A Danish company that sells 3D printer component parts and related software to 3D printer manufacturers now says it has come up with a firearm component detection algorithm.

On Tuesday, Create it Real announced that in the coming months its software would include an option to find and block gun parts. When it detects a file that contains firearm parts, the software will shut down and disallow printing. Create it Real's software will likely be licensed to 3D printer manufacturers for around "several thousand euros annually" and then bundled with a 3D printer sold to individual consumers.

This innovation is squarely aimed at efforts from Defense Distributed, the group based in Texas that has done more to advance 3D printed firearm research than any other organization worldwide. In the last several months, DefDist has made and demonstrated an AR-15 lower receiver and an entire handgun. As a result, a number of American legislators started drafting new possible regulations in the face of rapidly declining 3D printer prices.

“In Europe there are laws around manufacturing firearms—if it becomes too easy to just press print, who is responsible?” Jeremie Pierre Gay, the company’s CEO, said to Ars. “That is the concern of the manufacturer. They want to get rid of this responsibility. In general, our software works like an antivirus [program], we have a central database [where] we collect all the files that are firearms.”

“The goal is that the average user won’t be able to by mistake print a gun”

Gay declined to explain precisely how his detection algorithms work, other than to say they involve a “combination of geometrical features.” For now, this software is only available for Create it Real’s hardware—but the executive noted that he would be happy to license it to other software developers.

“In our case, if you wanted to print on our printer then you have to use our software,” he added. “[Firearms are] only blocked for our printer—if you had another printer then you will be able to print [a gun]. Everything can be broken, but the goal is that the average user won’t be able to by mistake print a gun. If you have children in your home, say your kid—who wants to print a water gun—doesn’t end up printing a real gun. It’s the same thing if you download a movie, you don’t know what you get. A child could download a porn movie just because it’s called Bambi. I think it’s the same with a water gun.”

For his part, Cody Wilson, the head of Defense Distributed, says he has no problem with a company employing DRM-style blocking to prevent the printing of firearms.

“Anyone can use the files for any purpose,” he told Ars. “This guy used the files to create a library of forbidden objects. In a free market, anyone should be able to purchase this software if they don't want their kids to print guns. My question for this gentleman is: [which company] will [promote] this software first?”