California has some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, but state lawmakers are concerned that new technology is allowing criminals to obtain guns by building them from scratch. Using 3-D printers, they warn, lawbreakers are able to make key parts of untraceable “ghost guns” at the push of a button.
Ghost guns, which authorities say make it difficult to investigate shootings because they don’t have numbers, have become a growing problem for law enforcement across the country. According to the agency’s data, the number of privately manufactured firearms found in crime has increased from more than 1,600 in 2017 to nearly 27,500 in 2023. California leads the nation in refunds during that time.
In response, lawmakers want to mandate that all 3-D printers sold in the state come equipped with software that prevents users from making explosives and other gun parts. The bill passed the Assembly in May and is moving forward through the Senate.
But the proposal has drawn opposition from a diverse coalition, including civil liberties groups, technology companies and 3-D printing enthusiasts and Hollywood effects studios, who say the “anti-gun software” would also prohibit legitimate designs and expose makers to government or corporate surveillance.
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Inside a San Fernando workshop, Samuel McBride brings movie monsters to life for the camera. One of his latest creations, an animatronic hand, catches when he pulls a trigger he built using a 3-D printer.
McBride says technology has revolutionized the work at Legacy Effects, where he is the lab manager, but he worries it will soon be closed because of a proposed change in California law.
McBride fears that the law will hinder the development of devices like the one that makes his hand like his own work.
“If I just take this explosive apart and put it in a printer, who, a computer or a person, will tell me how I intend to use it?” he asked.
Supporters of the proposed law say it has the potential to help save lives.
“As gun violence continues to destroy our communities, we cannot allow 3-D printing technology to become the new pipeline for untraceable weapons,” said Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, author of the bill.
Critics of the proposed California law note that the 3-D printed guns represent miniature ghost guns found by law enforcement at crime scenes. According to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, most “undercover” firearms found by police are collected from mail order books or unfinished parts rather than printed at home.
Jorge Perez of Monster City Studios holds a replica made with a large, industrial 3-D printer.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
“This fight is not about whether ghost guns are dangerous,” said David Tobin, the independent creator who leads the coalition. “It’s about whether the state can or should require a consumer tool to look at someone’s designs before they’re allowed to do something.”
Everytown for Gun Safety, a national non-profit that advocates for gun control and is pushing for the California bill to pass, pointed to the rise of 3-D printed guns in 20 major cities and warned that the homemade plastic parts could help people bypass background checks or turn guns into automatic weapons.
Krystal LoPilato, a policy representative at Everytown, said the group successfully steered a similar bill through the New York State Legislature.
A handgun model made using a 3-D printer is on display at the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
(Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
LoPilato said the policy aims to be proactive, rather than allowing more violence before the problem is under control. Opponents argue that California already prohibits the illegal manufacture of firearms with 3-D printers, and that the acquisition of ghost guns has decreased since the state adopted a series of new laws and enforcement efforts.
A June 1 letter to lawmakers, signed by a group of 3-D printing companies, stage and modeling studios and industry stakeholders, argued that AB 2047 raises 1st Amendment concerns and would hurt businesses. The letter was signed by many companies and individuals, including Prusa Research, a prominent 3-D printer manufacturer.
“According to the algorithm, the barrel of the gun and the pipe are the same curved cylinder,” said Jakub Kmošek, head of public affairs at Prusa, in a statement sent to The Times. “This bill will make it harder to build, fix, test and innovate in California.”
Alan Scott, founder of Legacy Effects, said 3-D printing has become critical to a company’s survival in an industry where budgets are tight and deadlines are tight.
“Everything has to be done quickly these days. You can’t slow down. We wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for 3-D printing,” Scott said.
To solve this problem, Bauer-Kahan put the entertainment industry apart from the bill, exempting “printers produced and sold only in the entertainment industry and development studios” from the software requirement.
McBride, manager of Legacy’s 3-D lab, said those printers don’t really exist.
Legacy uses the same general-purpose machines available from other businesses willing to invest in equipment, and none of the printers are sold exclusively to Hollywood, he said.
1. 3-D printed sculpture concept at Monster City, a special effects studio in Santa Clarita. (Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times) 2. 3-D printing expert David Tobin shows off the Monster City robot kit. (Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
The legacy is also concerned with privacy. Big studios require strict secrecy before the release of a movie or show. To accommodate this, the company shares design files through encrypted servers and secure internal systems.
“We’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring all that technology here under the umbrella of our NDAs and our IP protection,” McBride said.
Bauer-Kahan noted in the Senate hearing that she is working to address concerns raised by 3-D printing users and industries that rely on the technology.
Paul Powers, CEO of Physna, a company whose technology can be used to block gun parts from 3-D printers, said strong criticism of AB 2047 “misunderstands how the software works.”
“Something that looks vaguely like a gun part is not considered the same,” he said.
Powers also responded to the surveillance concerns by clarifying that his company’s software only prevents the printer from making prohibited parts – it does not flag the authorities or the intellectual property user log.
“There is no communication with anyone, it is going nowhere,” he said.
But Marleen Vogelaar, CEO of Thangs3D, a platform for independent creators to share and sell 3-D printable designs, said the response doesn’t address her broader concerns about how AB 2047 will work.
“These websites will always remain new and easily bypassed and generate false positives that block legitimate projects and unfairly flag everyday actors,” he said at a Senate hearing this month. “This bill also creates serious privacy and security risks by giving third parties access to analyze designer files. That threatens intellectual property and adds digital surveillance to a data privacy-conscious environment.”
If the bill passes, the state Department of Justice will publish a list of compliant printers. Printers not on the list will be prohibited from being sold or transferred in California starting in December 2029.
Aubrey Rodriguez, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union California Action, an advocacy organization made up of three branches of the ACLU in the state, said the bill would ask ordinary users, schools and businesses to accept a new layer of control based on software they still do not trust.
Rodriguez said the proposal risks creating “a permanent back door in our homes, open to exploitation.”
“Once this new infrastructure is in place, it’s a simple software update away from tracking political objections or banning 3-D printing designs that are deemed inappropriate,” Rodriguez said.
