3D2A
3D2A is a term for the 3D-printed gun rights movement. The "3D" is taken from 3D printing, which can be used to make firearms and other weapons, and the "2A" is an acronym for the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The movement does not adhere to one monolithic ideology, but it maintains a commitment to free speech and open-source software design principles.
History
[edit]The 3D2A movement was born from the efforts of American and European designers attempting to share the files and build guides for 3D-printed firearms online in the face of legal restrictions. Since Defense Distributed and the days of the Liberator pistol, world governments have attempted to block, censor, and surveil the distribution of 3D gun files on the Internet.[1][2]
As of December 2025, 3D2A has been called "a massive movement" and is seen as growing rapidly in many online communities primarily (but not exclusively) based in the United States.[3] The prevalence and availability of 3D-printed guns is seen to be rising rapidly, with 19,000 so called "ghost guns" recovered by law enforcement in 2021.[3] 3D-printed receivers and complete guns such as the FGC-9 can now be made entirely with 3D-printing and home building techniques, which places authorities in a position where strict gun control or law enforcement becomes in many cases impossible.[4]
Critics have labeled the movement and its activities as "memed accelerationism"[5] and have labeled the movement as part of a greater "accelerationist" tendency coming from entities without a clear political agenda or motive.[6]
Beliefs
[edit]Courtney Nilan, Deputy Chief of the NYPD Intelligence Division, leads the NYPD's "ghost guns unit" -- the most active investigation of 3D2A adherents in the United States.[4] She has stated:
“If they put out their manifesto/constitution, they call 3D2A the ‘New Second Amendment.’ They are heavy into their ideology, big, anti-government, anti-establishment. They believe everybody, everybody should be able to have a gun, should be able to make a gun label, and they’re calling it the ‘New Second Amendment.’”[7]
Books and Films Featuring 3D2A
[edit]- Wilson, Cody (2026). GunCAD: 3D2A History and Value. DEFCAD. ISBN 979-8988553823.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "3D-printed gun blueprints pulled from Internet, at request of State Department". CBS News. May 10, 2013. Archived from the original on May 11, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
- ↑ Brewster, Thomas. "Inside Facebook And Discord's 3D Printed Ghost Gun Groups". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- 1 2 "Radical gun rights movement "3D2A" and 3D printers spark rapid rise in ghost guns, NYPD says - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2025-12-09. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- 1 2 "This Man Wants To Help You Print Your Own Gun". Rolling Stone. 2026-06-17. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- ↑ "3D2A: The Second Amendment, 3D Printed Guns and Memed Accelerationism". GNET. 2025-02-06. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- ↑ Dass, Rueben (2023-10-06). "3D-Printed Weapons and the Far-Right: The Finnish Accelerationist Cell". GNET. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
- ↑ Moses, Dean (2025-08-24). "'New Second Amendment:' How the NYPD, Manhattan DA are fighting radical online ghost gun manufacturers". AMNY.com. Retrieved 2025-01-10.