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California bill requiring 3D printers to block firearm printing becomes law — existing machines are exempt, but mandate hinges on unwritten ASTM standard Assuming a standard is published, that is. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a bill that requires 3D printer manufacturers to include firearm-blocking technology in their products once an industry standard is published by ASTM International. This makes California the second state to enact firearm restrictions on 3D printers following New York. Two other states, Colorado and Washington state, also have similar bills that would require “blocking features” moving through state legislatures. Since the law only affects 3D printers that have yet to be sold, existing 3D printers do not need to be retrofitted with firearm-blocking technology, addressing one of the major concerns of the 3D printing community. It’s also not a straightforward ban on non-compliant printers and only regulates the sale and transfer of 3D printers, not their ownership or use. The application of firearm-blocking technology on 3D printers will only be required for manufacturers once ASTM International, a non-profit organization that sets voluntary standards across different industries, publishes or adopts a standard for firearm-blocking technology for 3D printers. The law mandates the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to check for a standard quarterly, starting no later than July 1, 2027, until July 1, 2029. If the organization hasn’t published a standard by that date, then the DOJ is no longer required to check for it, meaning the process to write the guidelines or regulations that manufacturers need to follow to sell 3D printers in California might not even begin. There are currently two primary ways to detect if a print file is intended for a 3D-printed firearm — it could either be matched against a known database of gun files or analyzed by a trained model to determine if the design could potentially be used for a firearm. However, both techniques suffer from shortcomings. The former could easily be defeated by just modifying the file, like changing its size or splitting it into multiple pieces for later assembly, while the latter is prone to false positives and could prevent the printing of barrels, brackets, levers, tubes, and other parts that may look similar but have a totally different, legitimate use. This is one of the reasons why the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in June 2026 that “there is no world where the mandated technology actually works as intended.” The California law attempts to address these concerns raised by 3D printing enthusiasts by mandating the DOJ to base its implementation on standards set by ASTM International instead of defining it itself. So, until the standards group publishes or adopts one within the set timeframe, the requirements for manufacturers to build the technology into their 3D printer models would not come into play. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. - WJS_ They don't care that it's impossible to implement, hating guns is like a religion to them.Reply - Chokkymalk Americans will do anything BUT legislate effective gun control laws to stop gun violence, then act confused on why kids keep dying from gun violenceReply - Chokkymalk WJS_ said:They don't care that it's impossible to implement, hating guns is like a religion to them.it's not though ... if they actually hated guns in California, they would do something about them. this ain't it. let's not even get into how Democrats aren't leftists Reply - jc14641 Admin said:California will require 3D printer manufacturers to include firearm blocking technology once ASTM International publishes a standard for it. However, the California DOJ is only mandated to check for one until July 1, 2029, after which it is no longer obliged by law to do so. California bill requiring 3D printers to block firearm printing becomes law : Read moreWhy am I not surprised? I’m not sure what this accomplishes aside from harming manufacturing. If someone is really interested in 3d printing gun parts with a new printer all they have to do is build their own which is a well established hobby or drive over to the Best Buy in Nevada and buy one. Another inane law from the nanny state. Reply - bill001g Chokkymalk said:Americans will do anything BUT legislate effective gun control laws to stop gun violence, then act confused on why kids keep dying from gun violenceThere are massive amounts of laws to prevent gun violence the problem is they do not actually enforce the penalties. A huge amount of gun crime is now actually being committed by "kids". You have 12 year olds with handguns modified to be fully automatic. Even when they are caught they will brag that you can do nothing to them because they are a minor. Then you have people who have commit crime in the past and even having a gun should result in a 2 year mandatory prison term. They seem to drop the gun charge to give them more probation for their other crimes. If they would actually put people in prison for 20 years when they shot a gun at someone maybe the rest would get the message. Reply - anthonymcdevitt91 Poorly written article. This law is already dead in the water. ASTM does not write standards. They have public stated they will not write this standard and want absolutely nothing to do with it. The only reason they appointed ASTM was a means to destroy the bill without actually having to say no. Because you see, this is California. People in Congress are absolutely terrified of voting against a bill that supposedly addresses gun control. Even though it was a terribly written law that would essentially ruin the 3d printing industry. So they voted yes for it, but gut it so that it will never actually accomplish anything. Which, I guess, at least it's better than passing it as written. We owe thanks to luis rossman for this. Write a better article next time. Try talking about the company that sponsored this law that also happened to write software for detecting possible gun parts on a 3d printer that has been going around to all the printer companies and trying to preemptively sell them their software. Reply - anthonymcdevitt91 jc14641 said:Why am I not surprised? I’m not sure what this accomplishes aside from harming manufacturing. If someone is really interested in 3d printing gun parts with a new printer all they have to do is build their own which is a well established hobby or drive over to the Best Buy in Nevada and buy one. Another inane law from the nanny state.It accomplishes nothing. They gutted the bill without actually having to say no to it. ASTM does not write standards. They have publicly stated they don't and will not write this standard and want absolutely nothing to do with it Reply - rgd1101 Don't see how is this suppose to work. they can break it to smaller pieces or make something else then mod it afterward.Reply - Thunder64 Chokkymalk said:it's not though ... if they actually hated guns in California, they would do something about them. this ain't it. let's not even get into how Democrats aren't leftists They do hate guns in California. What would you like them to do, forced buybacks? Reply - Boba Bob Chokkymalk said:it's not though ... if they actually hated guns in California, they would do something about them. this ain't it. let's not even get into how Democrats aren't leftistsOh yes the communists running Commiefornia do hate guns. They would get rid of them all if they could. But they can't. Commiefornia still has to deal with the US Constitution and that's the supreme law of the land in the US. Reply
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