Hochul Takes Aim at Makers of Guns and 3D Printers

It’s already illegal to possess an unserialized or unregistered firearm in New York, but if New York Gov. Kathy Hochul gets her way it will soon be a crime to make a gun using 3D-printed parts even if the owner takes steps to serialize it or register the firearm with their local authorities. 

Ahead of Hochul’s State of the State address next week, the governor announced several new actions aimed at both individuals who want to build their own gun and companies who produce firearms for sale at retail. 

The proposal, which requires legislative approval, would set criminal penalties for the manufacture of 3D-printed firearms and require minimum safety standards for 3D printer manufacturers to “block the production” of firearms and gun components. The bill would also require gunmakers to design pistols so they can’t be modified into “machine guns” and require local police departments and sheriffs’ offices to report recoveries of 3D printed guns.

Hochul said as firearm technology continues to evolve, the proposed regulations would help the state uphold its “strongest-in-the-nation” gun control laws and continue its progress in reducing gun violence, with the latest data showing a 60% reduction in shootings in New York City over the past year.

“Public safety is one of my top priorities,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in remarks Wednesday. “From the iron pipeline to the plastic pipeline, these proposals will keep illegal ghost guns off of New York streets, and enhance measures to track and block the production of dangerous and illegal firearms in our state.” 

New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is among those backing Hochul’s proposal. The Democrat said while homicides and shootings are declining, the “widening threat” from 3-D printed firearms is increasing. 

“These illegal firearms are being manufactured in homes and used in crimes right now, which is why I have been working with my colleagues in Albany and the private sector over the past several years to stop their proliferation,” he said in a statement. “Passing these measures will reduce crime and strengthen public safety for all New Yorkers, and I thank Governor Hochul for her continued leadership and collaboration.”

Bragg has already been threatening companies that make 3D printers with lawsuits unless they prohibit codes that can be used to print gun parts, though he hasn’t had a ton of success with his strong-arm tactics. Hochul’s bill is pretty clearly a response to Bragg’s failure; if companies won’t voluntarily bend the knee to the D.A.’s demands, the governor is prepared to punish them until they comply. 

The text of Hochul’s proposed legislation isn’t available online yet, so we don’t know the specific language that’s aimed at the firearms industry, but my guess is that it will borrow liberally from California’s Assembly Bill 1127, which prohibits the sale of any “semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pisto”, which is defined as any handgun with a cruciform trigger bar. 

Glock has already announced changes to the design of its pistols to supposedly make it more difficult to illegally install a switch, though several GunTubers have already demonstrated the illegal modifications can still be made on the new “V” series of handguns. Depending on how Hochul’s bill is written, it could impact the availability of almost every striker-fired pistol that’s currently on the market. 

If Hochul’s bill does become law, it will likely face legal challenges on both First and Second Amendment grounds. While the Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the issue, several courts across the country have determined that computer code is protected speech, which opens the door to challenges to the proposed mandates blocking the use of codes designed to print gun parts. There is also unquestionably a national tradition of building guns as part of our right to keep and bear them, so making it a crime to build and possess a firearm that uses 3D printed parts would also run afoul of the Second Amendment. 

Hochul’s not worried about any of that, of course. She’s already implemented and defended a variety of blatant infringements on our Second Amendment rights, from bans on so-called assault weapons to a plethora of “gun-free zones” that make it impossible to lawfully carry a firearm in state parks, public transportation, restaurants where alcohol is served, and Times Square (among other locations). Today’s announcement is just m ore of the same; legislation ostensibly aimed at increasing public safety, but in reality targeting the culture of lawful gun ownership and the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. 

Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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