> Regulating actual guns that are frequently used in crime? Unlikely.

Well, two things. First, your phrasing implies there’s no regulations around firearm ownership at all, which is not true.

Second, much to the chagrin of California and similar states, that pesky second amendment exists. Which makes the kind of regulations they _want_ around firearms (i.e., regulate/tax them out of existence) kind of tricky. But presumably regulations around what you can do with a 3D printer are much easier to handle from a constitutional perspective.

> Which makes the kind of regulations they _want_ around firearms (i.e., regulate/tax them out of existence) kind of tricky.

Not really. They do whatever regulations they want all the time. It's just sometimes federal government steps in and forces certain local laws to not be enforced.

I was able to get CCW permit in LA only due to such intervention.

There also exists a pesky fourth amendment that should protect people from laws like this but unfortunately it doesn't have the industry and lobbing that the second amendment has.

The 28th amendment: right to keep and bare 3D printers