3D printed firearmsSecurity agencies concerned about plastic guns
The Undetectable firearms Act of 1988, which makes it illegal to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, process, transfer, or receive a firearm which is not detectable by walk-through metal detection, is set to expire on 9 December 2013. If Congress fails to reauthorize the law, plastic guns will no longer require metal components which are detectable by metal detectors. “When these 3D firearms are manufactured, some of the weapons can defeat normal detection such as metal detectors, wands, and it could present a problem to public safety in a venue such as an airport, an arena, a courthouse,” says ATF assistant director Richard Marianos.
Officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) are exploring the extent to which 3D printed firearms can be a threat to public security. Findings from an ATFstudy released last week conclude that 3D printed guns are lethal and difficult to detect. “When these 3D firearms are manufactured, some of the weapons can defeat normal detection such as metal detectors, wands, and it could present a problem to public safety in a venue such as an airport, an arena, a courthouse,” says ATF assistant director Richard Marianos told NPR.
ATF is more concerned about 3D printed guns than it was earlier this year, when spokesperson for the ATF field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, Earl Woodham told Vice that, “we are aware of all the 3D printing of firearms and have been tracking it for quite a while. Our firearms technology people have looked at it, and we have not yet seen a consistently reliable firearm made with 3D printing.”
KUHF News reports that 3D printed guns are made of strong and flexible materials with bullets that can penetrate human organs and the skull at close range. A high grade 3D printer can print the parts for a plastic gun in as little as ten hours. Federal agents are not primarily concerned with a gang member or ordinary felons getting his or her hands on a plastic gun, as they are still less effective and more costly than conventional guns. Some criminals or terrorists may make the investment to obtain or print a 3D gun, especially s the technology and materials improve.
Texas based Defense Distributed has published online instructions for making a 3D printed handgun. Company founder Cody Wilson told Vice, “we are trying to follow the law as it is now and be good citizens.”
Building a gun at home does not violate federal laws, but a license is needed to sell weapons to others.
Plastic guns have been available since the 1970s but they have always contained metal components for parts like the trigger and hammer and firing pin, according to Earl Griffith, chief of the firearms technology branch at the ATF.
The Undetectable firearms Act of 1988, which makes it illegal to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, process, transfer, or receive a firearm which is not detectable by walk-through metal detection, is set to expire on 9 December 2013. If Congress fails to reauthorize the law, plastic guns will no longer require metal components which are detectable by metal detectors.
“You can always say the genie’s out of the bottle, why do we need a new law?” Representative Steve Israel (D-New York) told NPR. “Well, I’ll tell you why we need a new law: If it’s easy to make plastic guns, we want to make it harder for them to get past metal detectors and onto our planes.”
The law was last reauthorized in 2003, but Israel has doubts on whether the law will be reauthorized before the upcoming December deadline.
The ATF is working with airport security and other law enforcement partners to do more training on how to detect plastic guns.
