OLL18583 8.11.0. 115'1'1-1 CONGRESS 21) SESSION . To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the publica- tion of 3D printer plans for the printing of ?rearms, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 'For km? Mal Hr. Mr: . F?n?cm, Mr. NELSO?ntroduccd the following bill; which was read twice and referred Mr. to the 011 Mr. Mr. Hr. Vow. H-ollm Mr. ?wan A BILL Ms . To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to MW prohibit the publication of 3D printer plans for the print- MV- ??4?ij (1) Three dimensional, or printing, in? ing of firearms, and for other purposes. Mr. Ell??at enacted by the Senate and House of eseittct- . 2 ttves of the United States efAmer-iee. tn. Congress assembled, My; 0451)., 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. . Kala, 4 Act may be elted as the Printed Gun Safety . Harms 5 Act 01'2018?. Ms . 6? ?th 6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Mr - Mn Cay 7 Con Tess finds the followinow NS - Qnu 8 9 volves the programming of a 3D printing machine 0111418583 s.L.c. 2 with a computer file that provides the schematics for the item to be printed. (2) Recent technological developments have al- lowed for the 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts, including parts made out of plastic, by unli? censed individuals in possession of relatively inexpen- sive 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 availability of online schematics for the 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts increases the risk that dangerous people, including felons, do- mestic abusers, and other people prohibited from possessing firearms under Federal 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 peeple at Santa Monica College in California. The person had failed a background check when he tried to purchase a gun from a li- censed gun dealer. The gun he used was made from 3 an unfinished AR-l5-style receiver, similar to a re? ceiver that can now be made with a 3D printer. (6) Firearms tracing is a powerful investigative tool. When law enforcement agencies recover fire- arms that have been used in crimes, the agencies work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- arms, and Explosives to trace these firearms to their first retail purchaser. The agencies can use that in- formation to investigate and solve the crimes. In 2017 alone, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire- arms, and Explosives conducted 408,000 traces. (7) Firearms tracing depends on the ability to identify firearms based on their serial number. Tra- ditionally, when a firearm is manufactured domesti- cally or imported from abroad, it is engraved with a serial number and markings that identify the man? ufacturer or importer, make, model, and caliber, and are unique to the firearm. Firearms made by unli- censed individuals with 3D printers, however, do not contain genuine serial numbers. (8) Criminals seek firearms without serial num- bers because they cannot be traced. In July 2018, the Los Angeles Police Department completed a 6- month-long investigation that resulted in the seizure of 45 firearms, some of which had been assembled 0141118583 8.11.0. 4 without serial numbers in order to be untraceable. If the schematics for 3D printing firearms and firearm parts are available online, pcOple intending to com- mit gun crimes may create similarly untraceable firearms in order to avoid accountability for these crimes. (9) Interstate gun trafficking, including the trafficking of untraceable firearms, interferes with lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con- tributes to gun crime. Of the 211,384 firearms traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those firearms were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in a state other than the state where they were recov- ered. These guns made up 28.8 percent of all fire- arm recoveries in 2016. (10) The proliferation of SD-printed firearms threatens to undermine the entire Federal firearms regulatory scheme and to endanger public safety and national security. By making illegal the publication of certain computer code that can be used automati- cally to program 3D printers and create firearms~ the only means of combating this unique threat ?Con- gress seeks not to regulate the rights of computer programmers under the First Amendment to the 0111418583 f" 0 Constitution of the United States, but rather to curb the pernicious effects of untraceable?and poten- tially undetectable?firearms. SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. Section 922 of title .18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: It shall be unlawful for any person to inten- tionally publish, over the Internet or by means of the World Wide Web, digital instructions in the form of Com- puter Aided Design files or other code that can automati- cally program a 3-dimensi0nal printer or similar device to produce a firearm or complete a firearm from an unfin- ished frame or receiver?.