for people who typically follow the law. Policymakers should make a concerted effort at enforcement, especially because so much of this dangerous behavior happens behind closed doors—and because bad actors will keep working to make it easier to skirt the law. On the other hand, many traffickers and other criminals remain eager to seize any avenue to arm themselves.

Another policy tool is prohibiting the distribution of 3DPF blueprints, an approach that merely seeks to limit their availability. Although these laws will make it harder to find the necessary ingredients for making 3DPFs, they are difficult to enforce universally, and dedicated lawbreakers will continue to track down copies of blueprints and manufacture their own weapons. In states with these prohibitions, law enforcement must dedicate resources to scan for and take down online 3DPF blueprints and consider action against sites that host them, but ultimately may find that they cannot eliminate online traffic altogether.

That’s why the single most effective step policymakers can take would be to make it impossible to print 3DPFs by targeting the 3D-printing process itself. To date, the emerging technologies described in Section IV, which intervene in the actual material production to block printers from making DIY guns, have been installed in printers only on a voluntary basis. No printer company has acted to install any of these technologies directly into their products upon manufacture, at the slicer phase, as part of the printer firmware, or by any other means. Lawmakers, executives, and advocates can press printer companies to install these technologies at the time of manufacture, either by educating them about the dangers of 3DPFs and asking them to protect public safety, or via corporate pressure campaigns. But as a practical matter, many companies are active in the nascent 3D-printing industry, and it may prove difficult to achieve industry-wide reform. Legislation may be necessary to ensure that there are no printers on the market that can be utilized to produce DIY guns. 

The strongest state law would bar any company from selling a 3D printer capable of producing a 3DPF—that is, requiring that all printers manufactured or sold in the state must be equipped with technology that can detect digital gun blueprints and refuse to complete those printing jobs. Any such legislation should be carefully drafted to meet the reality of existing technology, so that printing companies can properly comply with the law by incorporating commercially available tools—at the slicer stage, as part of firmware, or otherwise. And the best legislation would be written to adapt to future innovation, meaning that as the technology inevitably becomes better able to detect and block 3DPF blueprints, the laws should require the industry to employ state-of-the-art interventions. Lawmakers may want to empower regulators to monitor industry changes in real time and regularly update corporate requirements accordingly. It is also important to consider the existing stock of printers and how to require companies to install this technology on those machines—perhaps as part of routine firmware updates, through cloud- or service provider-based firewalls, or via other prohibited-use detection protocols. With this type of law in place, authorities can then monitor compliance by printer companies across brands and models to ensure that their technology truly works to block the production of DIY guns and is not easily defeated. They should also develop best practices for enforcement that can serve as a model as new states take up and pass similar laws.

These legislative ideas and enforcement act together as a suite—making underlying DIY activity illegal, outlawing the dissemination of blueprints, and requiring companies to block their printers from making guns.

B. State and Municipal Authorities Should Use Procurement Power

Until robust laws are in place, state and local leaders can use their procurement powers to protect communities and nudge the printer industry to modernize. As discussed earlier, schools, libraries, and universities are ideal first adopters for technologies that block 3DPFs—and governments often control budgeting and decision-making for those institutions. These institutions can set policies with executive authority, requiring that they will not make printers available to the public or to staff unless they have been retrofitted to bar the printing of firearms. They can model the work of finding the right technology and installing it. They can also require that any new printers purchased be compatible with this technology—or even that companies install the tech before purchase.

C. Law Enforcement Should Collect and Publish Data

Without organized data collection on recoveries of 3DPFs, it can be difficult to communicate the urgent nature of this threat to policymakers. State and local executives can help demonstrate the scale of the problem by working with police to routinely collect and publish information on how 3DPFs show up at crime scenes in our communities. Thorough data would also track details on firearm designs, so policymakers can analyze trends in these recoveries and target enforcement action more precisely.

D. Private Sector Entities Should Act

Social media companies should explicitly prohibit posts, instructions, and videos aimed at teaching people how to 3D-print guns and gun accessories. Some mainstream platforms have already written this into their community guidelines, but enforcement of this prohibition is not robust.

The 3D-printing industry should take affirmative steps to actively prevent their products from being converted into DIY armories. This would include taking steps to make it more difficult to share 3DPF blueprints and incorporating technology throughout the 3D-printing process to block the printing of 3DPFs. Just as companies that sell high-quality color printers adopted measures to prevent the printing of counterfeit money, the 3D-printing industry should innovate to prevent the proliferation of 3DPFs.⁷⁶Veilleux-Lepage, “Blocking the Blueprint.” Beyond addressing public safety concerns, there is also a compelling business case for 3D printing companies to act responsibly. As 3D printing becomes more widespread and user-friendly, most consumers have no interest in DIY firearms production. But parents, educators, and public institutions may be reluctant to adopt the technology if they believe it could easily be used to create devices that are illegal and lethal. Building and demanding a culture of safety and responsibility will help foster consumer trust in 3D printing and expand the technology’s legitimate applications.