Is an e-reader case as dangerous as a Glock 19?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Last month, Louisville, Kentucky-based creator Luke The Maker<\/a> showed off a bizarre, 3D-printed, pistol-shaped case design<\/a> for the popular minimalist Xteink X4 e-reader<\/a>. The X4 lies vertically atop the plastic gun\u2019s slide, with a cutout on the side to access its buttons. Though the frame was digitally modeled after a real gun, this \u201ccase\u201d can\u2019t shoot bullets. Squeezing the trigger does nothing at all. He calls his contraption the \u201cGundle<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In a post<\/a> showing off the wacky accessory, Luke (whose last name is Blackford) can be seen flipping through Cormac McCarthy\u2019s Blood Meridian <\/em>and J.D. Salinger\u2019s The Catcher in the Rye<\/em> before tossing the gun e-reader case in his car\u2019s center console.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe perfect e-reader for public reading,\u201d text reads over the clip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But even though this internet experiment is clearly intended as a joke or commentary, it\u2019s possible future 3D printers won\u2019t see it that way. Lawmakers in multiple states are pushing for laws mandating gun-blocking software<\/a> on all new printers sold. This still-evolving technology would, in theory, scan every file before it\u2019s physically printed and try to algorithmically determine whether it\u2019s a firearm or firearm part. If the software decides that the thing being printed looks enough like a gun, it stops the printer from completing the job. That is, if it even works. Lawmakers in New York and California are leaving it up to a panel of industry experts to weigh whether the proposed vision is even technically feasible. Despite that cloud of uncertainty, legislation mandating this blocking tech has already become law in New York<\/a> and passed California\u2019s state assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be so publicly available. I just didn\u2019t want tons of them out there.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That may sound reasonable enough, but makers and industry experts previously told The Verge<\/em><\/a> that the tech is underdeveloped and risks introducing false positives where non-guns that look gun-like get unnecessarily blocked. Blackford\u2019s e-reader case falls directly in that detection gray area. Blackford says he didn\u2019t explicitly make the Gundle to challenge the proposed laws, but he also didn\u2019t shy away from expressing his opinion about them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI\u2019m not for that kind of thing because I\u2019m big into open software,\u201d Blackford says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a wild frontier right now, so I definitely don\u2019t trust [gun blueprint scanning tech] now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf people want to 3D print a gun, they\u2019re going to do it,\u201d he adds. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s up to the people making the slicers to control that kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Those pushing for these mandates, meanwhile, wouldn\u2019t say whether their proposed tech would stop Blackford from making a harmless case. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s office didn\u2019t respond to questions about Blackford\u2019s device specifically, or the implications false positives could have for a maker\u2019s ability to freely express themself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cGovernor Hochul is laser-focused on improving public safety and reducing gun violence in New York,\u201d deputy communications director at the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and spokesperson Jess D\u2019Amelia tells The Verge. <\/em>\u201cThis law relies on the expertise of leading subject matter experts to evaluate and harness emerging technologies while addressing the real and growing threat of ghost guns and illegally manufactured weapons of war. The Governor is confident these measures will make all New York communities safer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe intent of the law is not to block prints like this, but I think this print is a really good example of why that\u2019s hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Cliff Braun, associate director of technology policy and research at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who has spoken critically of California\u2019s proposal<\/a>, says it\u2019s unclear whether the proposed system would flag Blackford\u2019s design. While the technology exists, Braun says it\u2019s currently in a \u201climited form.\u201d Critics say a more cautious detection system that relies on hashes to flag known firearms and parts from a database could be trivially easy to sidestep by simply making small changes to a file\u2019s design. A more expansive approach using AI to analyze a file\u2019s geometry and predict if it\u2019s a gun, by contrast, may be more prone to mistakes. Things that look gun-ish but aren\u2019t, in other words, might get swept up. Lawmakers in both states are leaving it to expert panels to iron out the details of implementation, but the final result, Braun says, will have to grapple with an unavoidable tradeoff between false positives and false negatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe intent of the law is not to block prints like this, but I think this print is a really good example of why that\u2019s hard,\u201d Braun says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Handguns like the one Blackford modeled his design on are particularly problematic. In 2022, the ATF updated its rules<\/a> clarifying that the only parts of a firearm that legally require a serial number are those that provide the housing or structure for the weapon\u2019s \u201cprimary fire control component.\u201d In AR-15s and other long guns, that\u2019s the receiver. Braun notes that the shapes of receivers are relatively unique and distinguishable, as are machine gun conversion devices. That\u2019s not quite the same with a handgun. There, the part that requires a serial number is the frame<\/a>. And unlike receivers, frames are visually far more ambiguous. Water hoses, toy guns, and power tools all share somewhat similar shapes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dartmouth College associate professor of engineering Solomon Diamond<\/a> tells The Verge <\/em>that whether Blackford\u2019s e-reader case gets blocked really depends on the type of technology that particular printer deploys. A more conservative hashing approach would fall flat because Blackford\u2019s device wouldn\u2019t match one of the exact hashes on a database of prohibited files. A different system using computer vision and AI to evaluate where an object likely resembles a gun, however, could flag it by mistake.