Sponsors (5)
The bill aims to reduce the spread and use of untraceable 3D-printable firearms to improve law enforcement effectiveness and public safety, but does so at the cost of First Amendment risks, economic and innovation impacts on researchers and makers, and added government enforcement and privacy burdens.
Law enforcement and local governments will have an easier time investigating, tracing, and interdicting firearms made from downloadable 3D-print files, which can reduce the proliferation of untraceable 'ghost' guns.
The public — especially communities at higher risk of gun violence — may be safer because the bill makes it harder for prohibited persons to obtain undetectable or untraceable firearms produced from online schematics, reinforcing background-check regimes.
By reducing the online availability of downloadable files that enable home production of firearms, the bill aims to curb interstate trafficking and illegal distribution of untraceable weapons that contribute to gun crime.
Programmers, makers, and researchers could face criminal liability or chilling effects on lawful technical speech, raising substantial First Amendment concerns.
Legitimate research, innovation, hobbyist activity, open-source projects, and small businesses that use or host 3D-print files may incur compliance burdens, legal risk, or lost opportunities if files are restricted or platforms preemptively remove content.
Enforcement will likely require government and platform monitoring of online content, creating new resource demands for federal agencies and potential privacy trade-offs for users, which increases costs to taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Criminalizes intentionally distributing online CAD files or code that program 3D printers to make or finish firearms.
Official title: To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the distribution of 3D printer plans for the printing of firearms, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 25, 2025 by Jared Moskowitz · Last progress June 25, 2025
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly post or otherwise distribute digital files or code that automatically instruct a 3D printer (or similar device) to manufacture a firearm or finish an unfinished firearm part. The change adds a new prohibition to federal firearms law aimed at stopping online sharing of CAD files and other code used to produce untraceable or undetectable weapons.