Protection from 3D Printed Guns Act

Summary: The Protection from 3D Printed Guns Act bans the manufacture or possession of firearms that were created or completed on a 3-dimensional printer or similar device.

Based upon U.S. Senator Bill Nelson’s S. 3304 (2018)

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act shall be called the “Protection from 3D Printed Guns Act.”

SECTION 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

(A) FINDINGS—The legislature finds that:

  1. Three dimensional, or “3D” printing, involves the programming of a 3D printing machine with a computer file that provides the schematics for the item to be printed.
  2. Recent technological developments have allowed for the 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts, including parts made out of plastic, by unlicensed individuals in possession of relatively inexpensive 3D printers.
  3. Because 3D printing allows individuals to make their own firearms out of plastic, they may be able to evade detection by metal detectors at security checkpoints, increasing the risk that a firearm will be used to perpetrate violence on an airplane or other area where people congregate.
  4. The 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts increases the risk that dangerous people, including felons, domestic abusers, and other people prohibited from possessing firearms under existing law, will obtain a firearm through 3D printing.
  5. On June 7, 2013, an assailant used a gun he had constructed by himself to kill his father, brother, and 3 other people at Santa Monica College in California. The person had failed a background check when he tried to purchase a gun from a licensed gun dealer. The gun he used was made from an unfinished AR–15-style receiver, similar to a receiver that can now be made with a 3D printer.
  6. Firearms tracing, a powerful tool to investigate gun crimes, would be crippled by the availability of 3D printed firearms. Firearms tracing depends on the ability to identify firearms based on their serial number, however, guns made by unlicensed individuals with 3D printers do not contain genuine serial numbers.
  7. The proliferation of 3D-printed firearms threatens to undermine the entire federal and state regulatory system, endangering public safety and national security.

(B) PURPOSE—This law is enacted to protect the public safety of state residents and visitors.

SECTION 3. PROHIBITION

After section XXX, the following new section XXX shall be inserted:

3D PRINTED GUNS PROHIBITED—It shall be a [class-X] felony for any person to manufacture or knowingly possess a firearm that was:

  1. Created by a 3-dimensional printer or similar device; or
  2. Completed by attaching a part or parts created by a 3-dimensional printer or similar device to an unfinished frame or receiver.

SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE

This law shall become effective on July 1, 20XX.

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