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBasing blocking tech on visual resemblance is where the false positive concerns arise because a prop and a real functional firearm resemble one another,\u201d Diamond told The Verge<\/em>. \u201cThe technical challenge here is that depending on training data and algorithms used, setting decision thresholds that have acceptably low false positive rates might have unacceptably high false negative rates and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cVisual resemblance might be fooled by [the] gun-shaped e-reader case,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Diamond noted a third option, \u201cgeometric identification,\u201d could potentially thread the needle. This approach, which is currently being deployed to guide quality control in manufacturing, can be fine-tuned for what Diamond refers to as \u201cexact geometric match,\u201d where a zero false-positive rate is at least theoretically possible. This approach is still relatively new when it comes to 3D print blocking tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cGeometric Identification would not be fooled by your gun-shaped e-reader case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 3D printer manufacturers and the experts setting the standards for how blocking software mandates will work are then left with a complex choice. Requiring systems that are both actually effective at detecting guns and technically feasible to introduce in the near future will necessarily mean some non-guns get caught in the crossfire. Pretty quickly, that starts limiting how makers, hobbyists, and artists can express themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to try and block all of those wonderfully creative humans, you\u2019re going to make it very hard to print props or make social commentary,\u201d Braun said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Blackford says making the Gundle was relatively straightforward. He first went online and did a simple search for \u201cfree gun model,\u201d which turned up the blueprints for the gun shell part of the case. He then uploaded that to Fusion 360, his preferred modeling program, and added the e-reader on top and built the case around it. The Xteink X4<\/a> is one of the cheaper e-readers on the market, and though it has limited functionality, its devoted community regularly works to improve it<\/a>. With the digital design finalized, Blackford sent it off to his Bambu Lab H2D printer. The entire process, from initial idea to printed product, took less than 24 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even though the device doesn\u2019t shoot, Blackford says he still hasn\u2019t taken it out in public. He\u2019s since published the files on his website<\/a>, where anyone with a 3D printer can download them and make their own. Blackford admits he did this with some hesitation. The case isn\u2019t a gun, but it looks enough like one that someone brandishing it in the open, or revealing it during a confrontation with law enforcement, could find themselves in a seriously dangerous misunderstanding. He talked things over with his wife before publishing, and ultimately decided to avoid larger marketplaces like Thingiverse or Printables so it wouldn\u2019t spread too widely. This way, he says, people can still find it if they are interested but won\u2019t randomly stumble upon it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want it to be so publicly available,\u201d Blackford says. \u201cI just didn\u2019t want tons of them out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re going to try and block all of those wonderfully creative humans, you\u2019re going to make it very hard to print props or make social commentary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There\u2019s also some question as to whether walking around with the case would violate already existing federal laws<\/a> requiring toys or other \u201clook-alike firearms\u201d to have distinctive markings. These so-called \u201corange tip laws\u201d are why fake guns and airsoft guns have blaze-orange plastic tips attached to their muzzles when they are manufactured and sold. But the e-reader case isn\u2019t really a toy or a fake gun, but an art project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Regardless, Blackford says if he ever did take it out in public, he\u2019d print a version in a different color to make clear it isn\u2019t imitating a real weapon. That\u2019s not an overreaction. Walking around in public with something that resembles a gun, even if it is functionally useless, can make interactions with police and other gun owners dangerous, or even deadly. In 2014, Cleveland police shot and killed a 12-year-old boy<\/a> named Tamir Rice after he reached for a toy gun. A 2016 Washington Post<\/em> report<\/a> estimated that over the span of two years, police shot and killed 86 people who were holding realistic-looking toy weapons and pellet and airsoft guns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Supporters of blueprint scanning mandates say it\u2019s necessary to close an enforcement gap that\u2019s giving those with felony convictions and others access to guns when they shouldn\u2019t have them. Various laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 3D-printed ghost guns (untraceable firearms without serial numbers) already exist across the country. But people print in the privacy of their own homes, making enforcing those laws nearly impossible. Hochul has called this dynamic the \u201cplastic pipeline<\/a>\u201d and warns of criminals printing guns on their kitchen tables. Mandating scanning software would shift the responsibility onto printer manufacturers, stopping the illegal guns before they are ever made.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Whether the threat posed by 3D-printed guns actually justifies such a transformative change to how printers work remains up for debate. The guns are certainly getting better in terms of performance. There are also more of them. In 2024, the NYPD said it recovered 109 mostly 3D-printed guns<\/a> from crime scenes. That\u2019s up from just one recorded three years prior. A separate 2024 report<\/a> from the gun control advocacy group Everytown found similar results in 20 other cities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n All of that is a drop in the bucket compared to conventional guns collected at crime scenes. In 2025 alone, then-Mayor Eric Adams claimed the NYPD seized more than 5,200 illegal guns<\/a>. The total number of firearms in the country more broadly has been estimated<\/a> to outnumber people<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But Blackford says he wasn\u2019t convinced 3D-printed guns pose an especially immediate danger. In his view, they are still primarily made by tinkerers and gun enthusiasts with a passion for the process and plenty of time on their hands. In most cases, he\u2019s convinced, getting a real gun is still much easier than printing one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 3D printing, Blackford says, \u201cis too much of a pain in the ass.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And if legislation like New York\u2019s or California\u2019s ever reaches Kentucky, Blackford says he\u2019s ready to get creative, either by using VPNs or figuring out some other workaround. He\u2019s likely not alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSome companies are going to be putting those locks in place, but I think open-source software is always going to prevail,\u201d Blackford says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n