The cat-and-mouse game over 3D-printed guns has begun
The ‘Hochulization’ tool purports to subvert proposed gun-blocking 3D printer software.
The ‘Hochulization’ tool purports to subvert proposed gun-blocking 3D printer software.
claims he’s developed a way to thwart government-mandated software meant to
. It’s an opening volley in what’s shaping up to be an evolving battle between regulators trying to stem the tide of ghost guns and individuals trying to create workarounds.
Cody Wilson, who claims to have made the detection-defying tool, is calling it
pushed through the nation’s first law mandating gun file detection software
on new printers earlier this year. “New York is trying to reach into the internet and police how open-source 3D printing is done,” Wilson, who’s based out of Austin, Texas, told
The tool is designed to break a relatively simple approach to a 3D-printed gun ban. Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed, runs
, the world’s largest 3D gun file repository, which he says hosts over 200,000 files of gun designs and components, such as suppressors. Each of those files can be identified by a hash, a unique string of numbers that’s created by running the file through an algorithm. In theory, a gun file detection system that uses a hashing-based identification method would look for those exact hashes to determine whether a file is a potential gun, flag it, and prevent it from printing.
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Hochulization mucks up that process by automatically changing those hashes. It adds a series of bytes to each file that changes the hash without altering the function of the end product. A 3D-printed suppressor or gun, in other words, would still work as intended. “Hochulizaiton is a de minimis policy to change the hash of every file that gets created and downloaded to where there is never going to be a complete library of hashes,” Wilson says
Wilson says he wants to apply the Hochulization treatment to all files hosted on DEFCAD by default as a means of “self-defense” against growing calls for gun detection software, which he describes as invasive digital surveillance. Wilson says he will make the tool available to DEFCAD users, though he says he also intends to make it open source, which would let an individual user with a gun file apply the tool to scramble the hash and potentially sidestep detection.
“I think all the files in the repository, the 3D files anyway, should be Hochulized,” he adds. “And so that is what we’ll do.” He claims he has begun this process.
Wilson’s approach is an early indicator of the resistance to 3D-print-blocking tech. In this case, the momentum is coming from a Second Amendment advocate, but that might not always be the case. Groups of makers,
, and members of the entertainment industry who aren’t focused on guns have all
, expressing fears that requiring file scanning on printers introduces a new level of digital surveillance into the process that could limit what everyone can create.
3D-printed firearms are growing in number but remain an evolving public threat. In 2021, the New York Police Department
. That jumped to 109 in 2024. Prominent gun policy group Everytown
across 20 other cities. Still, when compared with the percentage of conventional firearms confiscated around the country, 3D-printed models
But 3D-printed gun technology has also come a long way since Wilson
. Today, models like the FGC-9 can fire multiple high-velocity rounds without breaking and have been
. 3D-printed gun components, like switches that can turn a single-fire conventional firearm into a machine gun or suppressors that make shots easier to conceal, are arguably even more dangerous. These tools are typically illegal or require special licenses to acquire. 3D printing offers a workaround.
, who admitted to shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and is awaiting sentencing,
allegedly used a partially 3D-printed Glock-style pistol frame
Policymakers and gun control advocates argue cases like this demonstrate a glaring gap in the legal system. People with prior felony convictions and others who aren’t legally allowed to own guns can do so anyway with the help of a 3D printer. And while many states regulate the making and selling of so-called “ghost guns,” actually enforcing those laws is notoriously difficult. This new approach, which requires 3D printers to install mandatory file-blocking software, attempts to close that gap by stopping a print before it ever starts. Industry experts are still debating whether that’s technically feasible at scale. Gov. Hochul, who pushed through the country’s first law mandating print-blocking software on new printers as part of the state’s
, says it’s necessary to close what she calls a black-market “
Hochul’s office did not respond to our request for comment regarding Wilson’s Hochulization workaround.
New York isn’t alone. A similar bill in California,
, is gaining momentum a