Etsy describes itself as a “global online marketplace, where people come together to make, sell, buy, and collect unique items.” Certainly, the e-commerce platform inspires thoughts of enchanting wooden dollhouses, micro crochet miniature otters, pet detective outfits for kittens and papercraft flamingo sculptures. According to federal officials, however, Alexander McGrail Reynolds had something different in mind, allegedly using the global bazaar to sell 3D-printed Glock-style handgun frames labeled as Airsoft toys, popular, plastic BB firing, replica guns modeled after real firearms. But the move got him in hot water. The founder of a small Bay Area tech startup was arrested earlier this month in Oakland, California, on suspicion of using his online Etsy store to distribute firearms across state lines without a license, SFGate reports.
Reynolds allegedly mailed the 3D-printed receivers from an address in Concord less than ten miles north. The warrant for his arrest, however, was issued by a federal justice of the peace in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as part of an operation led by New York prosecutors to crack down on out-of-state gun sales.
Although it is unclear whether it led to the discovery of Reynolds’ Etsy store, NYPD officers reportedly recovered three functional “ghost guns,” produced using Reynolds’ Glock-style frames, alongside shipping materials that matched the Etsy shop during the execution of a search warrant in an unrelated case. When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in New York originally discovered the Etsy page in November, they placed an initial order for a pair of frames, which were later analyzed and determined to fit the legal definition of a firearm according to ATF rules regarding frames and receivers.
Undercover ATF Agents spent months on the investigation, including ordering and receiving no less than thirty-three additional 3D-printed receivers with delivery to the Bronx in New York prior to the arrest, according to an August 9 affidavit from ATF agent Evan Moscou-Lewis. The affidavit, documenting operations through March of this year, includes screenshots of a “Glock 17 Airsoft Frame” for sale on Reynolds’ Etsy page for $35 as well as reviews posted on Etsy by Reynolds’ alleged customers, suggesting that purchased frames had been used to manufacture complete firearms.
Throughout the investigation, undercover ATF agents remained in communication with Reynolds’ store, utilizing acronyms to imply that they intended to purchase 3D-printed frames to produce untraceable firearms. Agent Moscou-Lewis explains in the affidavit, “I told the operator of the Reynolds Etsy Shop that I was satisfied with the ‘PY2A’ style frames that had been purchased from the Reynolds Etsy Shop but was ‘looking for something FMDA style,’” references to “Print Your Second Amendment” and “Free Men Don’t Ask.” The store responded by promising “all 4 fmda 19 gen 3” in an upcoming delivery, referencing 3rd Generation Glock 19-style handguns.
Etsy prohibits the sale of weapons and imitation firearms and removed Reynolds’ store from the marketplace after Court Watch originally wrote about the case. In the meantime, Reynolds faces charges of dealing firearms without a license and the unlawful transfer, sale or delivery of a firearm to a person in another state. Each charge carries a five-year maximum prison sentence with a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. Currently free from custody, Reynolds’ proceedings will continue in New York.
Prosecutors and law enforcement have become increasingly aware of 3D printers being used by citizens to make firearms at home, with the Justice Department calling for new laws requiring homemade weapons to be serialized upon manufacture. ATF and additional agencies have increased efforts to crack down on privately made weapons, with 45,240 firearms seized over 5 years, a number they expect to grow.
The subject itself is difficult to grapple with, as homemade firearms are a standing tradition in America, and we know what the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision says about that. I must question proper judgment, however, as allegedly conducting interstate transactions on ready-to-go receivers, while manufacturing for purpose of distribution without an FFL, seems fairly egregious in this climate. It may be challenging to deny intent or knowledge of wrongdoing while using an allegedly misleading label to describe such an item as a toy. How do you feel about unserialized homemade firearms? Despite current federal restrictions as well as 15 states regulating firearms made in this manner, do you think this should be illegal, or does it fall under your understanding of Second Amendment liberties? Sound off in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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