Because it makes for a good distraction from actual problems that they don't care to solve because those problems would require them to heavily tax millionaires and billionaires.

It's not about firearms.

It's about controlling what you can 3D print.

When your 3D printer has to connect to a third party service to check if it's allowed to print what you just sent it. That's a clear vector for companies to enforce IPs.

Printing a replacement part for your appliance? Sorry, they're blocked.

Printing parts to repair part of your vehicle or snap something back on? Sorry, that's banned.

Printing something that resembles the intellectual property of any other company? Sorry, that's banned.

Can't have you cutting into the profits of corporations by self-servicing and self-repairing.

Also a mass surveillance device to produce surveillance of what people are 3D printing and report it to a central authority.

Because it makes firearms available to people without having to jump through hoops the government can track, but they can make a machine that makes flexi-dragons into a boogyman, so they throw a "protect the children" in the bill and it automatically passes.

Because it doesn't make money for Big War

Because our government is run by old dumbasses.

Because money. Firearms are everywhere in the US because of gun lobbyists. If citizens print their own guns then money is lost.

Because between them, the legislators don't have two brain-cells to rub together and figure out why this is an un-enforceable bunch of bullshit.

See Luigi.

It's not the gun, it's gun makers worried about DIY gunsmithing. The politicians are just the bitches.

There are a few layers to it.

On the surface, the excuse they give is that printed guns don't have serial numbers and thus can't be tracked. They call them "ghost guns" to instill an element of horror in the messaging.

If you dig a bit deeper, you'll see that it's the same old tactic of manufacturing outrage and spreading fear in order to manipulate the masses. Even when people supposedly see through it, on the collective level it still works. So it seems to be an effective tool, which encourages them to keep using it.

On a deeper level than that, it's a trojan horse. Just one more way to restrict consumers rather than holding corporations accountable. One more way to maintain their hold on people's wallets. 3D printers give people too much autonomy, enabling them to be self-reliant. The people benefiting from the current system can't have that, they won't tolerate it. "No, you'll spend $50 on that action figure, and if you need ten of them you can either cough up the dough or go to hell." Basically.

Also not from America, but I assume this is just the same sort of thinking as trying to ban trench coats after the Columbine shooting, IE: they have to look like they're doing something, but they can't do the actual thing that would solve the problem because there's too much money involved and they're greedy cowards.

Also it's weird that Teen Vogue was the best source that came up when I searched for that lol.

Just like all the "for the kids" bullshit excuses to enact draconian population monitoring, this system will make it harder for small manufacturing shops to compete with the mega corps.

They are essentially trying to regulate technology they know very little about.

That's not surprising, that's just what politicians do. Especially politicians who are 65+ years old and completely out of touch with technology.

So in other words, what else is new?

The danger if this passes isn't that someone will be able to successfully implement some manner of system for identifying gun parts which will, apparently, rely on pixie dust and magic. In reality this will effectively prohibit 3D printer sales in California entirely because compliance is literally impossible. And it'll and give overreaching cops and prosecutors yet another nonsense charge they can arbitrarily slap people with over "circumventing" this mystical technology which does not in fact exist if they, ye gods forbid, build their own printer.

It's the same horseshit rationale as the spent casing "microstamping" fantasy that legislators have been salivating about for decades. It doesn't work, it'll never work, but that's not going to stop them from wishing it does and therefore turning it into a defacto ban.

Keep in mind, California also has the precedent of their infamous approved handguns list, which notoriously does things like arbitrarily declaring that the black version of some model of gun is legal, but possession of the stainless version of the exact same gun is a felony. We're not dealing with people in possession of any type of rationality, here.

Frankly it seems more like a mild inconvenience then actual prevention. I don't really care how smart a software gets, it can't predict and prevent all possible configurations of prints that could possibly be used to create functioning guns without being so overly restrictive that even perfectly innocent prints would get flagged constantly in which case they simple won't sell to normal users.

It would be a constant game of whack a mole with new creative designs, using multiple printers or with non-printed parts in the design. But no hardware or software that a smart enough engineer has their hands on is impervious to mods either, especially if they're motivated like someone seeking to produce firearms would be.

