California has launched a legal battle against two websites accused of distributing instructions for manufacturing untraceable “ghost guns” using 3D printers, marking a significant escalation in the state’s efforts to combat unregulated firearms.
The lawsuit, filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu in San Francisco Superior Court, targets the Gatalog Foundation Inc. and CTRLPEW LLC, along with three individuals associated with the websites. The legal action alleges these sites violated multiple state laws by distributing computer code and guidelines for 3D printing firearms, illegal large-capacity magazines, and other prohibited firearm accessories.
“These defendants’ conduct enables unlicensed people who are too young or too dangerous to pass firearm background checks to illegally print deadly weapons without a background check and without a trace,” said Bonta in a statement. “This lawsuit underscores just how dangerous the ghost gun industry is and how much harm its skip-the-background check business model has done to California’s communities,” he added.
According to the lawsuit, the websites offer computer code and instructions for more than 150 designs of lethal firearms and prohibited firearm accessories. State officials claim they were able to download the code and instructions “with a few simple keystrokes” and used it to build a Glock-style handgun as part of their investigation.
The proliferation of ghost guns has increased dramatically in California over the past decade. Law enforcement agencies recovered just 26 ghost guns in 2015, but since 2021, they have recovered an average of more than 11,000 ghost guns per year, according to the lawsuit.
“Because they are not serialized, ghost guns are effectively untraceable by law enforcement,” the lawsuit stated. “And because they are manufactured privately, often in one’s home, they bypass critical safeguards like background checks. In this way, ghost guns unlawfully circumvent traditional gun control measures.”
The lawsuit names three defendants: Alexander Holladay, identified as the Gatalog Foundation’s principal; John Elik, identified as its director; and gun rights attorney Matthew Larosiere. The defendants could not be reached for comment.
Larosiere previously characterized ghost guns as a legal hobby for firearms enthusiasts in a 2019 interview with the Mercury News. “It is, and always has been, legal for ordinary adults to make firearms for their own personal use,” he told the newspaper. “These people tend to be dedicated hobbyists. Home-built firearms have been around as long as our nation, and today in a country of 300 million people, we rarely ever see them used in crime.”
The lawsuit detailed particularly stark examples of the dangers that 3D printed firearms have posed, including the arrest of a 14-year-old boy who used a 3D printer to manufacture multiple firearms in Santa Rosa in 2024.
Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president of GIFFORDS Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement that the organization has previously partnered with Bonta to stop three ghost gun companies from operating throughout California. “But a new generation of irresponsible gun industry actors are trying to unlawfully arm minors, people with felony convictions, and domestic abusers by letting them 3D-print their own guns without any background checks,” he said.
This lawsuit represents California’s latest effort to address what officials describe as a “public safety crisis” caused by the increasing availability of untraceable firearms.
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