3D-printed firearm

A 3D-printed firearm is a firearm that is partially or primarily produced with a 3D printer. While plastic printed firearms are associated with improvised firearms, or the politics of gun control, digitally-produced metal firearms are more associated with commercial manufacturing or experiments in traditional firearms design.

Although it is possible to create fully-printed plastic firearms and silencers, these tend to have short working lives. 3D-printed gun culture is built around the printing of open-source firearm frames and receivers, the use of standard, metal commercial components (like an action and barrel), and other parts that can be made or purchased in a parts kit.

While 3D-printed parts are made in the development and production of conventional firearms, they are more commonly associated with homemade firearms in American gun politics. 3D-printed parts complicate the debates regarding high-capacity magazine and assault weapon bans, as well as federal regulations like the ATF's pistol brace rule.





== History ==

In May 2013, the American company Defense Distributed published plans for the first complete firearm that could be downloaded and reproduced by anyone with a desktop 3D printer. Defense Distributed also designed the first generation of 3D-printed AR-15–type rifle receivers and magazines. With these early online publications, the United States Department of State demanded removal of the files from the company's website DEFCAD, deeming the activity a violation of the Arms Export Control Act. In 2015, Defense Distributed sued the State Department on free speech grounds, and in 2018, the Department of Justice settled, acknowledging the American right to publish instructions for the production of 3D-printed firearms online.