California is taking a different path from other states. Rather than banning an act of manufacturing, AB 2047 would put requirements on the 3D printer itself and on the design files it accepts. Two-dimensional flatbed cutters finish flat sheet media for stickers, boxes, posters, banners and leather. This page lays out the proposed bill, the existing framework around it, and how to evaluate any cutting platform before you buy in California.
Proposed Legislation
Introduced by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, AB 2047 would add Title 21.1 to the Civil Code. Here is the core of the proposal, with a link to the official text.
A detection algorithm would flag files that "program a three-dimensional printer to produce a firearm or illegal firearm parts."
Core requirement
Consumer 3D printers sold in California must screen design files and block those flagged as firearms or illegal parts.
Distinctive clause
A misdemeanor to knowingly facilitate circumvention of the blocking technology.
State role
DOJ to publish detection-algorithm standards by Jan 1, 2028 and maintain a list of compliant printers.
Exemptions
Licensed manufacturers, law enforcement, and prop studios. Not consumer machines in schools, libraries, or makerspaces.
Official text and history: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov → · Author: Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan
A Different Approach
Where some states ban the act of manufacturing, California's proposal works upstream, on the printer and the design files it accepts. Understanding that framing explains exactly what the bill reaches.
What AB 2047 reaches
How other states differ
The Existing Framework
California already regulates self-manufactured firearms. The proposed bill layers a device-level mandate on top of that serialization regime.
Established California's framework requiring serialization of self-manufactured firearms, an early move on untraceable guns that later laws expanded.
Sets the serialization and background-check requirements for self-manufactured firearms, and existing law already makes it a crime to unlawfully manufacture a firearm, including with a 3D printer.
Strengthened California's self-manufactured-firearm serialization rules. AB 2047 is the next step, shifting some accountability upstream onto 3D printer makers.
What It Means for 2D Cutting
AB 2047 is written around three-dimensional printers and the files that program them. That is a different device class from a flatbed knife cutter.
The regulated device
What a 2D flatbed cutter does
Before You Buy in California
Because AB 2047 focuses on the device and its files, the right questions are about what a machine is and how its software works.
AB 2047 targets three-dimensional printers. A 2D flatbed cutter finishes flat sheet media and does not print three-dimensional objects. Be clear which category a machine falls in, because the proposed mandate follows the printer, not the knife.
One compliance route in the bill restricts a printer to a single approved slicer that screens files. If you are buying a 3D printer, understand whether its workflow could lock you into proprietary software, since open-firmware and third-party workflows are exactly what the anti-circumvention clause puts at risk.
If AB 2047 becomes law, DOJ performance standards are slated for January 1, 2028, with a compliant-printer list to follow. For a 3D printer purchase, factor in whether a model will be certified and listed. For a regulated environment, consult qualified counsel.
If your jobs are stickers, cartons, posters, banners and leather, that is 2D finishing on flat media. Buying 3D printing or forming capability you will not use adds cost and, in California, a regulatory workflow you do not need. Right-size to the work.
The Platforms
Entry-friendly platforms for California shops adding capacity across signage, packaging and leather.
Flatbed Digital Cutter
High-speed flatbed for sign, advertising print and packaging. Through cutting, kiss cutting, creasing and marking from a digital file, with stacking and collection for short-run and production work.
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Flatbed Digital Die Cutter
Built for packaging and print sample making and short-run customization. Full cutting, kiss cutting, creasing and marking on cardboard, corrugated, PVC, EVA and rubber, no dies. A router tool also profiles flat shapes from rigid sheet such as PVC, Gatorboard and Coroplast.
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Flatbed Digital Die Cutter
A flexible single-layer cutting system for advertising, packaging, furniture and composite sheet. Full cutting, half cutting and creasing with high efficiency across soft and semi-rigid materials.
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Automatic Digital Cutter
Vacuum hold-down with automatic lifting and feeding for signs, printing and packaging. Through cutting, half cutting, creasing and marking, a cost-effective system for sample making and short-run output.
Specifications →
Leather Cutting Solution
An end-to-end flat-media solution for leather furniture and upholstery: contour capture, automatic nesting, order management and cutting. Nesting lifts hide yield to reduce genuine-leather material cost.
Specifications →California Focus
Every platform here finishes flat sheet. AB 2047 regulates three-dimensional printers and the files that program them, a different device class.
Back to the bill ↑California Questions, Answered
AB 2047, the California Firearm Printing Prevention Act, would require consumer 3D printers sold in California to include firearm-blueprint detection technology that screens a design file before a print job and blocks files flagged as producing a firearm or illegal firearm parts, including conversion devices. It directs the Department of Justice to publish performance standards by January 1, 2028 and to maintain a list of compliant printers, and it creates a misdemeanor for knowingly facilitating circumvention of the blocking technology. It passed the Assembly and is pending in the Senate as of June 2026.
Colorado's HB26-1144 bans the act of producing firearm components by additive or subtractive manufacturing. California's AB 2047 instead regulates the device and the file: it requires 3D printers to screen and block firearm design files, and it uniquely makes circumventing that blocking a crime. One targets the manufacturing act, the other targets the printer and its print files.
AB 2047 is written around three-dimensional printers and the print files that program them. A 2D flatbed cutter is not a 3D printer: it finishes flat sheet media with knife cutting, kiss cutting and creasing, and it does not accept firearm blueprint files to print a firearm. Anyone buying equipment that is or could be classified as a 3D printer should track the bill and consult qualified counsel.
AB 2047 would make it a misdemeanor to knowingly disable, deactivate, uninstall or otherwise circumvent the mandated firearm blocking technology on a 3D printer. This goes further than the Washington and Colorado laws and is the provision digital-rights groups have objected to most, since it can affect open-source firmware and user control of the device.
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