Hi, Wirb here. I was scrolling through a certain social media platform yesterday when I noticed a certain post that had been put up. This post, written by a bureau chief at the Queens, NY, DA office, said the following:
Everyone in the intelligence and security sectors should be paying attention — talking about this right now. The #3dprinted firearm movement is the new invisible threat and this article underscores the work we have been tackling in New York City since 2020 to unveil that threat. Cudos [sic] to DANY and NYPD.
What was linked on that post was an article from a local writer in NYC. A propagandist, if you will. And if nothing else, his work showcases exactly how the pro-gun control crowd fears recent innovations. Let’s dive into it, shall we?
Let’s Get to the Slop
There is a ghost in the shell, and authorities are attempting to exercise it before it becomes what radicals are calling the “new Second Amendment.”
Right off the bat, it’s made clear what the author of this article believes. They hate the old Second Amendment, and would do anything to stop the “radicals” from further reiterating what it says in anything new.
Polymer 80 Alternative
According to law enforcement sources, 3D-printed ghost guns are one of the fastest-growing threats to public safety. In just three years, the ability for any New Yorker to produce a killing device in their own home has grown exponentially. In 2022, police said the lower receiver of a handgun could be made using most 3D-printers, leaving would-be gun manufacturers only to have to order the additional parts. Now, in 2025, about 96% of a firearm can be made in any home, leaving only screws and springs to be added to make it operable.
Well, that’s a pretty substantial jump. Also note the intonations – “threats to public safety,” “killing device,” etc. It’s very clear to the author thinks guns are evil and should only be held by the government. They would never do anything to harm Americans, right? Never.
Police say this rapid progression of the deadly tech is being spearheaded by fringe groups through online chat rooms, open-source file-sharing websites and video platforms like Odysee. Cops say these gun aficionados are sharing their own designs on these pages, not necessarily because they are dangerous trigger-pullers themselves, but because they are looking for glory from their peers. However, once these schematics hit the web, anyone and everyone can access them.
Police are stupid. I’m sorry, and I respect law enforcement as much as the next guy, but on this they’re incredibly stupid. Do they believe these designers, most of whom could give the Taurus engineering team a run for their money, do this for glory? For prestige? It’s certainly not for money, since no one in the community’s ever gotten rich from designing guns. That said, prestige and an empty sack is worth the sack. It’s infinitely more principle, a belief that people deserve the opportunity to be equally armed if they desire to be.
This of course ignoring that they don’t actually know how designing guns works.
The New Second Amendment – Carioca Mentioned!
Dubbed “3D2A” and ”3D Printing For All communities,” these groups not only aim to share information with one another over the net but also to help perfect their designs, with the aim of making the weapons more durable, effective, and easier to use.
I’ve never heard it referred to as the latter, but yeah, this is pretty clear. It’s how every gun designer or bureau or designers has worked for everything ever. The only difference is that the internet makes it far easier to get collective feedback and input.
“I started this group due to too many people who want to control the actions of others. Free speech is encouraging, and like minds prosper. If you want to post about 3A stuff also, feel free. This group doesn’t restrict any topic; all I ask is no bashing members,” the description of one 3D printing Facebook group read.
Interestingly enough, apparently whoever this is seems unrelated to 3D printed guns on the platform. Note how it’s not referred to as a 3D printing group, not a 3D2A group. The description also says nothing about guns. Now why would they want to mix the messaging?
Deputy Chief of the NYPD Intelligence Division Courtney Nilan has spent years leading the charge in the battle against the proliferation of ghost guns while also raising awareness of just how rapidly the apparatus is evolving. Nilan says groups like 3D2A are nothing new, and they are only becoming more prevalent.
Leading the charge? No one in the community knew who she was until yesterday. As is, what she’s done has had sub-zero impact on the community’s ability to continue dev work. Now if the idea is preventing criminal syndicates from getting guns, sure, do that. But don’t think targeting designers and their groups is the solution. It makes about as much sense as targeting gun companies because criminals use their guns. That’s a very Mexican reaction, and it would go about as well for you as it did for them.
