Ghost guns on display following a 2023 New York City operation. The city and state of New York have been cracking down on ghost gun manufacturing and sales. NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx Photo

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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46 COMMENTS

  2. ya mean the ATF didn’t show up at his home at zero-dark-thirty with tac team and cover up the lens on the ring doorbell them murder him? oh wait…they only do that to people in Arkansas who haven’t actually broken the law, and against who they have zero evidence of an actual crime….my mistake.

  3. My wife closed her Etsy store when fee’s went sky high +shipping costs through the roof. And ridiculous return policies. She did pretty well until the covid scamdemic Then again this boy sure went out of his way to get pinched by the feds. I betcha the Venezuelan gangs in Colorado bought a few of these🙄

    • .40 cal Booger,

      Well, all we can hope for is that whoever perpetrates an October 7th Hamas style attack in the U.S. will encounter armed defenders at every fifth home and lose one or two members of their crew at every such home. If they have 8-man crews, then a given crew will have no one left to attack after attacking something like 30 homes. Of course the tragedy will be the body count the attackers left behind in those 30 homes, which could easily tally as high as 60 or more casualties.

      The real question is where would the attackers go? Would they hit a densely populated area known to have minimal firearm ownership like New York City or San Francisco? Or would they hit a rural area where homes are spread out and the noise of an attack (or even defense) would not alert (or at least not alarm) neighbors of the attack (and hence fail to assist or call for law enforcement)?

      Speaking of such an attack in a rural environment, even if a house under attack or a neighbor called for law enforcement, there is a very good chance that a single squad car with a single person would be first to arrive on scene and any backup would be minutes away. Needless to say, an 8-man crew with rifles would have little if any trouble dispatching that unfortunate law enforcement officer who was first to arrive on scene, had no idea that an 8-man crew was going to ambush, and had no backup. With houses spread out, the going would be slower for the attackers. And so would any meaningful law enforcement response (if any).

      And at the expense of sounding cavalier, I have to wonder if such attackers would intentionally avoid areas with known violent criminal gangs. First of all, the violent criminal gangs may be equally armed and willing to engage. Second of all, if the attackers managed to draw law enforcement away from gang territory and surrounding areas, that would enable violent criminal gangs to go on their own rampage in tandem with the attackers–amplifying the magnitude of the devastation.

      • I seriously wish TTAG and SNW would block YouTube links in comments solely because of you. At least try to stay on topic instead of spamming your boomer nonsense nobody clicks on everywhere you go.

        It’s like Debbie but I want to punch you slightly less.

          • But they will, always. Better to ensure all are armed and free to deal with those unable to control their impulses as needed.

          • Hund,

            How will society know for sure if someone is violent?

            If someone is violent and society manages to somehow prevent that violent someone from acquiring firearms, how does society stop that violent someone from using readily available large rocks, bricks, broken bottles, machetes, axes, knives, hammers, baseball bats, pipes, matches + gasoline, chemicals, poisons, vehicles, fists, and feet to violently attack innocent victims?

            What if society incorrectly determines that YOU are violent, prevents YOU from acquiring firearms, and leaves YOU defenseless to stop your daughter’s stalker who breaks into your home to violently exert his “ownership” of your daughter?

          • .40 cal Booger,

            You post a lot of links to content that is not directly related to the article where you post them. There is a term for that: “hijacking the thread” which is bad form on sites like this.

            Your links seem to be relevant in general to firearm ownership and possession. Inquire with this site and related site administrators to have a stand-alone daily post where you provide three or four links to general firearm-related happenings. I imagine that it is challenging for the site administrators to constantly find new content–and may very well welcome such an additional daily post.

            • .40 cal Booger,

              I neglected to mention that you would not even have to post every day. It could be as often as you have content, which could be once a month, once a week, twice a week, etc.

        • Angry much? Geez.
          I dont ever click on the YouTube vids but they dont send me into meltdown. Phones have a way to scroll past content you dont want to see. Try it

  6. Until someone is knowingly helping a criminal to defame, threaten, beat, rape, rob, or steal, we should not view that person as a criminal simply because he/she was producing something in a way that government does not like.

    Note that someone who knowingly equips a criminal to threaten, beat, rape, rob, or steal is an accessory to that criminal’s crime and we already have laws to prosecute such behavior.

  8. Producing your own firearms using a 3d printer is well within the founding father’s intentions for a well regulated militia.
    Selling them on etsy or anywhere else is criminal, full stop. Guys like this ruin the rights of others, no sympathy, throw the book at him, he’s no different than a guy selling fentanyl laced pills

    • Selling them on etsy or anywhere else is criminal, full stop. Guys like this ruin the rights of others, no sympathy, throw the book at him, he’s no different than a guy selling fentanyl laced pills

      He does appear to be in violation of several aspects of the Gun Control Act from 1968, such as requiring serial numbers and point-of-sale via an FFL. However, those are hardly longstanding firearm regulations steeped in history and tradition, as required by Heller and Bruen.

      So yes, he should be arrested and tried in a court of law. However, I feel he has a reasonable 2A (and possibly an 8th amendment) challenge to those laws, should SCOTUS eventually take up the appeal.

      And it is quite different from someone selling fentanyl. Concur that this is “why we cannot have nice things”.

