Plastic gunsLawmakers: Old plastic gun law has not kept pace with technology

The U.S. House of Representatives voted last Tuesday to renew the 25-year old Undetectable Firearms Act which prohibits firearms that can evade metal detectors and X-ray machines.

The development of 3D printers capable of producing plastic weapons, and recent mass shooting events like  the 14 December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, have renewed debate on whether the bill should be extended to require that at least one component of the firing mechanism in a gun contain enough metal to be detectable in a magnetometer — and that that component be undetachable.

The Portland Press Herald reports that Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) has been laeding the effort to add the new requirement. The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposes any changes to the legislation. “We will continue to aggressively fight any expansion … or any other proposal that would infringe on our Second Amendment rights,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said.

The House bill only requires that a plastic gun contain a metal component, but does not stipulate that the component be part of the firing mechanism or that it should not be removable. The Democratic-led Senate is likely to pass the House bill in order to avoid a new gun control debate as Democrats approach an election year. “The House bill is better than nothing, but not by much,” Schumer said. “It’s certainly not enough.”

According to Schumer, plastic guns were “the thing of science fiction” when the legislation was first passed in 1988, but such weapons are now a reality. 3D printed guns received wide attention in May 2013 when Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed, posted on the Internet instructions and blueprints for using 3D printers to make the Liberator pistol, a weapon Wilson designed during his time as a University of Texas law student. His company, a nonprofit which advocates the free distribution of information on 3D printed weapons, was ordered by the State Department to take down the instructions after two days of allegedly violating arm export controls. The instructions were downloaded more than 100,000 times and are currently available on file-sharing Web sites.

“If you want to do this, it’s plainly obvious there’s no one standing between you, your computer and your 3D printer. Anyone can make this gun,” Wilson declared. 3D printers can release repeatedly thin layers of plastic or other materials to create objects including toys, housewares, and medical devices. Companies and hobbyists are increasingly using 3D printers for prototypes and research. The printers can cost between $1,000 to $500,000, and can also be rented.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) insists that traditional handguns cost far less and plastic guns have not reached a stage of consistent development. The Associated Press reports that the ATF tested two plastic guns made from different plastics earlier this year, and although one of the guns exploded when it was fired, the second gun released eight rounds before the ATF stopped the test.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that 3D printers without metal components can be slipped through metal detectors at airports, courthouses, or public events. To combat this possibility, new technologies are being used at airports to detect non-metallic anomalies such as liquids and, potentially, plastic guns.