3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4074 To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the distribu- tion of 3D printer plans for the printing of firearms, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 13, 2023 Mr. MOSKOWITZ (for himself, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. PETERS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. BALINT, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. CHU, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. MENG, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, and Ms. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the distribution of 3D printer plans for the printing of firearms, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘3D Printed Gun Safety 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4074.IH H4074 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4074 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Three dimensional, or ‘‘3D’’, printing in- 3 volves the programming of a 3D printing machine 4 with a computer file that provides the schematics for 5 the item to be printed. 6 (2) Recent technological developments have al- 7 lowed for the 3D printing of firearms and firearm 8 parts, including parts made out of plastic, by unli- 9 censed individuals in possession of relatively inexpen- 10 sive 3D printers. 11 (3) Because 3D printing allows individuals to 12 make their own firearms out of plastic, they may be 13 able to evade detection by metal detectors at security 14 checkpoints, increasing the risk that a firearm will 15 be used to perpetrate violence on an airplane or 16 other area where people congregate. 17 (4) The availability of online schematics for the 18 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts increases 19 the risk that dangerous people, including felons, do- 20 mestic abusers, and other people prohibited from 21 possessing firearms under Federal law, will obtain a 22 firearm through 3D printing. 23 (5) On June 7, 2013, an assailant used a gun 24 he had constructed by himself to kill his father, 25 brother, and 3 other people at Santa Monica College 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jun 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4074.IH H4074 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4074 IH in California. The person had failed a background 1 check when he tried to purchase a gun from a li- 2 censed gun dealer. The gun he used was made from 3 an unfinished AR–15-style receiver, similar to a re- 4 ceiver that can now be made with a 3D printer. 5 (6) Firearms tracing is a powerful investigative 6 tool. When law enforcement agencies recover fire- 7 arms that have been used in crimes, the agencies 8 work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 9 and Explosives to trace these firearms to their first 10 retail purchaser. The agencies can use that informa- 11 tion to investigate and solve the crimes. In 2019 12 alone, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 13 Explosives traced and recovered 269,250 firearms. 14 (7) Firearms tracing depends on the ability to 15 identify firearms based on their serial number. Tra- 16 ditionally, when a firearm is manufactured domesti- 17 cally or imported from abroad, it is engraved with 18 a serial number and markings that identify the man- 19 ufacturer or importer, make, model, and caliber, and 20 are unique to the firearm. Firearms made by unli- 21 censed individuals with 3D printers, however, do not 22 contain genuine serial numbers. 23 (8) Criminals seek firearms without serial num- 24 bers because they cannot be traced. In July 2018, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jun 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4074.IH H4074 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4074 IH the Los Angeles Police Department completed a 6- 1 month-long investigation that resulted in the seizure 2 of 45 firearms, some of which had been assembled 3 without serial numbers in order to be untraceable. If 4 the schematics for 3D printing firearms and firearm 5 parts are available online, people intending to com- 6 mit gun crimes may create similarly untraceable 7 firearms in order to avoid accountability for these 8 crimes. 9 (9) Interstate gun trafficking, including the 10 trafficking of untraceable firearms, interferes with 11 lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con- 12 tributes to gun crime. Of the 269,250 firearms 13 traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 14 and Explosives in 2019, 75,513 of those firearms 15 were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 16 a State other than the State where they were recov- 17 ered. These guns made up 28.0 percent of all fire- 18 arm recoveries in 2019. 19 (10) The proliferation of 3D-printed firearms 20 threatens to undermine the entire Federal firearms 21 regulatory scheme and to endanger public safety and 22 national security. By making illegal the distribution 23 of certain computer code that can be used automati- 24 cally to program 3D printers and create firearms— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jun 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4074.IH H4074 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4074 IH the only means of combating this unique threat— 1 Congress seeks not to regulate the rights of com- 2 puter programmers under the First Amendment to 3 the Constitution of the United States, but rather to 4 curb the pernicious effects of untraceable—and po- 5 tentially undetectable—firearms. 6 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. 7 Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 8 amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(aa) DISTRIBUTION OF CODE FOR 3D PRINTED 10 FIREARMS.—It shall be unlawful for any person to inten- 11 tionally distribute, over the internet or by means of the 12 World Wide Web, digital instructions in the form of Com- 13 puter Aided Design files or other code that can automati- 14 cally program a 3-dimensional printer or similar device to 15 produce a firearm or complete a firearm from an unfin- 16 ished frame or receiver.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Jun 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4074.IH H4074 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS