Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he plans to push for a nationwide crackdown on 3D-printed firearms, building on legislation he’s promoted to New York state lawmakers in recent years.
Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled the proposal during her 2026 State of the State address on Tuesday. It would require 3D printers sold in New York to include technology that blocks the unlicensed production of firearms and gun parts. It would also make it a crime to possess, sell or distribute digital blueprints for printing illegal guns.
Bragg, who recently became head of Prosecutors Against Gun Violence, a national advocacy group, said Wednesday he hopes to bring the effort to other states and “blanket the marketplace.”
“Think of a world where you can't buy a printer that prints a 3D gun,” Bragg said during a CityLaw Breakfast event at New York Law School. “We don't then have to do the enforcement cases.”
He said some companies have voluntarily adopted machine learning tools that stop printers from producing firearms.
"It's one thing for a company to voluntarily engage with us, but if the governor's budget becomes law come April, that's the law of the land," he said.
The effort is part of Bragg’s broader push to target the systems that enable gun violence, not just individual offenders. He likened the proposed restrictions to existing limits on home printers, which can’t produce counterfeit currency.
Authorities have raised alarms about ghost guns, untraceable firearms that lack serial numbers and can be made at home. The number recovered nationwide rose sharply between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Bragg said ghost guns now rival the “iron pipeline” — the flow of illegal guns from other states — as a source of weapons on New York streets. He said his office has increasingly targeted people who sell plastic weapons and the parts used to assemble them.
He described how investigators asked teenagers in one case how they learned to print ghost guns. The teens said they discovered instructional videos through YouTube’s algorithm while watching "Call of Duty" gameplay.
Bragg said his office then pressed YouTube to tweak the algorithm and the company complied.
Representatives for 3D printer manufacturers and the state’s gun lobby did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Bragg also said he plans to target bitcoin-related money laundering, though he declined to offer details.
