02/22/2026
Attention Gamers: Colorado is banning computer games.
Colorado HB26-1144 is being presented as a gun control bill, and to be clear, that is its primary focus. It targets the 3D printing of fi****ms and the distribution of digital blueprints used to manufacture them.
But here’s the problem:
The bill doesn’t just regulate physical weapons. It criminalizes possession and distribution of certain “digital instructions”, which is language that is written broadly enough to raise serious concerns. When legislation starts regulating “digital files” and “computer instructions” based on what they could be used for, we move into very dangerous territory.
In today’s world, what qualifies as a “digital instruction”? CAD files? 3D models? Software code? Game assets? Mod files? Simulation environments?
Many modern video games include detailed 3D models of weapons. This will include the software police officers use to train whether to shoot or not shoot and simulated modeling to prevent harm to innocent bystanders.
Many computer programs include downloadable object files. Hobbyists, designers, engineers, students, and gamers all routinely exchange digital content that could theoretically be repurposed in unintended ways.
The bill may intend to target firearm manufacturing. But when laws are written vaguely, enforcement doesn’t stay narrow. It expands. Prosecutors interpret broadly. Agencies regulate aggressively. And ordinary digital media, including computer games and user-generated content will get swept into the net.
We should be very cautious anytime the government begins criminalizing categories of digital information, programming words and data types rather than specific criminal conduct.
If the goal is to stop weapons manufacturing, the language should be precise and tightly drafted to that purpose. Vague unconstitutional digital speech restrictions are not the answer.
Legislation should solve problems, not create new compounding constitutional ones.