If there is any facet of our Second Amendment rights where gun control activists and the firearms industry might theoretically find common ground, the 3D printing movement is arguably the most likely contender. Anti-gun activists loathe the idea of people being able to easily make their own firearms, while gun manufacturers risk losing a significant number of customers as 3D printing makes it possible to assemble multiple firearms at a relatively low cost.
Maybe that’s why the Bloomberg-funded Smoking Gun website, which is part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s anti-gun network of affiliates, is calling out the firearms industry for not attacking and working to criminalize 3D-printed firearms.
We here at The Smoking Gun won’t waste ink making the public safety case, as that doesn’t seem to move the needle for the gun industry. But 3D-printed firearms represent a direct threat to the gun industry’s business model. When someone prints a Glock-style frame at home for $50 in materials instead of buying a $500 pistol from a licensed dealer, that’s money the industry loses — even if the person uses commercially made parts to complete their homemade gun. When teenagers manufacture and sell firearms from their bedrooms — as has happened in places like Seattle, Detroit, and Utica — they’re competing directly with established manufacturers like Glock, Smith & Wesson, and Sig Sauer.
One website that hosts 3D-printed gun files reports that a single popular gun design has been downloaded over 15,000 times. Each of these downloads represents a potential lost customer for a firearms manufacturer. Additionally, advancements in 3D printing have led to designs like the FGC-9, whose name stands for “F*** Gun Control 9mm,” which can be assembled without any traditionally manufactured gun parts whatsoever. No barrel, slide, firing pin to purchase from a gun retailer — just plastic filament, metal tubing from a hardware store, and springs. These designs were explicitly designed to circumvent the need for any commercially manufactured firearm components.
Well-established gun makers like Colt, Winchester, and Remington have built their reputations over more than a century. But as 3D-printed firearms become more prevalent, those same brands will compete in the public consciousness with homemade guns that can be printed overnight by anyone with a few hundred bucks and an internet connection. As just one example, when a 3D-printed “Not-A-Glock” is recovered at a crime scene, the Glock name gets dragged through the news cycle anyway. The brand suffers the reputational damage while seeing none of the revenue. Copyright and brand issues alone should incentivize the gun industry to action.
Well thank goodness Everytown is looking out for the reputations of gun companies like Glock, right?
All sarcasm aside, there are a couple of flaws in the Smoking Gun’s pitch to get gunmakers on board the anti-3D printing bandwagon.
First, 3D printing could serve as a gateway to gun purchases, not just an offramp. If someone gets into firearms because they like the tech and engineering aspect of building their own firearm but discover they also really enjoy shooting, they might very well decide to buy their next pistol or rifle instead of building one with the aid of a 3D printer, or purchase various components and assemble a custom-built gun of their own.
Yes, each download of a gun file represents a potential lost customer for a firearms manufacturer, but it also represents a potential customer too. The 3D printing revolution is happening regardless of what the gun control lobby or firearms executives want, but it makes no sense whatsoever for gun companies to actively alienate potential customers who are also 3D printing hobbyists.
Everytown, on the other hand, has a vested interest in demonizing that very group. They’re working to ban home-built firearms and to criminalize making your own gun.
So ya, it looks like they demand that the gun industry start calling for the ban of 3D printed guns, I guess?
Everytown forgets that unlike their org, which does as Bloomberg orders, the 2A community is NOT a top-down group. Efforts to undermine our rights, including when they… pic.twitter.com/cGQC06ff96
— Kostas Moros (@MorosKostas) November 20, 2025
If the firearms industry started working hand-in-hand with groups like Everytown to restrict 3D-printed firearms, it would generate a huge backlash among their customer base… even those who have no interest in making a gun themselves. Would gun companies make more money if 3D-printed firearms weren’t a thing? Probably, but they stand to lose a lot more if they actively start fighting the technology and working against the interest of the Second Amendment community.
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