U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- If your hobby is building firearms like AR-15s then your favorite pastime is in jeopardy. Rep Frank Pallone Jr (D-NJ) has introduced House bill H.R. 7115 which is also known as the “3D Firearms Prohibitions Act” into the US House of Representatives. Contrary to the bill’s name it does more than just ban 3D printed firearms.
H.R. 7115 reads: “To prohibit the sale, acquisition, distribution in commerce, or import into the United States of certain firearm receiver castings or blanks, assault weapon parts kits, and machinegun parts kits and the marketing or advertising of such castings or blanks and kits on any medium of electronic communications, to require homemade firearms to have serial numbers, and for other purposes.”
What is disturbing about the proposed law is how little it has to do with 3D printing of firearms. 3D printed firearms is the latest buzzword that anti-gun advocates are using to scare the uninformed masses. By attaching “3D printed firearms” to the bill, its chances of passing with popular appeal increases. If H.R. 7115 fails, the Democrats will rail against Republicans for keeping 3D printed guns legal.
The bill will ban the selling and all forms of advertising of parts kits for modern sporting rifles. Upper and Lower parts kit allow a user to build their guns using a stripped lower or upper receiver and upgrade existing guns.
In a vast majority of these situations, the user buys a serialized lower receiver through a licensed gun dealer. These serialized lower receivers are considered firearms and fall under all state and federal firearms laws. They require a background check like any other firearm.
By preventing the sale of parts kits, the bill would make it almost impossible to repair a rifle. When something breaks, the gun would be useless. The bill doesn’t seem to exempt licensed gunsmiths from the law. It would make all semi-automatic rifles impossible to repair even by a licensed gunsmith.
The writers of the bill also did not specify their definition of a parts kit. A drop-in trigger could run afoul of this new law if the federal government decides to define such a device as a “parts kit.” It leaves the door wide open for more gun bans by redefining “parts kit.”
Gun rights groups see this bill as a way Democrats are using scare tactics to inhibit our Constitutionally protected right to bear arms. Gun Owners of America has already taken up the fight to defeat this bill in Congress.
“While most gun owners were focused on the midterm elections, anti-gunners in Congress snuck in a “Parts Kit Gun Ban” (H.R. 7115) that is a one-two punch on the First and Second Amendments, ” said Erich Pratt, Executive Director of GOA. “Not only does this bill go after parts kits, which typically aren’t the choice of criminals, it attempts to restrict speech about these items on the Internet.”
The bill would also ban the sale of 80% lower receivers. An 80% lower receiver is a lower receiver that is not entirely milled out and therefore not considered a firearm. The user needs to use a CNC machine, drill press or router to complete the process before the owner can turn it into a working firearm. These lowers are big among the hobbyist, but most gun owners do not purchase these receivers dur to the extra work.
AmmoLand News searched for cases where a criminal used one of these non-serialized lower receivers in a crime, but we couldn’t find but a single case. Most likely there are easier ways for a criminal to get a gun rather than using an expensive CNC machine or drill press to make one at home.
The bill would require a dealer to serialize any firearms that a hobbyist makes. The dealer would only be able to charge the actual cost of assigning the serial number and running the background check. The dealer would not be able to charge for things such as engraving the serial number, or for the time it takes for the paperwork and contacting the agencies. Essentialy forcing them to work for free.
Since businesses need to make a profit to stay open, we can assume that most if not all would not offer this service since they would be losing money on every transaction. This clause seems to be put in place for this very reason.
Where is the actual part of the bill that deals with 3D printed guns?
There isn’t any part dealing with that subject matter. Much like Democrats in the 80s using “Die Hard 2” claiming that Glocks can defeat metal detectors to pass a gun control bill, they are doing the same thing with the irrational fear over 3D printed guns.
With Democrats coming to power in the US House of Representatives there is a good chance this or a similar bill could pass the House. The Senate will be the Second Amendments firewall and we have seen who weak the Republicans can be. All gun owners need to contact their representatives and urge them to vote against this flawed bill.
About John Crump
John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot-News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.