New York Governor Kathy Hochul is doubling down on her anti-gun crusade with a fresh batch of proposals aimed at stamping out ghost guns, especially those conjured up by 3D printers, as part of her State of the State agenda. The plan targets untraceable firearms assembled from kits or printed at home, imposing stricter serialization requirements, background checks for parts, and outright bans on certain printing tech. It’s classic Albany overreach: treating law-abiding hobbyists and innovators like criminals while ignoring the real culprits—career felons who don’t bother with printers anyway. This isn’t just policy theater; it’s a direct assault on the Second Amendment’s protection of the right to keep and bear arms, including those you build yourself.
Digging deeper, this doomed legislation echoes failed efforts like the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act’s ghost gun rules, which courts have already shredded. Federal judges in Texas and elsewhere ruled those regs unconstitutional, affirming that homemade firearms for personal use fall squarely under individual rights, not commerce clause nonsense. New York’s twist? Criminalizing 3D printing files and possession of unfinished frames, which reeks of prior restraint on speech—those CAD files are protected expression under the First Amendment, as cemented in cases like Defense Distributed v. ATF. Implications for the 2A community are massive: expect lawsuits from groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition or Second Amendment Foundation to torch this before it hits the governor’s desk. It galvanizes the movement, highlighting how blue-state tyrants fuel national momentum for reciprocity and preemption laws.
Ultimately, Hochul’s push is a self-own. Tech evolves faster than bureaucrats can type—decentralized file-sharing on blockchain or encrypted networks laughs at bans, and home shops are pivoting to CNC mills and laser cutters. For gun owners, it’s a rallying cry: stock up on printers, archive those STLs, and support pro-2A legislators. This isn’t stopping ghost guns; it’s priming the pump for Supreme Court smackdowns and red-state copycats enshrining build rights. New Yorkers deserve better than failed experiments in futility—time to print, build, and vote your way to freedom.