It's an overreaching law that will likely solve little to nothing, but might make 3d printers in general a bit more annoying to work with. "Sorry, you can't make your dice tower because there's a 16 percent change that it could be capable of firing an RPG out of the dragon's mouth. Please make your design at least 12 percent less gun-ish and try again."

This is why politicians should be automatically retired at 65. We shouldn't be allowing people who grew up without seatbelts to make any decisions involving technology.

They are essentially trying to regulate technology they know very little about.

You're surprised that law makers are trying to regulate things they know nothing about? Oh....oh I have like 2000 years worth of news for you....

I know I'm not supposed to attribute to malice that which could be attributed to stupidity, but sometimes I think the legislators' ignorance is actually a front, and their real goal is just even more surveillance.

This is a lost battle either way but a non-lost opportunity to acquire some power

Slicers are open source so anyone can and will remove surveillance malware from it.

This would be impossible. Orca is rhe most widely used, and many printers don't ship woth a slicer. Since Orca is FOSS, and there is no sale, there is no way to regulate that.

Firmware on the other hand, is different. The catch is just about every printer can have Klipper installed on it (most just have a modified Klipper already), which, means the law is pointless since it is also FOSS.

Which unfortunately means the base price for a California-legal 3d printer is going to be exorbitant.

Here's the thing. This isn't about banning weapons. It's about controlling access to IPs and preventing right to repair.

A forcibly Internet connected online. Only 3D printer that has to first check a public database to see if it's allowed to print the thing you just sent is most definitely going to be used to block you from printing parts to fix your appliances or devices.

And definitely going to be used to provide copyright protection and blocking to IPS of large corporations and companies.

I would like some regulation of middle aged men with beards 3D printing excessive numbers of Magic the Gathering characters.

It is specifically trying to prevent people from making firearms that is not detectable with a metal detector. You are allowed to create your own firearm. As long as it is detectable with a metal detector.

I'm not here to argue their method of enforcement. I'm just saying what the purpose is.

Messaging your representatives is a waste of time and only exists to make you feel good about yourself.

The only way to fix problems like this is to vote for better reps, but we're too stupid to do that so the problem doesn't get solved.

Mental health care is a challenge even in universal health countries. MH is very time intensive.

Even if it was in good faith: 3D printed guns are not a problem. Even if you made one it is going to jam up very quickly due to softening and melting, if not just explode all together.

It would be easier, faster, and more effective to build a gun from things sourced at the local hardware store.

Even then, If someone is going to commit a crime with a gun they are unlikely to build it themselves. Most guns used in crimes are actually legally purchased, purchased at a gunshow, or purchased on the black market.

Anyone 3D printing a gun is doing it as a novelty. Because of that I don't see this as a second amendment violation. This is blantantly a first and fourth violation.

It is nothing less than, I say without exaggeration, a war on property rights as a whole.

Great points, I think you're on to something.
I think the old saying "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity" doesn't apply when malice and corporate interests are in alignment. Now I'm curious to dig into who actually wrote the bill, and who are they financially supported by...

Banning anything is easy. Enforcement is hard.

When you're next door to Arizona - regularly in the top five more prodigious gun manufacturing states - it seems absurd to worry about weapons made out of extruded plastic. Ruger & Company is going to do a better job than anything a printer can churn out.

Ban spears, knives, pipes, cars, fertilizer, aluminum, bows, blowguns, poison, fists.

Or, just run a decent society where nobody feels opressed, and has no desire to lash out.

Tax the billionaires out of their billions, or put a tight leash on everyone to allow the billionaires to become trillionaires. Which is it?

Let's not forget how Gavin Newsom vetoed universal healthcare in California. Also, Gavin Newsom gave prepaid phones to a bunch of CEOs and told them to call him if the CEOs need anything. Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/18/newsom-ceos-burner-phones-00235044

They will need to ban breathing while poor soon the way they are going.

Can't ban your way out of the greatest wealth inequality since the Great Depression. But they will try, won't they?

It’s not law yet, and may never be.

I was going to say, I thought open source 3D Printer designs/kits have been a thing for awhile. My friend just built his own last year using his original 3D printer to help in the process, lol