Lawmakers want to restrict 3D printing to stop ghost guns. Critics say it won’t work

New ‘print blocker’ proposals would force printers to scan and reject files, a move opponents say risks privacy and targets the wrong problem.

A NYPD Detective shows ghost gun parts during a press conference at 1 Police Plaza in March. [Photo: Barry Williams/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images]

BY Chris Stokel-Walker

America’s stance on gun rights has always been complicated. On the one hand, people fight vociferously for their Second Amendment rights. On the other, 47,000 people died due to gun-related injuries in 2023 alone.

That uneasiness reaches beyond the right to bear arms. It’s increasingly affecting people’s ability to pursue a seemingly unrelated hobby: 3D printing.

State lawmakers across the United States are debating—and in........

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