      • Commies (or insert whatever you like to call the control seekers here) and our unwillingness as a people to tell them to fuck off is why we cannot have nice things. The criminals just need to be addressed as necessary.

  9. “…which were later analyzed and determined to fit the legal definition of a firearm according to ATF rules regarding frames and receivers.”
    In other words, whatever the hell they make up.

  11. Defending America: Protecting 2nd Amendment (and 1st Amendment) & Suing Biden-Harris Administration (for their proven plot and conspiracy and actions to censor the free speech of millions of Americans even if you are anti-gun or don’t like guns or don’t like the 2A).

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeIEdtmCJ1o

  12. (NY) VIDEO: Pack of urban criminals attack 62-year-old unarmed man. (seriously, this type crime happens every day in NY and rarely do the police catch the thugs who did it and maybe there is a report but it remains just a report that never goes any further and there is no arrest or prosecution.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCN5AE1Z3rw

      • At this point I am just happy it is showing up anywhere. Used to be posting NY crime waves (amongst other things actually happening) would get you shadow banned or more

        • I was talking about X-Marks the Spot up above, but I totaly agree.
          Zuckerbergs Mea Culpa for censorinf millions of people worldwide then appologizing for it after having given 400 million to the demonrats rings hollow.

  14. We have all seen these links if we are interested in uTube chit-chat. Hijacking the thread is bad form. Don’t care if unarmed simps are attacked in the street, Booger, because that’s what they deserve…

    Had race riots at my Jr high and high school in the 70s, cops pulled Ike and Tina’s son out of the dog pile on me and my friend. That’s because it’s about poverty, right? As soon as I could obtain firearms, excellent cooperation was obtained and learning experiences were had by the “neighbors”. Attack others, get shot, period.

    • comments on the article are called a thread. A thread hijacking occurs when one or more individuals commenting on the original posting comment, go off topic, creating a separate conversation.

      I’m not thread hijacking. my video link posts are not in response to anyone’s comments. they are separate posts nor do they create a separate conversation for anyone’s comments. there are very rare occurances where I do post a video which is in the context of one’s comment thread, but they don’t deviate the thread into a separate conversation.

  15. PS. Another story…bangers show up at the Angeles range with AK pistols. They miss the hundred yard targets entirely and snap my target frame. So I offhand five shots standing at the 700 yard elk with my 7.62 LMT and they said “whoa!”. I said: Wow, don’t you know all old white men shoot like that? Because you guys are going to be food if you don’t get rid of those noisemakers and get a real rifle…my advice is don’t start anything outside of your hood because the best time to mess with me is when you’re tired of living?

    • what thread did you hijack?

      I’m not annoyed at all. you posted a comment. I’m an adult, I can scroll past it if I wish or read it or reply to it. But what you did is not thread hijacking,

      comments on the article are called a thread. A thread hijacking occurs when one or more individuals commenting on the original posting comment, go off topic of the original posting comment, creating a separate conversation.

      you posted two separate comments, they were not thread hijacking.

      • .40 cal Booger,

        You may technically be right about thread hijacking. And yet two of us thought of your posts which are not related to the discussion topic as thread hijacking and politely tried to inform you. (By the way, thank you for your polite response.)

        The point that we are making is that many people believe it is bad form to consistently add comments which are not related to the site’s posts / articles. Once in a while or something that is a very important “breaking news” topic seems fine to me. I am not a fan of providing multiple unrelated links in almost every post / article.

    • Scroll on by if you don’t like it.
      I don’t watch all of the videos but I watch some and I’m pretty sure all of them are gun related.
      Your post about Bangers in “Los Angeles” by the way wasn’t annoying it was just stupid and a waste of my time for reading it.

  17. Observation. Seems that some of you are overly sensitive concerning what others post!!!

    So pathetic.

    Freedom in a Republic is a reciprocal issue!

    • SwampDaddy,

      What we should be promoting is LIBERTY rather than freedom. Freedom means doing anything and everything that you want–even when it impedes other people exercising their rights. Liberty means doing anything and everything that you want consistent with observing everyone else’s rights.

      For example, freedom means that I can set up a tent in the middle of the road and block traffic. Liberty means that I can set up a tent anywhere that does not interfere with other people exercising their rights, which excludes setting up a tent in the middle of the road.

      Back to the point at hand, liberty in the case of this website would include posting comments which are on topic. Just as it would be very bad form to start shouting in a room where everyone is there to listen to a speaker, it is bad form to start “shouting” (posting off-topic comments) in the “rooms” (articles) at this website where everyone is here explore the topics that the authors of this site publish.

      • according to that definition….I must be a beacon of liberty ’cause I posted my youtube links in separate posts, not in reply to anyone, that did not interfere with anyone’s liberty to express their speech in their own comment’s.

        I guess thats part of the reason why we can scroll on web pages…just in case there is someone expressing the liberty of speech we don’t like.

      • Vast difference in the degree to which the offending action interferes with others. In one case, the offender makes the speaker difficult or impossible to hear, in the other, the offender doesn’t interfere at all with the original posts and merely makes the comment section less convenient to scroll down.

  18. i saw a meme last night:
    1 buy a 3d printer
    2 print a 3d printer with it
    3 return the 3d printer

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