B-Roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Growing Support for Nation-Leading Proposals to Crack Down on DIY Machine Guns and 3D-Printed Guns

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was joined by district attorneys, county sheriffs and local police chiefs and highlighted growing support among law enforcement for her proposals to strengthen New York's nation-leading gun laws. Introduced as part of her 2026 State of the State agenda, the proposed legislation would require guns sold in New York to be designed so they cannot be easily modified into illegal machine guns and would establish criminal penalties for the manufacture of 3D-printed firearms as well as the distribution of the digital code used to 3D print firearms. The proposed legislation would also create a working group to develop minimum safety standards for 3D printer manufacturers to block the production of firearms and firearm components and require police departments and sheriffs' offices to report recoveries of all 3D printed guns to the state. These measures build on Governor Hochul's efforts to get guns off the streets, reduce firearm deaths, and combat gun violence in New York State - efforts that are delivering historic results.

B-ROLL of the Governor viewing 3D-printed ghost guns and switches at the State Police Forensic Investigation Center is available to stream on Youtube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 I want to thank everyone for coming out. First of all, our Superintendent of the State Police, Steven James, who's been my staunch ally as we continue to fight crime in the State of New York. We'll be acknowledging, and you'll be hearing from, District Attorney Lee Kindlon from Albany County; Sheriff Craig Apple from Albany County; and District Attorney, from my home county, Michael Keane, who traveled some distance to be here.

Also, my other partners in law enforcement: Sheriff Juan Figueroa from Ulster County; District Attorney Anthony Parisi from Dutchess County; Chief Brendan Cox, the Albany Police Department; Deputy Chief James Holt from the Utica Police Department; our County Executive, Dan McCoy, is here. Also, I want to thank Senator Pat Fahy for joining us, as she often does, and Assemblymember Romero has joined us as well.

So I want to thank everyone for being here - wish we didn't have to be here. People say, "Why are you here today? We did this event back in January." January 7, I believe we presented what has come to our attention from law enforcement - a real problem where people have access to creating more lethality, more weapons of mass destruction in their kitchen table.

But it's great to be back at the State Police Forensic Investigation Center. I want to thank them every time I come here. Grateful to all of you for what you do, keeping us safe here and the connectivity that we have between the data that's analyzed here and our local policing agencies has made an incredible difference - and we've spread these all over the state.

And when I first became governor in 2021, gun crimes, serious crimes, violent crimes were literally off the charts. It was a frightening time. Gun violence had doubled, doubled since the pandemic and previous two years. And it wasn't just New York, it was part of a nationwide pandemic-era surge of crimes involving firearms. But that was not sustainable. I knew we had to take very swift action and our challenges really set us apart and how we dove into them. And I said, "We have to commit money." We've committed over the last few years, over $3 billion to fighting crime, and a lot of that has to do with gun interdiction and thwarting criminals.

We've doubled funding to combat gun violence. We partnered with 11 other states. I brought this idea early on. I said, "The guns are coming from out of state." Obviously we do not have gun manufacturers here, so they're coming in illegally from other states, and we have to do much more to cut off the "Iron Pipeline," which was basically I-81. And also guns that were coming up I-81, up from Pennsylvania gun shows where people would go down and load up their trunk with guns that they purchased legally in Pennsylvania that are not legal in our state and brought them up either heading due North to Syracuse or due East to the Bronx - and that was what we were seeing.

So we started this alliance with other states. It's been extraordinarily successful. We enhanced our red flag laws, keeping guns away from anyone with a history of propensity toward violence or mental illness. Anyone who could pose a danger to themselves or others - that has made a profound difference in how we can stop crimes before they happen.

We had to make some hard-fought changes to our bail laws over a two year cycle. And just last year, changing discovery laws that I know our district attorneys are very happy to have because this was stopping them from being able to prosecute and be successful in making sure that the people that have committed crimes are not recycled back to the streets because of technicalities, which was happening over and over and over. So I'm proud to stand here today and say, without hesitation, our hard work and record investments and the dedication of, whether it's the elected law enforcement or the public servants who put on a uniform every day, we have made an extraordinary difference here in the State of New York.

