Lawmakers in an increasing number of states are attempting to impose restrictions on 3D-printed firearms amid a Second Amendment fight over ghost guns.As a bipartisan slate of states attempt to restrict the possession and manufacturing of ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers often made or modified with the use of 3D printers — Second Amendment activists and gun rights advocates argue the restrictions impinge on their constitutional right to bear arms.At least 16 states have now put 3D gun laws on the books, with seven states adding major legislation this year.Lawmakers in Colorado, New Jersey, Maine, New York, Virginia, and Washington have all imposed various restrictions on weapons manufactured without serial numbers in 2026 while California's legislators added to the states already robust anti-3D manufactured firearm laws by advancing a bill that would require 3D printer manufacturers to equip their devices with technology that would block the printing of firearms.MARYLAND MAN ON THE RUN AFTER POLICE ALLEGEDLY FIND MASSIVE STASH OF ILLEGAL GHOST GUNS IN HOMEGov.Kathy Hochul holds up a 3D-printed gun part, alongside a Lego piece for size comparison, during a press conference held at the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany on March 23, 2026.
(Alexander MacDougall/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)New York lawmakers added a similar law to the state's budget this year that will go into effect by mid-June.Manhattan's Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg compared the law to statutes preventing commercial and consumer printers from producing U.S.
dollars."We're going to put technology into our machines such that they will not be a 3D gun.Much like, you know, we don't have, you know, commercial printers that print US currency," Bragg told ABC 7 Eyewitness News.In January, Maine's legislature passed a bill requiring serial numbers on all firearms, included 3D-manufactured guns.
The same month, former New Jersey Gov.Phil Murph...