“If they put out their manifesto/constitution, they call 3D2A the ‘New Second Amendment.’ They are heavy into their ideology, big, anti-government, anti-establishment. They believe everybody, everybody should be able to have a gun, should be able to make a gun label, and they’re calling it the ‘New Second Amendment,’” Nilan told amNewYork. “Now what happens is, within this community, you do get some far-right, far-left in this community, they’re very strong in their beliefs.”
Yeah, they’re literally everything you hate. New York City is the epitome of American big government, Your $4 billion homeless shelter system is full of fraud. Your health department directly contributed to an outbreak of a disease that hasn’t been a huge issue since Caesar. Your transit system is a joke with sexual assaults, vermin, human waste, and your own transit authorities pocketing lost items. I hate your big government, and I don’t even live there.
As for the second part, yes, everyone should be able to have a gun. Guns don’t have labels, unless you mean serial numbers – which again suggests you need to sit down on this. Yes, this is an issue that people on both ends of the political spectrum support. Frankly it’s one of the only ones, and even if they argue with each other, they still share that belief.
According to Nilan, the issue is a multifaceted one. The layers are as dense as an onion, from the online diehards who share their own gun designs on the web to those who are printing them in their homes and selling them and those who are utilizing the weapons to rain bullets in the streets. She also stated that criminals or the mentally unstable are using 3D printing to bypass gun restrictions. Once a person has perfected a design and shares it online in open source, anyone can take advantage of it, a gun seller, a gang member, or even a terrorist.
The designers are publicly sharing something that is, in its base form, code. Code is free speech. Bernstein v. United States already made it clear that acan’t be infringed on. Printing a gun in your home is fine. Selling it’s fine too, if you serialize it, albeit to commercially do so you’d need a Type 07 FFL. As for what criminals do with firearms they’ve acquired through either fraud or theft – the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act renders manufacturers and designers not liable for the misconduct of end users, legitimate or not.
This also ignores the fact that felons and adjudicated mental defectives are already, per federal law, not able to acquire OR possess firearms legally. The suggestion that just because a design is open-sourced means criminals can take advantage of it is nonsense. Criminals can take advantage of the vast illegal arms industry that existed before the first printed gun was ever made, and again, law enforcement isn’t going after FFLs.
“That’s where the problem comes in, because then anybody with nefarious purposes, those people who could not get a firearm, who in their state, they can’t get the kit shipped to them anymore, they could, very easily, download that design to their computer, they plug it into their 3D printer and they basically are good to go,” Nilan said. ”We’re seeing those people with felony convictions that can’t get a gun legally, or that have nefarious purposes, we’re seeing them in 3D print.”
They can’t get a kit shipped to their state anymore because your state infringed on their right to get gun parts shipped to them. You know, parts that are not legally firearms under federal law. This doesn’t just affect criminals and mental defectives – it harms law abiding citizens, who far outnumber the criminals by any means. As mentioned before, the people who can’t get guns legally typically acquire stolen or otherwise illegally acquired guns.
In some instances, ghost guns can look unassuming, akin to toys. Police showed amNewYork a green plastic weapon which could fire real bullets.
What is being done? Nothing productive, obviously
Police say they are doubling their efforts to tackle guns in the Big Apple. During a June 27 press conference, Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that so far in 2025, cops have removed some 3,000 guns from the city streets. During the announcement, Adams told amNewYork that Ghost Guns continue to be a thorn in the police department’s side.
How many of those guns are homebuilt firearms? As is, the term “ghost gun” is used to refer both to homemade guns and firearms with their serial numbers destroyed. This is an attempt to make the problem of criminal use of 3D printed guns look bigger than it actually is.
“This is clearly a 3D-printed gun, and we had a case a few days ago of serious threats to police officers, and upon a search warrant, there were 3D-printed guns that were there,” Adams said. “Getting our federal partners to do everything possible to keep these guns off the street, they have to catch up to the 3D printing industry.”
Wow. That person’s stupid. As for the “federal partners” Adams is insistent are on his side, there’s no catching up since the 3D printing industry has nothing to do with this. Then again, given Adams has a literal communist breathing down his neck right now to take the city over, I can understand his mistakes.
