A new New York state law aims to stop 3D-printed guns at the source, by requiring the printers themselves to refuse to make them. Crafted in partnership with manufacturers of 3D printers, the measure is being presented as a potential game changer in the fight against homemade firearms. It takes effect as National Gun Violence Awareness Month reaches full steam in the state.
The core of the law is a technical safeguard built into the machines. As it was described, the idea is to put technology into the printers so that they will not print a 3D gun. The comparison offered was to commercial printers that are designed not to reproduce US currency, with the new rule applying that same kind of limit to firearms.
Officials confirmed that the rule has moved from proposal to law. The measure, crafted with the 3D printer industry, became the law of the land in New York state as of last week. That timing placed the change at the center of the state's wider push around gun prevention during the awareness month.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who sat down for an interview on the subject, framed the law as part of approaching gun prevention at every level. His hope, he said, is that other localities and other states look to New York and decide to do the same. If that happened with the printers, he suggested, it could lead to nationwide adoption of the approach.
The law speaks to a specific danger that has surfaced in recent cases. Among the items at issue are devices that convert a handgun into a semi-automatic weapon, like the one tied to the fatal shooting of a Harlem woman who was using a walker last August. That case illustrated how such parts and homemade components can turn up in deadly attacks.
Bragg also pointed to earlier efforts to cut off access to instructions for building such weapons. Two years ago, he said, his office took on YouTube after finding cases in which young people described being shown instructions on how to build a 3D gun. In response to that outreach, according to Bragg, the platform changed its algorithm.
Even with the new law, officials emphasized that street-level work remains central to driving violence down. Bragg said shootings in New York are at an all-time low, and pointed to community-based outreach and time spent with young people as among the most impactful tools. This Saturday, his office is hosting another cash-for-gun buyback at Central Baptist Church on West 92nd Street, with no questions asked, as the broader campaign continues.