Dem. Bill in Colorado Would Make It Illegal to Own Images of Guns That Are Too Detailed

Colorado is moving forward with a bill that could regulate digital records showing citizens how to use a 3D printer to make a gun.

The bill is HB26-1144, and it puts new limits on what a 3D printer could do, according to TechSpot.

The measure would not only ban making a gun or key components of one, but would also criminalize what are called “digital instructions” that can program a machine to make the gun or parts.

The legislation would ban having computer-aided design instructions if they are going to be used to make a gun, or shared with someone else trying to make one.

Colorado house representatives pass the prohibition of files that could print guns and gun parts.

Make no mistake, this is a book ban and an attack on the 2nd and the 1st amendment.

Every name in green in this photo should be removed from the Colorado capitol in handcuffs.… pic.twitter.com/OBwjiMmvw7

— Alicia Garcia (@boomstickbabe) March 3, 2026

The Colorado bill treats first offenses as misdemeanors, but later violations become felonies.

The report noted that some states are trying to crack down on the printers themselves so that they cannot be made to produce a gun.

On Friday, the Colorado House moved forward with the bill as Democrats steamrolled Republican objections, according to the The Denver Gazette.

Democrats framed the bill as adding to a 2023 law that banned possessing or selling so-called ghost guns, which are assembled by individuals and do not have a serial number. The bill did not ban making a ghost gun.

Colorado State Rep. Dusty Johnson, a Republican, said the bill and others like it are “chipping away at a fundamental right that we as Americans have.”

“We are here to represent the voices of those who elected us to serve them,” she said. “That means representing their values, not dictating what their values are and what they cannot do.”

Johnson described the ban on instructions for printing a gun as a type of censorship.

Colorado State Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Republican, said the law is merely feel-good legislation that fails to consider the ease of evading it.

🚨 BREAKING:
Colorado House Democrats have passed HB26-1144, the anti-3D printed bill.

This sweeping legislation seeks to regulate and criminalize the sharing of any 3D model or code that could be used to produce a firearm.

Similar to measures pushed in California and New… pic.twitter.com/2jL3CB7Q2i

— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) March 2, 2026

For example, he said, a resident could easily cross state lines to print a firearm, or use a VPN so that no one knows a Colorado resident is downloading banned material.

“There’s no enforcement on this. This is a nothing bill,” he said. “Internet distribution, in case you didn’t know, is borderless. There is no border for the internet.”

As noted by The Denver Post, Colorado lawmakers are also backing a proposal that would ban anyone except for a federally licensed firearm dealer from selling or transferring a firearm barrel.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.