Newtown Action Alliance Applauds Attorneys General Lawsuit to Stop Trump Administration’s Efforts to Proliferate 3D Gun Files
For Immediate Release
January 23, 2020
Contact:
Newtown Action Alliance Applauds Attorneys General Lawsuit to Stop Trump Administration’s Efforts to Proliferate 3D Gun Files
and
Condemns the Trump Administration for Loosening Export Regulation of Assault Weapons
Newtown, CT-- Newtown Action Alliance applauds and thanks Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and Attorneys General from 19 other states for legally challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to proliferate 3D guns.
Today, the Trump Administration’s final rule change to transfer regulatory authority of 3D gun files and firearms such as AR-15s, used in the Sandy Hook shooting, from the State Department to the Department of Commerce has been posted on the Federal Register. This rule change allows the U.S. gun industry to obtain export licenses with fewer registration requirements and circumvents Congressional oversight.
3D guns are ghost guns that circumvent state and federal gun laws. The 3D-printing technology allows any person, anywhere in the world, to make untraceable guns without serial numbers, background checks, waiting periods, permits and other state and federal requirements for gun ownership. Some 3D guns are made entirely of plastic, rendering them virtually undetectable by modern security technology. 3D and ghost guns in the hands of domestic abusers, felons, terrorists, and other prohibited users result in grave public safety, national security and international threats; therefore, the federal government should not allow the proliferation of 3D guns.
Newtown Action Alliance condemns the Trump Administration’s rule change to ease gun export regulations for assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Global access to AR-15s, other semi-automatic military-style assault weapons, and high capacity magazines is a public safety and national security threat to Americans on our soil and abroad. Assault weapons are the weapons of choice for mass shooters in America and misused to commit human rights abuses. Easy access to America’s assault weapons will perpetuate violent conflicts all over the world.
Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance, stated: “In 2018, 50 organizations signed our open letter urging Donald Trump to stop the proliferation of 3D guns and over 290 organizations have joined the Campaign Against Assault Weapons to urge him to ban assault weapons in America. He has ignored our pleas despite the fact that the majority of Americans support these gun control policies. Donald Trump and his administration continue to demonstrate reckless behavior to help the gun industry sell more guns. He refuses to take action to end gun violence in America and now he is working to export America’s gun violence crisis. Meanwhile, the gun industry is rejoicing over the rule change at the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show that is being held in Las Vegas this week.”
Murray continued: “Until we vote out Donald Trump this November, we encourage other states to join California, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Washington to enact laws to regulate 3D guns and ghost guns. We also implore Congress to pass legislation to ban 3D guns, ghost guns and assault weapons. As technology advances in America, it is the responsibility of the federal, state and local governments to consistently close the loopholes in our gun control laws to keep guns away from dangerous individuals on our soil and abroad.”
Bills to Regulate Untraceable/Undetectable Firearms and to Control Firearm Exports:
H.R.3553 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
Untraceable Firearms Act of 2019
To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to ensure that all firearms are traceable, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep. Cicilline, David N. [D-RI-1] (Introduced 06/27/2019)
Cosponsors: (38)
S.1831 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2019
This bill makes it unlawful to intentionally publish digital instructions for programming a three-dimensional printer to make a firearm.
Sponsor: Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA] (Introduced 06/13/2019)
Cosponsors: (29)
H.R.3265 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2019
This bill makes it unlawful to intentionally publish digital instructions for programming a three-dimensional printer to make a firearm.
Sponsor: Rep. Deutch, Theodore E. [D-FL-22] (Introduced 06/13/2019)
Cosponsors: (50)
S.459 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
Stopping the Traffic in Overseas Proliferation of Ghost Guns Act
To protect the American people from undetectable ghost guns, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Menendez, Robert [D-NJ] (Introduced 02/12/2019)
Cosponsors: (5)
H.R.1134 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
Prevent Crime and Terrorism Act of 2019
This bill prohibits the President from removing various items from the U.S. Munitions List, which lists weapons and related equipment that are subject to export controls. Items that the President may not remove from the list include combat shotguns, silencers, flame throwers, electric armor, and various types of ammunition and weapons components.
Sponsor: Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35] (Introduced 02/08/2019)
Cosponsors: (17)
Bills to Ban Assault Weapons:
H.R.1296 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
Assault Weapons Ban of 2019
Sponsor: Rep. Cicilline, David N. [D-RI-1] (Introduced 02/15/2019)
Cosponsors: (216)
S.66 — 116th Congress (2019-2020)
Assault Weapons Ban of 2019
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA] (Introduced 01/09/2019)
Cosponsors: (34)
Dangerous Cases Involving 3D and Ghost Guns:
2013: Journalists used Defense Distributed files to make their own 3-D gun, then smuggled a 3-D printed gun into Israeli parliament to test the security system.
2013: 23-year-old John Zawahri, who had been kept from purchasing a gun years earlier, used a homebuilt AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in a rampage in Santa Monica, California, that left five dead.
November 2017: Kevin Janson Neal massacred five people and wounded nine others in Tehama County, California, using two semi-automatic rifles he built himself. A criminal protective order and a separate restraining order that had been placed on Neal in January – for assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly stabbing and beating two neighbors he held at gunpoint -- meant Neal wouldn’t have passed a background check if he’d tried.
April 2018: In Delaware County, Upper Darby police arrested a high school student after he threatened to shoot up his school. The Upper Darby Police Superintendent said the suspect, who was a foreign exchange student, assembled a handgun using parts he bought online.
May 2018: A Pennsylvania State Trooper shot and killed a man outside a Walmart in Lehigh County, near Allentown, when the suspect pointed a .40 Caliber Glock at him. State Police said the suspect in that case bought the parts for the gun online.
June 2018 to June 2019: At the federal level, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco recovered 42 ghost guns in Philadelphia.
February 2019: Eric McGinnis from Texas was sentenced for using 3D technology and ghost gun parts to build his own untraceable AR-15 assault rifle. McGinnis, who referred to himself as “Eric the Ruler,” was unable to legally purchase a firearm from a federally-licensed gun dealer when the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) flagged him as a prohibited purchaser due to a protective order against him from an "act of family violence" against his girlfriend. He had a 'hit list' of U.S. lawmakers.
May 2019: Police in Waterbury CT arrested a man who had a 3D-printed gun with a bullet in the chamber. He didn’t have a pistol permit and was holding two bags of heroin.
November 2019: A ghost gun was used by a teen to kill two students and injured three others at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.
January 1, 2020: On New Year’s Day, a 54-year-old Rhode Island woman was killed with a 3D/ghost gun.
More information on 3D and ghost guns are available here: https://www.newtownactionalliance.org/3d-guns
###
Newtown Action Alliance (http://alliance.newtownaction.org/) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Our mission is to achieve the steady and continuous reduction of gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.