in the name of public safety
In the name of gutting small manufacturing and the ability to repair your own devices. This has never had anything to do with safety, as they can't even do the thing the bill demands. Fucking asinine
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
in the name of public safety
In the name of gutting small manufacturing and the ability to repair your own devices. This has never had anything to do with safety, as they can't even do the thing the bill demands. Fucking asinine
Next steps I'm sure. Then they ban you from printing anything that resembles a patented device, anything that looks like a medical device (can't skip certification), and anything that looks like a toy (SAVE THE CHILDREN!).
Under the proposal, printers would have to evaluate STL files, CAD files, or other geometric code using a firearm blueprint detection algorithm and block files flagged as capable of producing a firearm or illegal firearm parts, including conversion devices.
California's Department of Justice, or another relevant state agency, would have until January 1, 2028, to publish performance standards for detection algorithms and software control processes.
This is the problem when lawmakers write technical bills without speaking to technical people. They're going to publish standards for evaluating if your gcode is a firearm or firearm part? THAT'S FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE
BANNED

It's not even that, building a firearm.....is legal...this shit going after printers makes no sense at all, it's fucking legal to print firearm parts.
Fun time to introduce/remind people of the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect: The phenomenon of a person trusting newspapers for topics which that person is not knowledgeable about, despite recognizing the newspaper as being extremely inaccurate on certain topics which that person is knowledgeable about.
Same thing goes for laws and lawmakers. It's almost as if selecting our "leaders" from a narrow band of society who, for the most part, don't know shit about anything, does not lead to enlightened laws.
Lol I was just talking to my wife about that yesterday and how it's exactly like AI.
If you read something in the newspaper about your job, you're like "these fucking idiots got this all backwards." If you see AI output of an attempt at your job, it's the same thing.
But if you read an article about someone else's job, you think "that makes sense." Same about seeing AI trying to do someone else's job.
"Uhoh, can't 3d print a gun. Guess I'll just go to Walmart."
More like "Guess I'll just print this file labeled 'hyper realistic movie prop lazer blaster'."
Supporters say the measure tackles the problem before a downloadable file becomes an untraceable weapon. Everytown for Gun Safety says recoveries of 3D-printed crime guns across 20 cities have risen nearly 1,000% over the past five years, and argues that cheaper, more capable printers are already being used in illegal ghost gun operations.
Ooooh, that's two large red flags for me (disregarding the litany of red flags the concept in general has). Every town being involved makes me question the data on its face, given the number of times I saw gang violence near a school out of school hours listed as a school shooting in their database, as does a large percentage increase with no hard numbers. If they recovered 1 gun last year and 11 this year, that's a 1000% increase, but the percentage sounds so much worse than the real number.
Good luck. Tough to pick a more DIY-oriented bunch of hobbyists who would rather build their own hardware and compile their own software over allowing their printer to narc on them to the government.
RepRap 2: Countersurveillance Boogaloo, launching soon.
Why use AI generated bullshit images like this techspot...

Sad to see AI, but honestly that image made me laugh, because it seems to come straight from the mind of the author of this bill.
The list goes on...
Here's an idea - require politicians to install Corruption Blocking Software that scans all their communications, financial records and assets, and uses advanced Corruption Pattern Matching Algorithms to determine if they might be taking bribes from industry lobbyists or secretly serving special interest groups, or if they're just general nutjobs.
Everytown for Gun Safety says recoveries of 3D-printed crime guns across 20 cities have risen nearly 1,000% over the past five years,
So... They found a total of ten 3d printed guns in the last 5 years?
325 are 3D out of 350,000 guns found in CA in connection to a crime in 2024, according to random assholes on reddit.
This is a pretty dumb thing to pass legislation on considering it's still VERY easy to buy a gun even in CA, another method of getting a gun isn't making it easier in any real sense.
Can't regulate the parts as they are used in many many many devices. So as far as I'm concerned this is worthless. I can build a fucking 3d printer from an old VCR and a hot glue gun.
my interest is who is PAYING to fund the bill, i wouldnt be surprised if its gun companies or palantir.
Time to stop buying American printers.
It's also pretty much a technical impossibility if you know anything about 3D printers.
3D printers can't read CAD. They aren't fed STLs or any other kind of 3D model. They're fed G-Code, which contains no geometrical details. It's a list of instructions saying "turn these 4 motors this speed this for this amount of time while heating that part to this temperature and turning this other motor this speed, then heat this part while tunlrning that motor that fast...." with hundreds or thousands of instructions, and then new instructions for the next layer.
In order to print a model, you first have to run it through a program called a slicer that generates that G-code by slicing it into layers with instructions for how to move, heat and cool the nozzle, build plate, and chamber, feed the filament, etc.
The printers just follow those instructions with minimal on-board processing and zero information regarding the final model's structure.
Register as a manufacturer of 3D printers
Government gives you an updated, comprehensive archive of STL files your firmware must reject
????
Profit
If only the government were that incompetent. But even I have my doubts they would distribute anything more than hashes.
Still, changing a hash is ridiculously simple.
I might print some guns purely out of spite.
In Minecraft.
Why are they so scared of us that they must enslave us?
Because we could fuck up their shit pretty easily with just the slightest mass motivation.
I suppose my old Prusa just jumped a bit in value.
You can use a 3d printer to build a 3d printer. When they figure that out, will they try to stop those parts from being printed too?
Who did they consult on this, and did that person or persons purposely lead them astray, or were the consultants equally ignorant?
This is America, wouldn’t it be easier just to buy a gun? I get that 3D printers can make ghost guns that aren’t traceable but how many crimes have occurred where that is the murder weapon?
Given they've postponed the standards until 2028, I am skeptical our legislators will be able to develop a viable benchmark. And then I don't imagine it's possible to enforce it.
This is likely to die in court.
My first 3d printer is a RepRap running marlin firmware... They couldn't make me make that 3d printer compliant.
[edit]
I wonder if the microcenter locations in CA are suddenly going to have empty shelves where the 3d printers used to be.
What does this accomplish?
In the USA it's easier to buy an ar-15 than configuring a multi material 3d printer to print a fidget spinner
And btw if someone really needs to 3d print a weapon they would CNC a receiver from a metal block using a $500 AliExpress contraption rather than making a single use plastic thingy that will probably amputate your fingers at first shot
Same California that is supposedly against the federal government's assaults on people's rights and freedoms...?
Same California governor that wants to run for president to end fascism in the country...?
Fyi, I can make a gun from schedule 40 pipe, a few rubber bands, a weldable hing, and some brazing rods.
Printing companies should stop selling in California.
Everybody should also stop considering the US like one country, because it functions less than one country than the EU and the EU isn't and the US is.
I’m sorry you can’t print a garden hose nozzle because AI thinks it is a gun.
I’m sorry you can’t print a caulking gun because AI thinks it is a gun.
I’m sorry you can’t print a water pistol because it’s a gun.