In 2025, shootings in the State of New York are down 60 percent, including here in Albany County. New York has the third lowest homicide rate in the nation. I want to repeat that: New York has the third lowest homicide rate in the nation, and it's really - our track record is the envy of other states. But even as we celebrate these victories, and I never say "mission accomplished" when it comes to fighting crime, we find ourselves confronted with the rapidly growing threat that undermines what we've already accomplished. And it comes down to a little piece of plastic, no bigger than a Lego.

I'm a fan of Legos. I happen to keep Legos with me at all times - not really, but look at this. This is tiny. This is absolutely tiny, but what it can do is devastating. And you can make this at home under the laws that allow it in the State of New York right now. And so this could be purchased for $25 - or free when you print it at home - and it can turn an ordinary pistol into an illegal machine gun. As I said, it has the capability of firing 1,200 rounds per minute. Think what that does if someone has us in a school or a mall or a place of worship - absolutely devastating.

And we know this. These are called switches, which are ramping down our streets and in our communities. Last summer, a gunman in East Harlem fired 15 bullets from what we believe was an illegally modified handgun, killing an innocent bystander, a 69-year-old grandmother who was using a walker to get around. In another incident, a man who had a previous felony conviction fired 12 bullets with a modified polymer 80 ghost gun on a Bronx street in broad daylight.

And it's not just New York City, it's all over the state. In Seneca County - a 16-year-old was arrested after the sheriff's office found 426 individual rapid fire modification devices and a 3D printer. He used these to make the devices at his home. We're seeing these in Westchester, Buffalo, Syracuse, right here in Albany.

And to be clear, these - they're already illegal in New York and nationwide, but why are they here? How are they getting here? Well, we need to go further. As I mentioned in January, I stood here in Albany to announce new proposals to strengthen our gun laws. My proposal would require gun manufacturers who sell in the State of New York to design pistols so they render illegal switches useless, so handguns cannot quickly be turned into machine guns.

And we're putting, and I did already, put the gun manufacturers on notice. We will not let you sell the guns here in New York that can be easily converted into such more powerful and more deadly weapons. And we'll make it so you cannot 3D print these illegal switches at home.

We outlawed ghost guns back when I first became Governor in 2021, but with the 3D printers, [it has] become too easy to manufacture gun components at home, which is why I'm proposing that all 3D printers that are sold in the state have blocking software that would make it impossible to print ghost gun components and illegal switches.

Because all too often these are being used, as I mentioned, to create entire weapons, homemade killing machines assembled with materials you can purchase or print without a background check, absolutely undermining everything that we stand for in our state, which allows for the possession, the ownership of guns. I'm a former county clerk - I used to help people register their guns and get their permits. I know how this is done legally, but with extensive, extensive background checks. This is subverting the entire process.

We'll also make it a crime to sell, or even distribute, the digital instructions for making 3D-printed gun parts. The law will give police more tools, including wiretaps, and strengthen criminal penalties against those who buy and sell the code for printing this lethal weaponry.

Now, as I said, we've already gone after the "Iron Pipeline," now we're going after the "Plastic Pipeline." And when it comes to fighting for public safety, we're not going to, as I said, we're never going to say "we're done." We're not resting on our laurels. We have accomplished great things, and I believe we've saved lives in the last four and a half years - but we have more to go.

And as new technologies appear and the criminals get more brazen, we'll do everything in our power to meet this moment and put safeguards in place to protect all New Yorkers. And at a time when we're lacking in federal leadership on this issue - there should be national background checks. There should be national laws that protect everyone so every state can have the crime rates, the homicide rates as low as we have in New York - but until such time, it falls on states like New York to take charge and protect our residents.

So as I continue through the Budget process, I want to reiterate to those who are creating homemade killing machines, illegal machine guns and 3D-printed ghost guns, I have a simple message: No longer here in the State of New York. Not on my watch. And I want to get this done. So to all of those who challenge this proposition to make New York safer, I want to get this done. I'm very, very, very firm in my conviction that this is something that we need to do.

With that, I'll turn it over to our District Attorney Lee Kindlon. And again, grateful for all the work he does here, keeping the residents of Albany County safe, Mr. D.A.

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