According to Nilan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, they have been working together to call for law changes. Bragg himself has made several high-profile prosecutions of those who used Ghost Guns in a crime, including the indictment of Luigi Mangione for allegedly murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson with a ghost gun.
Bragg is an enemy of the Second Amendment, and God willing will be wiped off the Earth politically sooner rather than later. I find it surprising that they try to phrase the Thompson assassination in this light given half the country under 30 apparently thinks what happened was deserved. Many of the people who think this are probably the same people voting in the upcoming election.
“As technology continues to evolve, ghost guns and 3D-printed firearms continue to pose a threat to public safety. To address the proliferation of these dangerous weapons, my office has partnered closely with Deputy Chief Nilan and the NYPD through our Ghost Gun Initiative to remove guns off our streets, stay ahead of emerging trends, and advocate for new legislation – leading to significant progress,” DA Bragg said. “We will continue to comprehensively address gun violence through collaboration with our legislative and law enforcement partners. We are extremely grateful to Deputy Chief Nilan for her extraordinary leadership and the NYPD for their close collaboration.”
They’re no more a threat to public safety than anything else, Bragg, including legal firearms. Your Ghost Gun Initiative was sunk before it even rolled out of drydock when gun buybacks began, ironically, banning ghost guns from being turned in. You’re creating what’s called a perverse incentive, a justification for people to perpetuate the problem just to cash in. The British did this once in India to cut down the local cobra population. What I’ve just described is even mentioned on the Wikipedia page for this. As for legislation, good luck stopping people in other states from continuing their development work.
Currently the pair say many of these ghost gun makers are able to skirt the legal process since sharing and downloading files is not against the law — something authorities want to change.
It’s Constitutionally protected free speech. You aren’t changing that, and if you try, people will ignore you at best and defy you at worst.
“In theory it’s not illegal. You’re selling a little baggie of not illegal parts. You’re selling a file. So there’s a lot of different aspects,” Nilan said. “If someone’s ordering those parts, we can prove that if somebody has those parts, the only thing they’re gonna use those parts for is to build firearms. So, it still involves a lot of the power investigating. Now, it’s still a lot with the postal inspectors. It’s still a lot of old school physical surveillance sometimes.”
There’s no “in theory it’s not illegal.” There’s “it’s illegal” and “it’s not illegal.” For you to be in law enforcement and not understand this is a disgrace. People aren’t selling a bag of legal parts. People definitely aren’t selling files since that goes against the FOSS of FOSSCAD. You can certainly make the argument that having the parts suggests constructive possession, but legally they would also need the printer, filament, and file as well, so unless all those elements are together, you’re SOL. Violating people’s mail is also a felony, you know – especially if you don’t tell them.
They say it doesn’t have to be that way, however. Currently there is legislation sitting in the New York State Senate that would make the manufacture of 3D-printed guns and gun parts illegal. But it has yet to be voted upon. In the meantime the tech continues to progress at a rapid pace.
“Every day, someone’s coming up with something new.” Nilan said.
Yes, it does have to be that way. If you try to make it illegal in the state of New York to make printed guns and gun parts, the designers will ignore you. They will continue to design and develop, regardless of your authoritarianism, and they will continue to keep that info accessible to New Yorkers. You will not be able to stop them, barring cutting off all trade and internet communications with the rest of the world. This is a war you lost years ago, so it’s best you stop fighting battles.
I do agree with her on one thing though. Every day, someone really is coming up with someone new.
Conclusions – Oh, the Pain, the Pain!
I hate people like this. I really do, because they’re not writing this trash out of a sense of care. They’re not even writing it out of fear or ignorance, because at least that would be excusable. No, they’re writing it out of malice. They hate the idea of people being able to defend themselves with guns, 3D printed or otherwise. They hate your right to defend yourself from whatever tyranny they can unleash on you. And above all, they hate you ever viewing yourself as anything other than a slave of the state.
To them, you are the bug to be squeezed under their boot. Their schadenfreude is off the charts. It’s honestly one of the reasons people need to be so pro-2A under any means. If people like this gain power in the world, misery can only result. Just look at the Hungarians.
Until next time, I’m Wirb, and thank you for supporting the 2nd Amendment.
Polymer 80 Alternative
