Congressman Wants Ban on 3D-Printed Guns and Accessories

Good luck enforcing that, buddy

New York congressman Steve Israel has become the government's most outspoken critic of a science fictional idea quickly approaching reality: 3D-printed guns. Since late last year, he's pushed for the renewal of the soon-to-expire Undetectable Firearms Act as a measure to prevent a future where plastic guns are created as easily as ink is printed on a page. Now he's going further, suggesting an expansion of that decades-old bill that would ban not only the 3D printing of firearms, but also of gun components that weren't covered in the law previously.

Last week, Israel introduced a new version of the Undetectable Firearms Act that includes additions to the bill seeking to outlaw not only any firearm that can't be detected with a walk-through metal detector, but also specific pieces like undetectable ammunition magazines–a part not included in the current version of the act–and lower receivers, two components that have been demonstrated in recent months to work reliably when printed on common 3D printers.