Bill Text: CA AB2047 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Firearms: 3-dimensional printing blocking technology.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5)
Status: (Passed) 2026-09-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 461, Statutes of 2026. [AB2047 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB2047-Chaptered.html
Assembly Bill
No. 2047
CHAPTER 461
An act to add Title 21.1 (commencing with Section 3273.631) to Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, relating to firearms.
[
Approved by
Governor
September 26, 2026.
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 26, 2026.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2047, Bauer-Kahan.
Firearms: 3-dimensional printing blocking technology.
Existing law makes it a crime to knowingly or willfully cause another person to engage in the unlawful manufacture of firearms or knowingly or willfully aiding, abetting, prompting, or facilitating the unlawful manufacture of firearms, including the manufacture of assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles or the manufacture of any firearm using a 3-dimensional printer, as specified.
Existing law authorizes a civil action against a person who knowingly distributes or causes to be distributed any digital firearm manufacturing code to any person, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorney to bring an action against this person and seek a civil penalty, as specified, for each violation, as well as injunctive
relief.
This bill would require the Department of Justice to check on a quarterly basis beginning no later than July 1, 2027, whether ASTM International has published industry standards for equipping 3-dimensional printers with firearm blocking technology.
The bill would require, if the department determines that ASTM International has published or adopted industry standards for firearm blocking technology for 3-dimensional printers, that the department publish written guidance or regulations within 24 months after making that determination. The bill would require, among other things, the written guidance or regulations to describe minimum performance standards for 3-dimensional printer firearm blocking technology before a printer can lawfully be sold or offered for sale in the state. If, as of July 1, 2029, the department determines that ASTM International has not published industry standards for firearm blocking technology for 3-dimensional printers, the bill would relieve
the department of any further responsibility to ascertain whether ASTM International has published or adopted industry standards. The bill would make it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or transfer for consideration, a 3-dimensional printer in the State of California that is not equipped with firearm blocking technology that also meets the above-described industry standards. The bill would exempt printers used exclusively for the manufacturing of properties (props) in the entertainment industry, and would authorize the department to adopt regulations that provide for additional exceptions to these provisions.
This bill would also exempt a person who distributes, or causes the distribution of, digital firearm manufacturing code, solely for the bona fide purpose of, among other
things, developing, refining, and testing the functionality of a firearm blocking technology from civil liability.
This bill would make these provisions severable.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Title 21.1 (commencing with Section 3273.631) is added to Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, to read:TITLE 21.1. Firearm Printing Prevention Act
3273.631.
This title shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Firearm Printing Prevention Act.3273.632.
As used in this title, the following definitions shall apply:(a) “ASTM International” means ASTM International, formerly American Society for Testing and Materials.
(b) “Department” means the Department of Justice.
(c) “Firearm” has the same meaning as defined in subdivisions (a) and (b)
of Section 16520 of the Penal Code.
(d) “Firearm blocking technology” means hardware, firmware, or other integrated technological measures capable of ensuring a three-dimensional printer will not proceed to any print job unless the underlying three-dimensional printing file has been evaluated by a firearms blueprints detection algorithm and determined not to be a printing file that would produce a firearm or a machine gun conversion device.
(e) “Machine gun conversion device” means a part or combination of
parts designed for use in converting a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun. The term includes a “pistol converter” as defined in Section 17015 of the Penal Code.
(f) “Three-dimensional printer” has the same meaning as subdivision (d) of Section 3273.60.
3273.633.
(a) Beginning no later than July 1, 2027, and quarterly thereafter, the department shall check whether ASTM International has published industry standards for equipping three-dimensional printers with firearm blocking technology.(b) If the department determines that ASTM International has published or adopted industry standards for firearm blocking technology for three-dimensional printers, and that those standards demonstrate that it is technologically feasible to equip three-dimensional printers with firearm blocking technology, all of the following shall apply:
(1) The department shall publish written guidance or regulations within 24 months after determining that ASTM International has published industry standards for firearm blocking technology for three-dimensional printers.
(2) The
written guidance or regulations shall describe minimum performance standards for
firearm blocking technology that shall be equipped in three-dimensional printers in order for those printers to be lawfully sold or offered for sale in California. In accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the written guidance or regulations shall be developed in consultation with stakeholders.
(3) The department’s written guidance or regulations shall be informed by the ASTM International industry standards and may incorporate some or all of the ASTM
International industry standards.
(4) The department’s guidance or regulations may provide additional or alternative definitions, standards, processes, or requirements other than what is included in the industry standards published by ASTM International to promote the purposes of this title.
(5) The department’s written guidance or regulations may consider and incorporate industry standards for firearm blocking technology for three-dimensional printers published or adopted by a state governmental entity outside California, as applicable.
(6) The department’s written guidance or regulations may provide for a self-attestation or self-certification process by which manufacturers of three-dimensional printers are required to certify to the department that each three-dimensional printer make and model that the manufacturer sells, offers for sale, or intends to sell in California incorporates firearm blocking technology that meets the minimum performance standards published by the department.
(c) Commencing one year after the department has published written guidance or regulations for firearm blocking technology pursuant to subdivision (b), both of the following shall apply:
(1) Before a manufacturer of any three-dimensional printer
sells, offers to sell, or transfers for consideration a three-dimensional printer
to any person or business in California, the manufacturer shall ensure that the three-dimensional printer is equipped with firearm blocking technology that meets the minimum performance standards set forth in the department’s guidance or regulations.
(2) It shall be unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or transfer for consideration a three-dimensional printer in the State of California that is not equipped with firearm blocking technology that meets the minimum performance standards set forth in the department’s guidance or regulations.
(d) This section does not apply to printers used exclusively for the manufacturing of properties (props) in the entertainment industry.
(e) Section 3273.61 does not apply to a person who distributes, or causes the distribution of, digital firearm manufacturing code, as defined in Section 3273.60, solely for the bona fide purpose of developing, refining, and testing the functionality of firearm blocking technology or maintaining an
updated library of digital firearm manufacturing code files solely for that bona fide purpose.
(f) If, as of July 1, 2029, the department determines that ASTM International has not published industry standards for firearm blocking technology for three-dimensional printers, the department shall not be required to make any further determinations under this section.
3273.634.
(a) The department may promulgate regulations and develop forms and publications to implement this title.(b) The department may update the minimum performance standards adopted pursuant to this title, including to reflect any future updates ASTM International makes to the industry standards described in Section 3273.633. The department may also adopt regulations that provide for additional exceptions to this title, if those exceptions are consistent with the purpose of this title to prevent the use of three-dimensional printers to illegally produce
firearms and machine gun conversion devices.
