Action still awaited on 3-D printed gun proposal
SPRINGFIELD – If a 3-D printer is used to build a firearm, the owner will need a firearm manufacturing license under a new proposal pending in the state Senate.
State Sen. Ira Silverstein, D–Chicago, is sponsoring legislation to bring guns built on 3-D printers under the same laws covering traditionally manufactured firearms. The plan requires a person who prints firearms or firearm components to have a federal manufacturing license.
“A gun is a gun; it doesn’t matter if it’s built on an assembly line or in a 3-D printer. New technology has created a loophole and this plan closes it,” Silverstein said.
Steadily improving 3-D printer technology has the ability to create increasingly more complex designs out of plastic, metal and other materials. Last November, a Texas company unveiled a functional semi-automatic, metal pistol created on a 3-D printer.
The plan, Senate Bill 3018, creates a class-A misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in prison. At this writing the issue has been referred to and is still pending in the Assignments Committee with no action taken since April 11.
