Senator Patty Murray's office issued the following today:
In response to move by Trump Administration, Senator Murray co-sponsors new bill, the 3D Printed Gun Safety Act, to halt online publication of blueprints for 3D printable guns
Senator Murray:
“…allowing companies to publish blueprints online that help people print
deadly weapons is a direct rebuke to their wishes and to the health and
safety of children and families nationwide”
Senator Murray: “I join the many calls across the country and in Washington state to address this issue before it’s too late”
ICYMI: “3D-printed guns targeted in lawsuit filed by Washington attorney general” – LINK
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Assistant Democratic Leader, cosponsored a bill
to block the online publication of blueprints that can be used to make
fully functioning 3D-printed guns. The legislation, filed today by
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), would make it illegal for anyone to
intentionally publish a digital file online that programs a 3D printer
to automatically manufacture a firearm. The move comes just hours before
the Trump Administration will allow people to start posting such
blueprints online; Senators Murray, Nelson, and others have argued that
this decision will make it easier for people in the U.S. who are barred
from owning a firearm under federal law – including violent criminals
and domestic abusers – to make their own untraceable and undetectable
firearms at home using a 3D printer.
“At a time when we are seeing
community after community, and family after family being devastated by
gun violence, it’s unconscionable that the Trump Administration would
simply shrug off this potential threat. The overwhelming majority of
Americans have made it clear to me and the rest of Congress that they
want more common sense gun safety reforms to keep their families safe,
not fewer—and allowing anyone to publish blueprints online that help
people print deadly weapons is a direct rebuke to their wishes and to
the health and safety of children and families nationwide,” said Senator Murray. “I’m
thankful to Senator Nelson and so many others for sounding the alarm on
this issue, and I join the many calls across the country and in
Washington state to address this issue before it’s too late.”
Background:
3D-printed plastic guns are
fully-functioning firearms often made with resin or plastic using a 3D
printer, making them virtually undetectable when carried through a metal
detector or past security. In August 2016, Transportation and Security
Administration agents at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport found and
confiscated a plastic gun from a passenger’s carry-on bag during
screening. The gun, assembled using a 3D printer, was found loaded with
five live .22 caliber bullets. For years, the U.S. State Department has
argued that allowing these blueprints for 3D-printed guns to be
published online would violate federal export controls because the
digital codes would help facilitate the manufacturing of weapons that
can be accessed freely around the globe. However, despite the State
Department’s argument and a longstanding ban that has prohibited
Americans from publishing such documents online, the U.S. Justice
Department decided to abruptly settle a lawsuit earlier this month that
will allow people to start posting blueprints for 3D-printed guns online
starting Wednesday, August 1.
In 2013, Congress extended a ban on the
sale, manufacturing or possession of these fully-plastic guns by
requiring that all firearms contain at least 3.7 ounces of steel so they
can be detected by a metal detector. In extending that ban, however,
Congress did not mandate which parts of the gun had to be metal –
creating a legal loophole that allows people to attach a small removable
piece of metal to an otherwise fully-plastic gun. These detachable
metal clips can often be easily removed before entering a security
screening area and reattached again after to meet the law’s requirement.
On Monday, Washington state joined 8 other states and the District of
Columbia to file a lawsuit against the Trump Administration to stop the publication of the 3D printer gun blueprints on the internet.
The 3D Printed Gun Safety Act is supported by Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and March for Our Lives.
Read the bill text HERE.
