A 26-year-old Ivy League grad, who suffered a severe back injury, stands accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare’s CEO with a 3D-printed gun.

Video of the killing has been seen by countless millions across the country. Homemade gun pioneers and activists shared details of what the video reveals about the shooter’s gun and, perhaps, his thought process with The Reload. But what do they expect the high-profile killing will mean for the future of 3D-printed guns?

“This incident will be anecdotally referenced forever,” Rob Pincus, who founded a shooting competition for homemade guns, told The Reload.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is already considering the legality of President Joe Biden’s attempt to crack down on homemade guns in Garland v. VanDerStock. Gun-control advocates have pointed to the slaying as an example of why the Court ought to side with Biden and leave the ATF’s rule treating some unfinished gun parts the same as functioning firearms intact.

“Ghost guns are a criminal’s dream come true,” Emma Brown, executive director of Giffords, said in a statement. “The targeted assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, potentially committed with a ghost gun, shows just how dangerous these weapons are in the wrong hands. Anyone can print them at home or buy unfinished parts online without a background check or training. Yet due to extremists in the gun lobby, the ATF’s rule to stop criminals from getting ghost guns is under threat. Americans’ safety from ghost guns now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court justices. Here’s the bottom line: Ghost guns threaten public safety and must be subject to background checks like the guns they are.”

Pincus is skeptical that the shooting bolsters her argument.

“I think the specific circumstances of this incident are clearly outside of the normal anti-gun narrative that Ghost Guns are primarily criminal tools for people who can’t buy guns in the traditional manner,” Pincus said.

He cited research by members of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that was presented at the Research Society for the Prevention of Firearm-Related Harms’s conference this week. It found homemade guns were involved in 97 deaths over 22 years in the agency’s National Violent Death Reporting System.

“It is ironic that this news is breaking at the same time that the first academic study of how frequently Privately Manufactured Firearms have been tied to loss of life,” he said. “From 2001-2023, there were less than 100 cases… and over half of them were suicides. We’ve always believed that the demonization of private gun making (“ghost guns”, etc…) far outweighed any real increase in negative outcomes involving guns. Just as we get some real hard research backing that assertion, we get this very high profile event.”

John, a prominent 3D-printed gun enthusiast and designer who goes by Mr.Snow.Makes online, agreed with that assessment.

“This is certainly the highest-profile instance of a 3D-printed firearm used in a crime,” he told The Reload. “I fully anticipate conversations at the national level, but overall, “ghost guns” account for a very small portion of crime.”

Like Pincus, he argued homemade guns are not a driver of crime and fall far behind traditional factory-made firearms in ATF recovery numbers and CDC data on violent deaths.

“I believe the overall 3D printing firearm community won’t be impacted by this event in the short term,” Snow said. “Federally, making your own firearm for personal use is legal. The ATF defines them as personally manufactured firearms.”

He also noted the shooter had to break numerous laws just to possess his weapon in New York before even carrying out his attack.

“Keep in mind 3D-printed firearms and suppressors are already illegal in New York,” Snow said. “Criminals don’t follow the laws, and the current laws wouldn’t prevent this from happening. Knowing criminals don’t follow the law, the current laws end up restricting access to law-abiding citizens. Criminals generally don’t follow the law, but often times victims of crime do. Additional firearm restrictions would likely only serve to hurt law-abiding citizens by reducing their abilities to defend themselves.”

Matt Larosiere, a gun-rights lawyer involved in the homemade gun community, was less confident about what Thompson’s killing might mean for the gith over homemade guns.

“I’m not sure what the shooting means for the printed gun community,” he told The Reload. “I feel people who wanted to regulate these things anyway will continue to wish for that and that those of us who don’t want them banned will continue to not want them banned.”

However, he agreed with Pincus that the shooter’s lack of a disqualifying criminal record made arguments for further restrictions on 3D printing or other home-building methods unserious. He said it showed gun-control activists are acting in bad faith.

“My biggest takeaway is that gun-control advocates are getting more transparent in their responses to events like these,” Larosiere said. “Where, as here, a restriction on the type of firearm would have done little at all to prevent the event, the focus is still on restricting the particular gun. It seems the restrictive response is based more on targets of opportunity than sound public policy, and I find that concerning.”

Cody Wilson, who became the face of 3D-printed guns after debuting The Liberator in 2013, took a dimmer view of the situation. He has been involved in a legal fight with Larosiere and others associated with rival online 3D-printed gun design repository The Gatalog over those designs. He accused some members of the community of celebrating the attack and predicted it would increase law enforcement scrutiny of them.

For Pincus, the bottom line is that “most privately made firearms are built and used by hobbyists,” not criminals. Snow said he expects and is ready for the debates that will come.

“I look forward to the conversations, but I resign to my position that making your own firearm is well protected under the Second Amendment,” he said. “Beyond the Second Amendment right, I personally believe there is a moral right to be able to defend one’s life and property with the best tools available.”