Manhattan Prosecutor Urges Shenzhen 3D Printing Company to Curb Illegal Gun Proliferation

Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg urged Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology, a company based in Shenzhen, China, on the 27th to take more safety measures to curb the illegal manufacturing and dissemination of 3D-printed guns and parts.

In a letter sent to Creality on Thursday, District Attorney Bragg pointed out that the 3D printers produced by the company have become a common tool for the illegal production of firearms due to their convenience and affordability. He called on the company to introduce dedicated software in their printers to detect and prevent the printing of gun-related designs, remove all firearm blueprints (CAD files) from their cloud platform, and explicitly prohibit the manufacture of illegal weapons in their user agreements.

District Attorney Bragg’s call comes at a time when the Supreme Court of the United States has supported federal regulations requiring ghost guns parts to be marked with serial numbers and conducting background checks on purchasers of DIY kits. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been in support of this regulation since 2024.

Ghost guns and 3D-printed firearms pose a significant threat to public safety as they do not have serial numbers and are difficult to trace. Since 2020, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has been collaborating with the New York City Police Department to combat the illegal manufacturing and distribution of firearms, and has established a dedicated Ghost Guns Task Force.

In his letter, Bragg pointed out that Creality’s 3D printers have been used to manufacture untraceable firearms, some of which have been seized by the NYPD and the District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan in connection with criminal activities.

Bragg stated in the letter: “Privately manufactured firearms (PMFs), commonly known as ‘ghost guns,’ are firearms produced by unlicensed manufacturers without serial numbers. These firearms can be manufactured by downloading online designs and using 3D printing technology, especially through Creality’s ‘Creality Cloud’ platform.”

The letter also mentioned that 3D-printed firearms have been used in crimes in Manhattan and continue to be a concern. In 2024, Luigi Mangione was accused of using a 3D-printed ghost gun to murder Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, highlighting the lethality of these weapons. In recent years, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has handled several cases involving 3D-printed guns, many of which were illegally manufactured in apartments.

According to data from the NYPD, the number of ghost guns seized in New York City has sharply increased: from 17 in 2018 to 150 in 2021, and reaching 438 in 2024. The majority of the 3D-printed guns confiscated at crime scenes were manufactured using Creality’s Ender 3 series printers.

Spanish 3D printing company Print&GO has developed a security technology called “3D GUN’T” that can detect if printing operations comply with firearm blueprints and use artificial intelligence to prevent the printing of illegal firearms. Bragg urged Creality to adopt similar technology and requested that their user agreements explicitly prohibit the manufacture of illegal weapons while removing all firearm-related designs from their cloud platform, “Creality Cloud.”

Bragg also emphasized the concern over minors and individuals with criminal records being exposed to ghost guns. For instance, in 2023, a daycare center in New York City found 3D-printed guns placed within reach of children. Additionally, a few cases have shown children getting injured from accidentally coming into contact with ghost guns.

With 3D printers becoming more common in households and schools, the risks they pose cannot be overlooked. Bragg called for collaboration between Creality and the District Attorney’s Office to discuss the implementation of technology similar to Print&GO in 3D printers to prevent the illegal production of firearms.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stressed that curbing the spread of ghost guns requires joint efforts from manufacturers and law enforcement agencies. Bragg stated: “We urge companies selling 3D printers to work with us to protect communities from violent threats and prevent the proliferation of illegal firearms through common-sense measures.”