The New York legislature is in the early stages of considering a bill that would require people who buy certain types of 3D printers to pass a background check.

State Assembly Bill A2228 states that “any retailer of a three-dimensional printer sold in this state capable of printing a firearm, or any components of a firearm, is required and authorized to request and receive criminal history information.”

The state then has 15 days to run through the buyer’s information, look for weapons charges or other disqualifying criminal history, and make a decision. This, in fact, means that anyone who buys a 3D printer capable of printing any piece of weaponry (of which there are only a few 3D printers) must go through a criminal background check.

We live in a world where anyone with access to a few 3D printers, the right digital documents, and some practical know-how can print and assemble a traceable handgun. It is likely that Luigi Mangione, the killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, used 3D-printed. Glock-style pistol to hit his target. Governments around the world are struggling with how to manage the problem of rampant, home-printed, unregistered weapons spreading across the planet on demand.

The A2228 is a solution, but I have a hard time imagining Amazon or other online retailers requiring people in NYC to pass a background check to buy a 3D printer online. But stranger things happen.

Democratic State Sen. Jenifer Rajkumar is the lead sponsor of A2228, which was proposed on January 15 and is still in committee. Rajkumar tried before passing a similar law in 2023, but it died in committee.

“Three-dimensional printed guns are increasing every year. There were 100 taken off the streets of New York City in 2019. That number rises to 637 in 2022. At the same time, ghost shootings that gun has increased by 1,000% across the country. Currently, three-dimensional printers allow people to make, buy, sell, and use non- traceable guns without any background checks. This bill requires a background check so that three-dimensionally printed firearms do not end up in the wrong hands,” Rajkumar said in a memo. which is included in the 2023 bill.

NY state bills can get comments from the public, which are public on the legislature’s website. “I strongly oppose the proposed law requiring background checks for the purchase of 3D printers,” said one commenter. “While I understand the intent to address concerns about the misuse of 3D printing technology, this move raises significant issues related to overreach, effectiveness, and unintended consequences. .”

State laws regulating 3D-printed firearms are all over the place. In California, the state treating them as regular weapons. This means that a person must be legally allowed to own a gun, the gun must be “legal” and it must have a serial number. There are similar laws in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and outright bans in other states.

Currently, there is no federal 3D-printed gun law. The Biden White House passed an executive order aimed at regulating people selling 3D-printed gun assembly kits. But, like California, Biden’s EO is an attempt to regulate 3D-printed guns as if they were normal guns.

The truth is that anyone who 3D prints a weapon at home probably isn’t interested in putting their homebrew gun in federal databases in the first place.