Post #1195689 · Elektrine

@cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de

2026-04-14 08:00 UTC

Making a gun is already illegal in California and Washington. This stupid law won't make any difference. If someone is willing to break the law to make a gun, they probably are not going to follow this law either. 3D printed guns are rarely used to commit crimes anyways. It takes a lot of time and effort to get one to work well. This is probably about companies like Bamboo Labs wanting an excuse to lock down printers even more. It will also make it difficult or impossible for smaller companies to sell 3D printers in California to get rid of competition.

Replies (3)

@sorghum@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-14 11:41

Yeah, kinda reminds me of when [Sony music put a rootkit virus on their music CDs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootkit_scandal) except this time it's going through the state governments to encrypted things. This also feels as dumb as making math illegal in terms of outlawing encryption or making some numbers illegal because when arranged in a certain way they are an .stl file for a copyrighted character or an .mp3 file for a song. This is just making something that is already illegal more illegal and opening a massive hole for government and corpo spying.

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@WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 2026-04-14 10:05

And probably an attempt to get licensing fees from printing STL file, so you can't print any Disney figurine without paying them.

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@pfried@reddthat.com 2026-04-14 17:52

Unlike laws against making guns, this law applies to printer sellers, not to their users.

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