A 3D-printed firearm is a firearm that is partially or primarily produced with a 3D printer. While plastic printed firearms are associated with improvised firearms, or the politics of gun control, digitally-produced metal firearms are more associated with commercial manufacturing or experiments in traditional firearms design.New Zealand leads the way in Titanium Additive Manufacturing, Metal Additive Manufacturing, May 12, 2014. (archive)
Although it is possible to create fully printed plastic firearms and silencers, these tend to have short operating lives. 3D-printed gun culture is built around the printing of open-source firearm frames and receivers, the use of standard, metal commercial components (such as an action and barrel), and other parts that can be made or purchased in a parts kit.
While 3D-printed parts are made in the development and production of conventional firearms, they are more commonly associated with homemade firearms and the 3D2A movement in American gun politics. 3D-printed parts complicate the debates regarding high-capacity magazine and assault weapon bans, as well as federal regulations, such as the ATF's pistol brace rule.
History
In May 2013, the American company Defense Distributed published plans for the first complete firearm that could be downloaded and reproduced by anyone with a desktop 3D printer. Defense Distributed also designed the first generation of 3D-printed AR-15–type rifle receivers and magazines. With these early online publications, the United States Department of State demanded removal of the files from the company's website DEFCAD, deeming the activity a violation of the Arms Export Control Act. In 2015, Defense Distributed sued the State Department on free speech grounds, and in 2018, the Department of Justice settled, acknowledging the American right to publish instructions for the production of 3D-printed firearms online.
Legal action against Defense Distributed inspired the creation of additional decentralized 3D-printed firearm communities, including Deterrence Dispensed in 2019, and the modern 3D2A movement. Members of these communities are generally anonymous and are often based in non-U.S. jurisdictions.
In October 2020, Jacob Duygu, a Kurdish German gun designer known by the pseudonym "JStark1809," released the FGC-9, which became the world's most popular printed gun. A second model was later made in April 2021, and both could be made in a matter of weeks with less than $500 in tools and materials.
Rebels in the 2021 phase of the Myanmar Civil War used 3D-printed firearms against the military junta, ပြည်တွင်းထုတ် TZ-23 နဲ့ ပြည်ပထုတ် M4, AK 47 ဘာကွာလဲ ကြည့်ရအောင်. Hornet PDF. YouTube. December 12, 2023. ပြည်တွင်းထုတ် TZ-23. Hornet PDF. YouTube. December 12, 2023.ကလလတ ကထုတ်တဲ့ TZ-23 မောင်းပြန် ရိုင်ဖယ်ဘယ်လောက် ပြင်းအားရှိသလဲ. New Day Myanmar. November 26, 2023 ေမာင္းျပန္ေတြ ကိုယ္တိုင္ထုတ္ေနပီ ဂုဏ္ယူဝင့္ႂကြားစရာရၿပီငါတို႔✊ ႐ုပ္/သံ Thadin Media. November 26, 2023. but the frequency lessened as funds and conventional weaponry became more available.How rebel fighters are using 3D-printed arms to fight the Myanmar junta January 7, 2022. France24. Thomas Eydoux. သရီးဒီပရင်တာထုတ်သေနတ်နဲ့ ပြောစမှတ်ဖြစ်တဲ့ မြန်မာ့ပြည်တွင်းစစ်. June 25, 2025. BBC Burmese.
In December 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was allegedly killed with a printed pistol and printed silencer. The gun appeared to be a "Chairmanwon V1", a remix a 2021 Glock-pattern design called "FMDA 19.2".
In January 2026, the California Attorney General sued a group called "The Gatalog" for illegally distributing hundreds of 3D gun files to individuals across the state. Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced the lawsuit as a "landmark" event that would hold the defendants accountable for spreading machine gun conversion devices, "Glock switches," large-capacity magazines, and other illegal products to individuals without a license to manufacture firearms in California, which had recently criminalized the distribution of 3D2A files.
In August 2026, federal district judge Reed O'Connor ruled in Defense Distributed v. Blanche that the private making of firearms was activity protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Effect on gun control
After Defense Distributed released its first generation of files, world media questioned the effects that 3D printing and widespread, consumer-level CNC machining would have on international gun control laws.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center released a memo stating "Significant advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printer files for firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risks from unqualified gun seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D-printed guns," and that "proposed legislation to ban 3D printing of weapons may deter, but cannot completely prevent their production. Even if the practice is prohibited by new legislation, online distribution of these digital files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded music, movie or, software files."
Internationally, where gun controls are generally tighter than in the United States, some commentators have said the impact may be more strongly felt, as alternative firearms are not as easily obtainable. European officials have noted that producing a 3D-printed gun would be illegal under their gun control laws, and that criminals have access to other sources of weapons, but noted that as the technology improved, the risks of an effect would increase. Over the past decade, authorities and law enforcement agencies in many countries, including Brazil, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom, reported a heavy surge in downloads of digital blueprints for 3D-printed firearms.
