U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Some anti-Second Amendment legislation can be very deceptively titled, and thus slip below the radar for Second Amendment supporters. That is the case with this piece of legislation introduced by Representative Ted Deutsch (D-FL) will be discussed in this article – HR 3265, the 3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2019.
Now, 3D printing of firearms has been a subject of debate since 2013, when the Obama Administration tried to misuse ITAR to halt the spread of the plans for making firearms using 3D printers. Defense Distributed secured a settlement with the State Department in 2018 that saw the federal government make significant concessions not just on First Amendment grounds, but also acknowledging that AR-15s and other modern multi-purpose semi-automatic firearms were not “weapons of war.”
However, state attorneys general with track records of anti-Second Amendment extremism filed a series of suits to halt the implementation of the settlement, relying on the same nonsensical “public nuisance” claims that were wielded against handgun manufacturers by big cities before the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005. That litigation is still pending at the time of this writing.
The title of Deutsch’s legislation makes it seem like it’s about making sure that any 3D printed firearm is safe. The title of the legislation is a lie. The truth is that Congressman Deutsch’s legislation would render the legal cases moot – by imposing a blanket ban on any publication of computer files that would program a 3D printer to make a firearm.
Like the Disarm Hate Act, this legislation attacks both the First Amendment and the Second Amendment at the same time. Each is pernicious in its own way: The Disarm Hate Act uses constitutionally-protected – albeit highly reprehensible – speech as grounds to deny Second Amendment rights and does so in an ex post facto manner.
The 3D Printed Gun Safety Act is more egregious. This law would make putting files on the internet a crime under 18 USC 922. Already, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewel has been trying to bully CodeIsFreeSpeech.com with the Garden State’s version of the law Deutsch has proposed.
The implications go beyond just the ability of law-abiding citizens to have the means to build their own firearms. While many do that as a hobby, as seen by the popularity of 80% lower receivers, there is more modern technology emerging from Defense Distributed that can make the hobby accessible to more people.
The eventual proliferation of this technology would have the effect of making the unjust gun bans like those proposed by Eric Swalwell and Beto O’Rourke impossible to enforce. This is one reason why the fight against Grewel is significant.
The other reason is that if Grewel can win this fight, it could set a precedent for other restrictions on the publication and dissemination of technical data related to firearms and ammunition. Like reloading? The data to safely take part in that hobby could be kept from you. Want to customize your firearm? You won’t be able to do that yourself.
What is particularly infuriating is that existing laws can address whether a criminal is touching any firearm, whether 3D printed or not. Grewel, like New Jersey Governor Pat Murphy, instead prefers to use the power of the state to harass and bully those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Second Amendment supporters should contact their Representative and Senators and urge them to oppose HR 3265, the deceptively mis-named 3D Printed Gun Safety Act. Free speech and the right to keep and bear arms are both at stake.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
No laws are obeyed by people with criminal intent. And laws that violate the constitution are meaningless and criminalize the otherwise law abiding. And when the rich and powerful politicians who commit crimes go free, it makes the case that two standards exist in the US criminal justice system. One standard for Roger Stone and another standard for Barack Obama . The second amendment as written has to be the easiest and most plainly written law in the US. Yet there are hundreds if not thousands of laws that violate the second amendment and Americans natural right to bears arms.… Read more »
Our elected public servants are establishing governments of lawyers, by lawyers, for lawmakers to become public masters. The disarming of private citizens will make us easier and safer to be subdued or to be killed by private criminals and public officials. The suppression of the right to arms is a finalizing act of oppression. Oppression is the highest crime.
Who’s fooled? Anyone who has been around the firearms community for more than 5 minutes knows that any bill that has ‘gun’ and ‘safety’ in it is anti second amendment.
Every day it seems, another reason for the boogaloo.
Second Amendment supporters should (As another poster on this site frequently says) arm up and carry on.
Right, except all the arms in the world aren’t going to be of any value until they are used. These guys will still be protesting and voting while the DNC/Communists herd them into the showers.
S g, Manipulator.
No rational person posting on this site is advocating for criminal acts of violence. Any acts of violence anyone may have taken here in the past were as military members authorized by our government. If there is any future act, it would be to honor his/her sworn oath to defend our Constitution, not to act against it.
