California officials have filed a civil lawsuit against an Orlando-based corporation and its affiliated companies and individuals. 

The state accuses them of running an open internet distribution network for digital blueprints used to manufacture 3D printed ghost guns and prohibited firearm accessories, in violation of state law.

The complaint was filed in San Francisco Superior Court by California Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu. Named as defendants are Gatalog Foundation Inc., CTRLPew LLC, and three individuals: Alexander Holladay, Matthew Larosiere, 3D printed firearms advocate, and John Elik, known online as “IvanTheTroll.”

The state alleges violations of Civil Code sections 3273.61 and 3273.625, which bar distributing digital firearm manufacturing code to unlicensed individuals and facilitating the unlawful manufacture of firearms, as well as the Unfair Competition Law.

“This groundbreaking lawsuit shows that our office is not bound by the old playbook. Similar to these defendants, we think creatively, but our aim is to protect public safety rather than obstruct it,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Photo via State of California Department of Justice.

The lawsuit landed just weeks before California moved on a parallel legislative front, with Assembly Bill 2047 proposing to require all consumer 3D printers sold in the state to detect and block firearm blueprint files before printing. If passed, manufacturers selling non-compliant devices would face civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, with certified detection systems required in printers from March 2029.

A Free-for-All Weapons Catalog

At the center of the alleged operation were two websites. The Gatalog directed visitors to a series of Odysee profiles hosting code files for more than 150 firearm and prohibited accessory designs. The files were free to download, required no license, and were accessible from California.

A second site, ctrlpew.com, whose name the complaint says stands for “Print Every Weapon,” complemented the Gatalog with beginner tutorials, printer and materials recommendations, and direct links back to the files. The defendants also sold merchandise, took donations, and ran a related company named MAF Corp. that sold parts kits designed to complete whatever a user had just printed.

Beyond handgun and rifle frames, the files on offer included a range of prohibited accessories: auto-sears that convert semi-automatic weapons into machineguns, large-capacity magazines, and silencers. One design, the CAG19, was marketed directly to Californians as a “California Compliant Glock 19-based Carbine kit,” though the complaint notes that printing it without a manufacturer’s license is illegal in the state regardless of how it is labeled.

To put the files to the test, an analyst from the California Attorney General’s Office logged on from a California IP address and downloaded them without any obstacle. Using the FMDA DD19.2, a Glock 19-style frame design, investigators ran three prints on a consumer-grade 3D printer following the instructions in the downloaded files, each taking about 7.5 hours. 

A Bureau of Firearms supervisor then followed the assembly instructions and, using commercially available parts, built a functional, unserialized handgun in about one hour, bringing the total time from download to working firearm to roughly eight and a half hours. The DD19.2 design carries particular weight in the complaint: a version of it was used in the November 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

A Decade of Escalating Ghost Guns

The lawsuit comes against the backdrop of what state officials describe as a decade-long surge in ghost guns across California. 

Law enforcement agencies recovered just 26 such weapons in 2015. By 2021 through 2025, that number had climbed to an average of more than 11,000 ghost guns and auto-sears recovered per year. 

The state has also borne a disproportionate share of the national problem: California accounted for 55% of nearly 38,000 ghost gun traces reported to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) between 2017 and 2021. In San Francisco, ghost guns made up 44% of firearms recovered in homicides in 2020, and the city’s police department recovered hundreds more tied to crimes between 2022 and 2025.

The state is asking the court to permanently enjoin the defendants from distributing digital firearm manufacturing code in California and from facilitating unlawful firearm manufacturing. 

Beyond the injunction, plaintiffs seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation of each of the two Civil Code provisions, $2,500 per violation of the Unfair Competition Law, disgorgement of all profits from the illegal activity, and recovery of litigation costs.

The defendants had not filed a response at the time the complaint was filed. The case is captioned People of the State of California v. Gatalog Foundation Inc., et al., and is pending before the San Francisco Superior Court.

A screenshot of Gatalog Foundation’s Odysee channel hosting files for 3D printed firearm components. Image via The Gatalog.

Courts and Prosecutors Take Aim

The California lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal and law enforcement actions reflecting growing alarm over 3D printed firearm components. In Chicago, the city filed a civil suit against Glock in Cook County Circuit Court alleging the gunmaker made a deliberate business decision to profit from pistols uniquely easy to convert into machineguns using 3D printed auto- sears. 

More than 1,100 modified Glocks were recovered by Chicago police between 2021 and end of 2023, while the ATF reported a 400% increase in illegally modified machinegun recoveries nationwide between 2020 and 2021. Glock has disputed the claims, arguing federal law shields it from liability for third-party criminal acts.

On the criminal side, federal prosecutors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, unsealed charges against Andrew Scott Hastings, 25, a former U.S. Army National Guard soldier, alleging he shipped more than 100 3D printed machinegun conversion switches and handgun components to someone he believed was acting on behalf of al-Qaida. 

At the time of reporting, Hastings was facing federal charges for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and for the illegal possession and transfer of machineguns. He had not entered a plea at the time the charges were unsealed.

3D Printing Industry is inviting speakers for its 2026 Additive Manufacturing Applications (AMA) series, covering Energy, Healthcare, Automotive and Mobility, Aerospace, Space and Defense, and Software. Each online event focuses on real production deployments, qualification, and supply chain integration. Practitioners interested in contributing can complete the call for speakers form here.

To stay up to date with the latest 3D printing news, don’t forget to subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn.

Explore the full Future of 3D Printing and Executive Survey series from 3D Printing Industry, featuring perspectives from CEOs, engineers, and industry leaders on the industrialization of additive manufacturing, 3D printing industry trends 2026, qualification, supply chains, and additive manufacturing industry analysis.

Featured image shows California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Photo via State of California Department of Justice.