Attempts to restrict the distribution of digital blueprints for 3D-printed firearms over the Internet have been likened to the futility of preventing the widespread distribution of DeCSS, which enabled DVD ripping. After the U.S. government had Defense Distributed take down the digital blueprints, they were still widely available via The Pirate Bay and other file-sharing sites. Some US legislators have proposed regulations on 3D printers to prevent their use for printing guns. 3D printing advocates have suggested that such regulations would be futile, could cripple the 3D printing industry, and could infringe on free speech rights.
3D printing pioneer Professor Hod Lipson suggested that gunpowder could be controlled instead.
Chelsea Parsons at the Center for American Progress advocated technical countermeasures designed to prevent owners from printing guns. The EURion constellation is used in a similar way to prevent color photocopiers from producing counterfeit currency, and the Counterfeit Deterrence System is used in image editing software.
In 2022, 3D-printing led to the proliferation of the Glock switch, which converts a Glock pistol into a select-fire machine pistol. The ATF commented in February 2023 that converted Glocks were found "on a weekly basis".
Legal status
Australia In Australia, New South Wales' state law criminalizes the possession of digital blueprints and files to 3D print firearms under Section 51F of the Firearms Act 1996. In one case in 2015, a loaded, 3D-printed firearm was found during a police raid on a meth lab.
In another case in February 2017, Sicen Sun was arrested on charges related to 3D printable guns. During the trial in December 2017, he pleaded guilty to charges including possessing a digital blueprint for the manufacture of firearms, manufacturing a pistol without a licence permit, and possessing an unauthorised pistol. In a sentence hearing on August 6, 2018, he told the court he initially wanted to replicate a gun from the videogame Halo, and when he started searching blueprints online, he downloaded plans for other guns that looked "cool". Sun had previously posted an advertisement on the internet to sell one of his imitation weapons for "$1 million negotiable" on a Facebook buy, swap, and sell group, which set off the investigation.
Canada
The Canadian Criminal Code makes it a crime for a person to manufacture (or offer to manufacture) any firearm or ammunition knowing that the person is not authorized to do so under Canadian laws or regulations. Authorizations to manufacture can be obtained, for example, as a capability attached to a firearms business license. Moreover, the Canadian government has stated that "regardless of manufacturing method, a business licence is required to produce a firearm." At least two separate cases during 2020 have led to charges for 3D printing of firearms.
In 2023, a further ban was placed on computer data pertaining to certain firearms and prohibited devices, making it illegal to 1) possess or access such data for the purpose of manufacturing or trafficking, and/or 2) distribute such data knowing that the computer data are intended to be used for the purpose of manufacturing or trafficking. This ban was targeted at 3D-printed firearms, but legally includes any other manufacturing method, and includes prohibited devices (e.g., suppressors, high-capacity magazines, short barrels, and objects that resemble real firearms).
Germany The Halle synagogue shooting gained particular notoriety for the use of improvised firearms by the perpetrator.Halle (Saale): Stephan Balliet bereitete Tat seit Monaten vor. Spiegel Online, October 14, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019 (in German). 3D-printed magazines and a hybrid gun with a 3D-printed lower receiver were carried by the shooter, though left unused. The shooter was later found to have 3D printed several additional guns. This sparked questions about the legal status of such firearms, though the consensus in most parties represented in the Bundestag was that no additional legislation would be necessary,"Aus dem 3D-Drucker: Muss das Waffenrecht geändert werden?" Tagesschau, October 17, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019 (in German). as the current German gun law explicitly prohibits the unlicensed manufacture of firearms regardless of method.See Waffengesetz (WaffG), Section 4, § 51.
Ireland
On 12 May 2026, Craig McKeever was sentenced to four years and six months, with the final six months suspended, after pleading guilty to possession of a 3D printed .22 calibre pistol and three rounds of ammunition. Detective Garda Niall White told the court that 3d printed firearms were becoming "more prevalent". Italy 3D-printed firearms in Italy are subjected to the same laws as typical gunsmithed firearms, only requiring a license, as long as the firearms stay within legal limits. In November 2021, it was reported that in Naples and other areas of Campania, the local Camorra has begun using 3D-printed firearms and ammunition due to ease of access and for selling on to other gangs. This was found out via the discovery of videos and images on a seized iPhone of said firearms.
Japan In Japan, in May 2014, Yoshitomo Imura was the first person to be arrested for possessing printed guns. Imura had five guns, two of which were capable of being fired, but had no ammunition. Imura had previously posted blueprints and video of his Zig Zag revolvers to the Internet, which set off the investigation.
Singapore The Singaporean government passed a law in January 2021 that made it an offence for anyone in Singapore to possess a digital blueprint of a gun or gun part without a license under the Guns, Explosives and Weapons Control Act.
United Kingdom