Federal law applies to 3D printing the same way it applies to any other manufacturing.
Federal firearm law reaches additive manufacturing directly, and several federal acts and rules govern the technology by name. Alongside weapons law, the FDA regulates printed medical devices, the State and Commerce Departments control the export of design files, and federal IP law covers the conversion of physical goods into digital ones.
Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. 922(p)): passed in 1988 and periodically reauthorised, it is a federal crime to manufacture, import, sell, possess or transfer any firearm that cannot trigger a standard walk-through metal detector (at least 3.7 oz of detectable metal) or that does not image on X-ray. Entirely plastic printed guns without embedded metal are illegal nationwide.
Gun Control Act of 1968: federal law historically allows an unlicensed person to make a firearm for their own private use where locally legal, but selling or transferring a printed firearm or receiver without a Federal Firearms License is a federal felony.
ATF Frame or Receiver Rule (2022): updated federal definitions so that privately made firearms, including printed frames and receivers, must be serialised when taken in by commercial gunsmiths or FFL dealers.
FDA Technical Considerations for Additive Manufactured Medical Devices: sets technical standards for patient-matched implants, surgical guides and anatomical models, covering raw material controls, CT and MRI to CAD conversion accuracy, and post-processing validation.
510(k) clearance and Custom Device Exemptions: printed medical devices go through standard premarket notification unless they qualify under the narrow custom device exemption for unique patient conditions with no commercial equivalent.
3D-printed pharmaceuticals are regulated under drug manufacturing frameworks. Spritam was the first FDA-approved printed pill.
ITAR, administered by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls: publishing or transmitting printable files for military-grade hardware, defense components or specific firearm technical data to foreign nationals, including over the internet, without a licence violates ITAR.
Export Administration Regulations, Department of Commerce: controls dual-use additive manufacturing software, high-end industrial metal printers and specialised materials such as aerospace-grade carbon fibre and nickel superalloys.
Consumer Product Safety Act and the CPSC: printed products sold to the public are subject to standard recall and liability rules if they fail.
OSHA: enforces workplace exposure limits for ultrafine particles and volatile organic compounds emitted by powder-bed fusion and FDM printing environments.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act: governs online repositories hosting CAD files. Rights holders use takedown notices against files infringing copyrighted sculptures, proprietary designs or artistic works.
Patent Act (35 U.S.C.): scanning a patented component, creating a CAD file, and either distributing that file or printing the part commercially constitutes direct or induced patent infringement.