California sues sites with plans to 3D print guns

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Two websites that distribute instructions on how to make ghost weapons are facing a new one Lawsuit in the State of California claiming to provide access to illegal and untraceable firearms.

The case brought by the Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, is targeting the Gatalog Foundation Inc. and CTRLPEW LLC.

The lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court alleges that the websites infringed various state laws including the dissemination of computer code and guidelines for 3D printing firearms, illegal high capacity magazines and other firearms related products.

According to the lawsuit, the websites offer computer code and instructions for more than 150 designs of deadly firearms and prohibited accessories. The lawsuit alleges that as part of their investigation, government officials downloaded code and instructions from the website “with just a few keystrokes” and used them to create a Glock-style handgun.

“The conduct of these defendants allows unlicensed individuals, too young or too dangerous to pass a firearms background check, to illegally print deadly weapons without a background check and without leaving a trace,” Bonta said. “This lawsuit highlights the danger of the ghost gun industry and the great harm its business model of circumventing background checks has caused to California communities.”

The defendants could not be reached for comment. In addition to the two websites, the suit names three men as defendants: Alexander Holladay, whom the suit identifies as the director of the Gatalog Foundation; John Ellick, identified as its director; and gun rights attorney Matthew Larosiere.

Larosiere, in a 2019 Mercury News interview, characterized ghost guns as a legitimate hobby for firearms enthusiasts.

“It is and always has been legal for ordinary adults to manufacture firearms for personal use,” he told the paper. “These people are often hobbyists. Homemade firearms have been around as long as our nation has existed, and today, in a country of 300 million people, we rarely see them used in crimes.”

The prevalence of ghost guns has increased dramatically in California over the past decade, leading to what the lawsuit describes as a “public safety crisis.” According to the lawsuit, law enforcement in California recovered 26 ghost guns in 2015. As of 2021, they have recovered an average of more than 11,000 ghost guns annually, according to the lawsuit.

“Being unserialized, ghost guns are virtually impossible for law enforcement to track,” the lawsuit states. “And because they are manufactured privately, often in the home, they bypass important security measures like background checks. In this way, ghost guns illegally evade traditional gun control measures.”

The case details particularly high-profile examples of the dangers 3D-printed firearms pose, including the arrest of a 14-year-old boy who used a 3D printer to make multiple firearms in Santa Rosa in 2024.

Adam Skaggs, senior counsel and vice president of the GIFFORDS Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement that the organization previously partnered with Bonta to shut down three ghost gun companies operating throughout California.

“But a new generation of irresponsible gun industry players is trying to illegally arm minors, people with felony convictions and domestic abusers by allowing them to 3D print their own guns without any background checks,” he said.

Kayla Michalovich is an intern at California Local News.