Agreed. But, if you think about it for a second, can you imagine what it that would actually look like? I’m all for it! We need to take our nation back from the communist globalists that seek to pull a “1984” on us all. I have been thinking about this very thing quite a bit since the Lobby Day protest I attended in Richmond, VA. Honestly, this scares the living sh*t out of me! To think that we, as Americans, would have to resort to shooting our fellow countryman in order to restore our republic back to how our Founders… Read more »
@Nurph, The thought of “re-educating” or executing their fellow countrymen does not bother the progressives in the least. They have been caught talking about it and discussing the cost. Toughen up, brother.
Grewel is atypical of these squirrely, lying, social misfit, scumbag, bottom feeders in American society. His pernicious approach to the U.S. Constitution is so transparent as to be laughable . . . except that his desire to disarm every American citizen is so egregious that he should be run out of office if not the country!!! In short, his communism is showing!!!
What do you expect from a Harvard boy.
@TN, Some Harvard grads are quite bright and some are programmed. You just can not lump people all together, unless they are all saying and doing the same stuff.
Yea, you folks keep up with your protests and voting….. It’s SO clearly working roflmao…… Until you realize that you are already defeated, and start to fight like you are already dead, you’ll just keep dying the death of a thousand little cuts…..
No amount of voting and protesting is going to solve this. Eradicating democrats is the only way.
@Some, Voting has got us the POTUS, two S. Court justices, almost two hundred fed. ct. judges; chased almost two hundred and fifty leftys out of the State Dept.; a start on cleaning up the Fat Boy Institute, the FISA court, and the national intelligence apparatus. Voting is about to get us a Trump House, Senate, and S. Ct.
But if you want to eradicate radical socialist/communists, go ahead. I won’t stand in your way, but I won’t do it at your manipulation.
@wjd, one more step required to restore the republic!
Some guy: It’s interesting to hear the bluster coming from those on the internet. I always wonder what their actual experience is and if they understand the ramifications of what they advocate.
Or, that individual is a ‘plant’, and looking to see who he can entrap. Not everyone has our welfare at heart. I dont 'do' groups,yet yr.s ago, some guy told me he wanted to join my organization. I aint in one, I aint a member of one,I aint looking to associate with any. In fact, I stay as far as I can from them. I tell folks,like 'some guy', if thats what they intend to do,stay far from me. Im not saying I wont defend my God given rights.I see no reason to go all 'John Wick' . Thats literally… Read more »
Here is what I’m writing in: Honorable [name]: I am disturbed by the recent submission of HR 3265, the “3D Printed Gun Safety Act of 2019”, in that it does not, in fact, ensure the safety of 3D printed firearms or accessories at all. Instead, it is an affront against First and Second Amendment rights as currently ensconced in Constitutional Law and the United States Code, and confirmed by Democrat and Republican administration agencies, such as the US State Department. I ask that you do not support the passage of this bill nor any equivalent legislation from the Senate or… Read more »
Harold: I am glad that you have changed your tone from ‘politely’ contact to ‘URGE’ our lawmaking public servants. They are not polite to us.
The people proposing such bills on the state, local and national level are naive or ignorant – both are dangerous. Their are several ways to stop home manufactured firearms – outlaw machine tools, steal, wood, 3 d printers, calipers, micrometers and most of all everybody would have to get a frontal lobotomy because knowledge and thinking would have to be “taken care of ” also. These people are preying on peoples ignorance as many think firearm manufacturing requires some kind of hidden or voodoo knowledge. Anybody with a modicum of common sense, knowledge, resourcefulness and a will to do it… Read more »
This is a foolish law. you can’t top the signal, the info is out there, files will be shared through sneakerware. the man is a luddite.
Hey, Did anyone else get this message from Ammoland: We have a small favor to ask…
We’re making some changes to the way we send emails. Starting Thursday March 5, 2020, you’ll receive emails from email.Ammoland.com instead of Ammoland.com.
Is this legit or phishing?
Pretty much the same here.
@OV, Well, it sounds like it is not a scam. Hope you and Sammy are having as nice of weather as we all are having.
I saw it also,but didn
t open it, nor will I. If Im removed from their mail, so be it.