New Everytown Report Highlights Urgent Policy Actions Needed to Combat 3D-Printed Guns

WASHINGTON — Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund today released a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive white paper highlighting the dangers of 3D-printed guns and putting forward policy solutions that could help keep law enforcement and communities safe.

“We can’t afford to live in a world where children, criminals, and gun traffickers can 3D print fully functional guns at home,” said Nick Suplina, SVP of Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “In concert with the private sector, lawmakers must urgently take action to regulate 3D-printing technology and keep these weapons out of our communities.”

The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson using a homemade firearm with a 3D-printed frame and silencer marked the first time many in the general public heard about 3D-printed guns — but this was not the first instance of criminal violence with this type of firearm, and as 3D-printing technology becomes more affordable, accessible, and advanced, it will not be the last. Read the full white paper here.

Key points from the report include:

• The current state of 3D-printing technology allows an individual to print all or key parts of a firearm at home. Like other kinds of ghost guns, 3DPFs lack serial numbers, so law enforcement is unable to trace them back to their owner when they are recovered in a crime. 

• Because 3DPFs are untraceable and require no background check, they are particularly attractive to gun traffickers who can print dozens of firearms and avoid raising alarms. 3DPFs have been linked to violent crimes, including everything from extremist plots to shootings involving teens.

• Extremists around the world have increasingly turned to 3D printing to acquire firearms; 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.

• 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.

Policy Solutions

• Lawmakers can take aggressive action to regulate and prohibit printing of 3DPFs.

• Some states already 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. 
  • These laws will be little deterrent to many traffickers and other criminals eager to arm themselves by any means.

• Another policy tool is prohibiting the distribution of 3DPF blueprints, an approach that 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.

• The Everytown white paper concludes that the single most effective step policymakers can take would be to make it impossible to print 3DPFs by targeting the 3D printing process itself.
  • The paper highlights the development technology that would make it possible for a  well-trained AI algorithm to be deployed to detect design files for 3DPFs, components, and accessories. If such files are detected, the software could potentially be used to block the printing of 3DPFs. 
  • As this technology evolves, 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.

To speak with an expert from Everytown, please contact [email protected].