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Apr. 7, 2015 | By Alec

While most potential applications of 3D printing technology receive nothing but praise and wonder, governments, think tanks and manufacturers everywhere scratch their heads in confusion whenever the one truly controversial application comes up: 3D printed guns. Should they be banned because they are impossible to keep track of? Are they only a theoretical danger as they are so difficult to produce? Or should they be treated just as any other legal or illegal gun?

Consequently, responses have been mixed. Of course Japan sent a student to jail last year in a highly publicized case, while American lawmakers have been slow to respond. California recently passed a ‘Ghost Gun’ bill, but it remains unclear how that will be implemented. Lawmaker Steve Israel’s (D-New York) 2013 bill to prohibit the manufacturing of 3D printed guns failed to be adopted. In the absence of clear laws, FedEx and UPS took it upon themselves to refuse shipping machines to known 3D printer of guns Defense Distributed.

But it looks like clarity regarding these 3D printed firearms – which have long since passed the point of theoretical existence – might finally be introduced this year. For representatives from Israel’s Washington office have told reporters that the lawmaker will seek to introduce a reworked version of the 2013 Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act.

It’s goal? To close loopholes in the existing 1988 law – introduced long before the advent of 3D printing technology – that simply require the inclusion of a removable chunk of non-functioning metal. As Defense Distributed and others have long since revealed, that chunk can be easily removed to enable undetected gun use. Israel argues that this current situation plays into the hands of both criminals and terrorists. ‘My legislation is about making sure that we have laws in place to ensure that criminals and terrorists can’t produce guns that can easily be made undetectable. Security checkpoints will do little good if criminals can produce plastic firearms and bring those firearms through metal detectors into secure areas like airports or courthouses,’ Israel told reporters in 2013. ‘When I started talking about the issue of completely plastic firearms, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. That science-fiction is now a dangerous reality.’

It is currently unclear how Israel will change the 2013 bill – which did not mention 3D printing once but focused on undetectable weapons. It contained provisions to ensure that all 3D printed guns can be detected by metal detectors, something which can be expected to return in some shape or form. ‘What we’re trying to do is make it clear that if you choose to construct a weapon or weapon component using a 3-D printer, and it’s homemade, you’ll be subject to penalties,’ Israel said at the time. It is expected that the new bill will also require functioning gun components to be made out of metal, ensuring that pure plastic guns cannot be fired anymore.

The 3D printed AR-15 automatic 'battle rifle' unveiled in late March 2015 - not exactly theoretical. 

Currently, little more is known about the upcoming bill, such as the timeline on which it will be introduced or who will co-sponsor it. Last time around, fellow New York representative Republican Peter King assisted Israel, but no comment on his position has yet been released. ‘Current law is completely inadequate, and though for my Republican colleagues it was easier to live with current law than to expand it, it is critical that we continue the national dialogue about undetectable fire arms,” Israel tells reporters. But with a strongly republican Congress, it remains to be seen how successful it’s going to be.

Public response to the bill can be expected to be mixed, to say the least. Back in 2013 the NRA was quick to denounce any expansion of the current laws restricting guns. ‘The NRA strongly opposes ANY expansion of the Undetectable Firearms Act, including applying the UFA to magazines, gun parts, or the development of new technologies,’ they wrote back in 2013 in response to the bill’s first iteration. ‘We will continue to aggressively fight any expansion of the UFA or any other proposal that would infringe on our Second Amendment rights.’

Gun control advocates, meanwhile, take a more nuanced position. The Brady Campaign, for one, told reporters that 3D printed guns can grow to become a real threat. ‘As technology continues to advance and it becomes possible to make guns in homes and garages across the country, it creates a dangerous loophole for domestic abusers, felons and other criminals to make guns without any background checks and use them to harm others,’ they said. ‘Any gun made should not be able to slip through security checkpoints and certainly should not slip into the hands of dangerous people.’

Public Knowledge’s Michael Weinberg, instead, warned about the inefficiencyof focusing on 3D printing alone. ‘What we didn’t want to happen was a situation where 3D printing of guns explicitly was made illegal. There are a lot of ways to make undetectable firearms, and if you focus on each one you’ll end up with pretty ineffective legislation,’ he said.

While we might have to wait for months before finding out more details about this bill, both supporters and opponents of 3D printed guns will doubtlessly breathe a sigh of relief once a bill in whatever form is introduced. While it is doubtful that 3D printed guns will be completely banned, but at least knowing what can and cannot be 3D printed should make everyone’s lives easier.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printers

 

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