The ‘Hochulization’ tool purports to subvert proposed gun-blocking 3D printer software.
by Mack DeGeurin Aug 24, 2026, 3:50 PM EDT
The creator of the world’s first 3D-printed gun claims he’s developed a way to thwart government-mandated software meant to block 3D printers from making firearms. It’s an opening volley in what’s shaping up to be an evolving battle between regulators trying to stem the tide of ghost guns and individuals trying to create workarounds.
Cody Wilson, who claims to have made the detection-defying tool, is calling it “Hochulization” as a direct jab at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who pushed through the nation’s first law mandating gun file detection software on new printers earlier this year. “New York is trying to reach into the internet and police how open-source 3D printing is done,” Wilson, who’s based out of Austin, Texas, told The Verge. “I think of it as a self-defense measure.”
The tool is designed to break a relatively simple approach to a 3D-printed gun ban. Wilson’s company, Defense Distributed, runs DEFCAD, the world’s largest 3D gun file repository, which he says hosts over 200,000 files of gun designs and components, such as suppressors. Each of those files can be identified by a hash, a unique string of numbers that’s created by running the file through an algorithm. In theory, a gun file detection system that uses a hashing-based identification method would look for those exact hashes to determine whether a file is a potential gun, flag it, and prevent it from printing.
Hochulization mucks up that process by automatically changing those hashes.
