After touting success in slowing the "iron pipeline" of guns traveling illegally into New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a proposal Tuesday aimed at tackling the growing "plastic pipeline" of 3D-printed weapons and modifiers.
While the making of 3D-printed "ghost guns" and switches — which modify pistols to fire automatically with one trigger pull — already are illegal, Hochul proposed mandates that all future 3D printers sold in the state block the capabilities of printing these items and all manufacturers who sell guns in the state design them to render modifications useless.
"These are homemade killing machines," Hochul said.
Her proposal also increases the penalties for those found with these weapons and modifiers.
Albany District Attorney Lee Kindlon referenced an executed search warrant in the summer of 2024 that uncovered three loaded ghost guns and a host of homemade modifiers along with two 3D printers.
"This is not an abstraction; this is our community," Kindlon said. "One trigger pull can fire 20 rounds and the recoil is uncontrollable. So any bystander is at risk."
Hochul said shootings in New York were down 60% in 2025 and that the state has the third-lowest homicide rate in the nation. This comes after a steep rise nationwide in gun violence coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supporters of her proposal made it clear that neglecting to focus on 3D-printed weapons and modifiers put those figures at risk.
"Progress can disappear fast if we don't move onto the next threat," Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said. "This isn't theoretical and this isn't down the road.
"We are not going to let years of progress be wiped out by a cheap piece of plastic."
Watch the press conference below: