TL;DR: New York’s 2026–2027 executive budget bill (S.9005/A.10005, Part C) would require every 3D printer and CNC machine sold in the state to include “blocking technology”: software that scans every single print file through a “firearms blueprint detection algorithm” and refuses to print anything it flags. Possessing or distributing flagged design files would be a Class E felony. Online sales of 3D printers would be banned: in-person purchases only. The mandate covers not just hobbyist printers but industrial CNC machines, repair shops, and research labs. Penalties hit $10,000 per violation. The EFF calls it an attack on free expression, privacy, and innovation. One manufacturer’s pilot tests found the algorithm flagged 17% of non-weapon prints as potential firearms.
What’s Actually in This Budget Bill
New York buried its 3D printer surveillance mandate in Part C of the 2026–2027 executive budget proposal, split into two subparts [1] [2].
Subpart A creates new criminal penalties:
- Section 2.10 makes it a Class E felony to sell or distribute 3D printer files that produce firearm components to anyone who isn’t a licensed gunsmith
- Section 2.11 criminalizes possessing such files with intent to print firearms, or sharing them with unauthorized individuals
Subpart B is where the surveillance kicks in:
- Every 3D printer and CNC machine sold in New York must include “blocking technology”: software or firmware that scans every print file through a “firearms blueprint detection algorithm”
- If the algorithm flags a file, the machine refuses to print
- All printers must be sold in person only: no online purchases, no mail-order delivery
- The state would maintain a library of forbidden design files
- Penalties: $10,000 per violation for manufacturers who sell non-compliant devices [2] [3]
The bill doesn’t carve out exceptions for manufacturers, universities, researchers, or licensed gunsmiths. Everyone gets the censorware [1].
This Isn’t Just About Hobby Printers
The bill’s language covers “any machine capable of making three-dimensional changes via subtractive manufacturing.” That’s not just the $200 Creality in your garage. That’s CNC mills, lathes, and machining centers used by repair shops, small manufacturers, and fabrication labs across the state [3].
A Brooklyn bike shop that uses a CNC router to cut custom parts? Covered. A university engineering lab printing prosthetics research? Covered. A jeweler using a desktop mill? Covered.
Every one of those machines would need government-approved file-scanning software running on every job, every time.
The Algorithm Doesn’t Work. They Know It Doesn’t Work.
A 3D printer manufacturer whose open firmware team ran pilot tests of the proposed print-blocking algorithms found they flagged 17% of non-weapon prints due to superficial resemblance to firearm components [4]. One in six prints blocked for looking vaguely gun-shaped.
Film props. Kids’ toys. Decorative models. Pipes and brackets. All caught in the dragnet [5].
The EFF laid out why this fails on every technical level [5]:
- Hardware can’t handle it. The computers inside many 3D printers have limited processing power and storage. Rendering G-Code back into a 3D model to compare against a database of prohibited files is beyond what most printer firmware can do.
- Evasion is trivial. Slight tweaks to a model or G-Code file defeat detection. Splitting a design into parts that don’t individually look like firearms, then assembling post-print, bypasses the algorithm entirely.
- The files are already out there. Blocking software on new printers does nothing about the millions of printers already in circulation, or the design files already widely available online.
The mandate solves nothing. But it surveils everything.
Every Print, Scanned. Every File, Checked.
Strip away the gun-control framing and look at what this bill actually creates: mandatory content scanning on personal manufacturing devices.
Your 3D printer would run software that examines every file you load. That software uses algorithms maintained or approved by the state. The state decides what’s allowed. If the algorithm says no, your machine refuses to operate [1].
Sound familiar? It should. The EU tried the same approach with private messages. Its CSAR proposal would mandate client-side scanning of encrypted chats to detect illegal content. Privacy advocates called it a backdoor to mass surveillance. The European Parliament voted it down 311–228.
New York’s bill applies the same logic to physical objects. Today it scans for firearm designs. Once the scanning infrastructure exists, expanding the forbidden file list is a policy change, not a technical one. Drug paraphernalia. Lockpicking tools. Components that violate patent claims. The slope isn’t slippery: it’s a designed feature [4].
California Is Trying the Same Thing
New York isn’t alone. California’s AB-2047 would ban 3D printers without DOJ-approved “firearm detection capability” and require manufacturers to report to the California Department of Justice. That bill carries $25,000 penalties and a March 2029 compliance deadline [6].
The EFF published a separate analysis calling California’s version “dangerous” too, noting the same technical impossibility and the same scope creep risks [6].
Two of the three largest U.S. states are now proposing mandatory content scanning on personal manufacturing equipment. The third-largest, Texas, hasn’t weighed in yet. Give it time.
Felony for a File
The criminal provisions are the sharpest edge. Under the proposed law, possessing a design file with “intent to illegally print firearms” would be a Class E felony in New York, punishable by up to four years in prison [1].
Design files are code. Code is speech. Federal courts have recognized this since Bernstein v. United States (1996), when the Ninth Circuit ruled that source code is protected under the First Amendment [4].
Criminalizing possession of a file (not the act of manufacturing an illegal weapon, which is already a crime) crosses a line that free speech advocates have drawn clearly for decades. The EFF put it bluntly: this is “an attack on 3D printing” that will “stifle competition, free expression, and privacy” [1].
Why It’s in the Budget
This isn’t a standalone bill that got committee hearings, expert testimony, and public debate. It’s buried in the state’s executive budget, a must-pass omnibus where controversial provisions get less scrutiny [1].
Budget bills in New York are negotiated behind closed doors between the governor, Senate majority leader, and Assembly speaker. Individual provisions don’t get floor votes. They get traded.
New York residents may not even know this mandate exists until their next 3D printer purchase requires an in-person trip and comes preloaded with scanning software.
What You Can Do
- Contact your NY state legislators now. Budget negotiations are active. The EFF has a detailed action page explaining how to push back [1]
- If you’re in New York, find your representatives: State senator | Assembly member
- Watch for this pattern everywhere. Mandatory content scanning on personal devices (whether it’s your phone, your printer, or your CNC machine) is the same surveillance infrastructure wearing different clothes
- Support the EFF. They’re fighting both the New York and California versions of this bill. Their donation page is here
References
- EFF: Stop New York’s Attack on 3D Printing (April 2026)
- Reclaim The Net: New York Budget Bill Proposes Mandatory File-Scanning Tech and In-Person Sales for 3D Printers (February 5, 2026)
- NYC Today: New York Proposes 3D Printer Surveillance and Censorship Mandate (April 17, 2026)
- Adafruit: New York Wants to Ctrl+Alt+Delete Your 3D Printer (February 3, 2026)
- EFF: Print Blocking Won’t Work: Permission to Print Part 2 (April 2026)
- EFF: The Dangers of California’s Legislation to Censor 3D Printing (April 2026)
Published: April 22, 2026