The cat-and-mouse game over 3D-printed guns has begun
The cat-and-mouse game over 3D-printed guns has begun
围绕 3D 打印枪支的“猫鼠游戏”已经开始
The creator of the world’s first 3D-printed gun claims he’s developed a way to thwart government-mandated software meant to block 3D printers from making firearms. 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.
全球首款 3D 打印枪支的制造者声称，他已经开发出一种方法，可以挫败政府强制要求的、旨在阻止 3D 打印机制造枪支的软件。这标志着监管机构试图遏制“幽灵枪”（ghost guns）泛滥，而个人试图寻找变通方法之间的一场不断演变的博弈正式拉开序幕。
Cody Wilson, who claims to have made the detection-defying tool, is calling it “Hochulization” as a direct jab at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who 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 Verge. “I think of it as a self-defense measure.”
Cody Wilson 声称他制造了这种能够规避检测的工具，并将其命名为“Hochulization”，以此直接讽刺纽约州州长 Kathy Hochul。Hochul 今年早些时候推动通过了全美首部法律，强制要求新款 3D 打印机安装枪支文件检测软件。“纽约正试图将触角伸向互联网，监管开源 3D 打印的运作方式，”常驻德克萨斯州奥斯汀的 Wilson 对 The Verge 表示，“我认为这是一种自卫措施。”
The tool is designed to break a relatively simple approach to a 3D-printed gun ban. Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed, runs DEFCAD, 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.
该工具旨在破解一种相对简单的 3D 打印枪支禁令。Wilson 的公司 Defense Distributed 运营着全球最大的 3D 枪支文件库 DEFCAD，据他称，该库托管了超过 20 万份枪支设计和组件（如消音器）的文件。每个文件都可以通过哈希值（Hash）来识别，这是一种通过算法处理文件后生成的唯一数字字符串。理论上，使用基于哈希识别方法的枪支文件检测系统，会通过查找这些特定的哈希值来判断文件是否为潜在的枪支，从而将其标记并阻止打印。
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.
“Hochulization”通过自动更改这些哈希值来干扰这一过程。它在每个文件中添加一系列字节，在不改变最终产品功能的前提下更改哈希值。换句话说，3D 打印的消音器或枪支仍能按预期工作。“Hochulization 是一种极简策略，旨在改变每个创建和下载文件的哈希值，从而使监管机构永远无法建立一个完整的哈希值库，”Wilson 说道。
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.
Wilson 表示，他希望默认将“Hochulization”处理应用于 DEFCAD 上托管的所有文件，以此作为对日益高涨的枪支检测软件呼声的“自卫”手段，他将这种软件描述为侵入性的数字监控。Wilson 表示他将向 DEFCAD 用户提供该工具，并打算将其开源，这将允许拥有枪支文件的个人用户使用该工具来扰乱哈希值，从而可能规避检测。
“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.
“我认为存储库中的所有文件，至少是 3D 文件，都应该被‘Hochulized’，”他补充道，“所以这就是我们要做的。”他声称已经开始了这一进程。
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, digital rights experts, and members of the entertainment industry who aren’t focused on guns have all spoken out against the tech, 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.
Wilson 的做法是抵制 3D 打印拦截技术的早期信号。在这种情况下，推动力来自一位“第二修正案”支持者，但这未必总是如此。创客群体、数字权利专家以及与枪支无关的娱乐行业成员都对该技术表示反对，他们担心要求打印机进行文件扫描会引入新层级的数字监控，从而限制所有人的创作自由。
3D-printed firearms are growing in number but remain an evolving public threat. In 2021, the New York Police Department confiscated just one 3D-printed gun. That jumped to 109 in 2024. Prominent gun policy group Everytown found similar upticks across 20 other cities. Still, when compared with the percentage of conventional firearms confiscated around the country, 3D-printed models remain comparatively small. The total number of firearms in the US has been estimated to outnumber people.
3D 打印枪支的数量正在增加，但仍是一个不断演变的公共威胁。2021 年，纽约警察局仅没收了一支 3D 打印枪支。到 2024 年，这一数字跃升至 109 支。著名的枪支政策组织 Everytown 在其他 20 个城市也发现了类似的增长。尽管如此，与全国没收的传统枪支比例相比，3D 打印型号的数量仍然相对较小。据估计，美国枪支的总数已超过人口总数。
But 3D-printed gun technology has also come a long way since Wilson first printed his single-shot “Liberator” in 2013. Today, models like the FGC-9 can fire multiple high-velocity rounds without breaking and have been found in the hands of neo-Nazi cells in Europe and rebel groups fighting Myanmar’s military junta. 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.
但自 Wilson 于 2013 年首次打印出单发“解放者”（Liberator）手枪以来，3D 打印枪支技术已取得了长足进步。如今，像 FGC-9 这样的型号可以连续发射多发高速子弹而不损坏，并且已在欧洲的新纳粹组织和缅甸反抗军政府的叛乱组织手中被发现。3D 打印的枪支组件，例如能将单发传统枪支改装成机枪的开关，或使射击更易于隐蔽的消音器，可以说更加危险。这些工具通常是非法的，或者需要特殊许可才能获得。而 3D 打印提供了一种变通途径。
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.
政策制定者和枪支管制倡导者认为，此类案例暴露了法律体系中的巨大漏洞。有重罪前科的人和其他法律禁止持枪的人，可以通过 3D 打印机轻易获得枪支。虽然许多州对所谓的“幽灵枪”的制造和销售进行了监管，但实际执行这些法律极其困难。这种要求 3D 打印机安装强制性文件拦截软件的新方法，试图通过在打印开始前就将其阻止来填补这一漏洞。
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 FY 2027 budget, says it’s necessary to close what she calls a black-market “plastic pipeline.”
行业专家仍在争论这在规模化应用中是否技术可行。作为该州 2027 财年预算的一部分，推动了全美首部强制要求新款打印机安装拦截软件法律的 Hochul 州长表示，有必要关闭她所称的黑市“塑料管道”。
New York isn’t alone. A similar bill in California, AB 2047, is gaining momentum and is advancing to the Senate floor for a vote. Like in New York, this bill would require new printers manufactured or sold in the state to be equipped with print-blocking software. The state Department of Justice would publish a roster of compliant printer models.
纽约州并非孤例。加利福尼亚州的一项类似法案 AB 2047 正在获得支持，并已推进至参议院进行投票。与纽约州一样，该法案将要求在该州制造或销售的新款打印机必须配备打印拦截软件。州司法部将发布一份合规打印机型号的名单。