Relates to the regulation of three-dimensional printed firearms; provides that a person who intentionally sells, distributes, or disposes of a three-dimensional printed firearm is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1777A
SPONSOR: Rosenthal TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law and the criminal procedure law, in
relation to the regulation of three-dimensional printed firearms
PURPOSE:
To prohibit the use of three-dimensional printers to manufacture ghost
guns, silencers, magazines, or other firearm parts and to prohibit the
sale and distribution of digital instructions to build such devices.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 265.10 of the penal law to include the use of
three-dimensional printer and the manufacture of ghost guns, silencers,
or other firearm components in the class D felony of manufacturing
firearms and create the class A misdemeanor of the intentional sale of
digital instructions for such manufacturing.
Section 2 amends section 265 of the penal law to define "three-dimen-
sional printer."
Section 3 amends subdivision 8 of section 700.05 of the criminal proce-
dure law to include the manufacture, transport, disposition, and deface-
ment of weapons and dangerous instruments in the definition of "desig-
nated offense" for eavesdropping and video surveillance warrants.
Section 4 establishes the severability of the bill. Section 5 provides
the effective date of the bill.
JUSTIFICATION:
So-called "ghost guns" --- unregistered, untraceable firearms and
firearm components --continue to be a major threat to the safety of New
Yorkers, even after the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act banned the
sale of such guns in our state in 2021. Nearly half of all untraceable
firearms recovered in 2022 were ghost guns, and the New York Police
Department reports a 75% increase in the seizure of ghost guns between
2021 and 2022. This is a growing trend: whereas in 2022, 365 ghost guns
were seized by the NYPD, that number was just 17 in 2018.
This bill would include the manufacture of ghost guns, unfinished gun
parts silencers, magazines, and other firearm components in the existing
class D felony of manufacture of a machine-gun or assault weapon and
clarify that that crime includes the manufacture of such items using a
three-dimensional printer. It would criminalize the intentional sale,
distribution, or disposal of digital instructions that may be used to
program a three-dimensional printer to produce such weapons. This will
ensure that New York's existing prohibition on the manufacture of ghost
guns is comprehensive, precise, and responsive to the technology perpe-
trators may use to commit that crime.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.7489 - Referred to Codes; S.7364 - Referred to Codes
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall have
become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1777--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, SIMON, BURDICK, SIMONE, SAYEGH, STECK,
SHRESTHA, RAMOS, MEEKS, SHIMSKY -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the penal law and the criminal procedure law, in
relation to the regulation of three-dimensional printed firearms
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 265.10 of the penal law, as
2 amended by chapter 481 of the laws of 2024, is amended and a new subdi-
3 vision 10 is added to read as follows:
4 1. Any person who manufactures or causes to be manufactured any
5 machine-gun, assault weapon, large capacity ammunition feeding device,
6 ghost gun, unfinished frame or receiver, firearm silencer, magazine, or
7 major component of a firearm, rifle or shotgun or disguised gun is guil-
8 ty of a class D felony. Any person who manufactures or causes to be
9 manufactured any rapid-fire modification device is guilty of a class E
10 felony. Any person who manufactures or causes to be manufactured any
11 switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, undetect-
12 able knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles, metal knuck-
13 les, throwing star, chuka stick, sandbag, sandclub or slungshot is guil-
14 ty of a class A misdemeanor.
15 10. Any person who intentionally sells, distributes, or disposes of,
16 by any means, including via the internet, digital instructions in the
17 form of computer-aided design files, standard triangle/tessellation
18 language files, or other code or instructions that may be used to
19 program a three-dimensional printer to manufacture or produce any
20 machine-gun, assault weapon, large capacity ammunition feeding device,
21 disguised gun, ghost gun, unfinished frame or receiver, firearm silenc-
22 er, magazine, rapid-fire modification device or major component of a
23 firearm, rifle or shotgun, to a person in New York who is not registered
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00770-02-5
A. 1777--A 2
1 or licensed as a gunsmith as provided for in section 400.00 of this
2 chapter with a Type 7 Federal Firearms License, is guilty of a class A
3 misdemeanor.
4 § 2. Section 265.00 of the penal law is amended by adding a new subdi-
5 vision 37 to read as follows:
6 37. "Three-dimensional printer" means a computer or computer-driven
7 machine or device capable of producing a three-dimensional object from a
8 digital model.
9 § 3. Subdivision 8 of section 700.05 of the criminal procedure law is
10 amended by adding a new paragraph (w) to read as follows:
11 (w) Manufacture, transport, disposition and defacement of weapons and
12 dangerous instruments and appliances as provided in subdivision ten of
13 section 265.10 of the penal law.
14 § 4. Severability. If any provision of this act, or any application of
15 any provision of this act, is held to be invalid, that shall not affect
16 the validity or effectiveness of any other provision of this act, or of
17 any other application of any provision of this act, which can be given
18 effect without that provision or application; and to that end, the
19 provisions and applications of this act are severable.
20 § 5. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
21 have become a law.
