A Pennsylvania bill to ban privately manufactured firearms (PMF), whether built from a kit or 3D printed, will be voted on in the Commonwealth’s General Assembly tomorrow.
The bill, known as House Bill 777 (HB 777), has advanced to the House floor for a third reading. After the reading, the House is expected to vote on it. Democrats in the House have a slight majority and appear to have the votes to advance the bill to the Senate, where it will face an uncertain fate.
The bill will ban the sale or transfer of DIY gun kits from companies like Polymer80 and 80% Arms. Residents of the Keystone State will also be prohibited from buying unserialized gun parts to make firearms unless they are licensed manufacturers. The bill will also restrict the 3D printing of guns, taking away a fundamental right. If passed, violating the proposed law would be a felony of the third degree.
Philadelphia Democrat Morgan Cephas introduced the bill, and it has 62 co-sponsors. Cephas is using the violence in the City of Brotherly Love as an excuse to advance the bill. According to Cephas, so-called “ghost guns” are the root of the crime problem in the city, although others point to the under-prosecution of criminals by District Attorney Larry Krasner.
The law doesn’t just refer to 3D-printed firearms and 80% kits. It also refers to suppressors and split or modular frames. Many guns, including popular Sig Sauer models, use a modular chassis that can be swapped out and is sold unserialized over the counter. The actual fire control unit (FCU) is the serialized part of these firearms. By the letter of the law, these frames could be banned, but everyone AmmoLand News spoke to on the topic was not sure where guns like the Sig P320 fall within the law, creating a gray area.
Even though the bill will require some Republican support to reach PA Governor Josh Shapiro’s desk, there are still some concerns. In 2023, nine Republicans crossed the aisle and voted for universal background checks (UBC) and extreme risk protection orders (ERPO), also called “red flag laws.” Shapiro himself has made it his personal mission to ban homemade firearms and attended the Biden Rose Garden ceremony to announce the ATF rule prohibiting the sale of PMF kits.
AmmoLand News reached out to Gun Owners of America (GOA) Director Val Finnell to get his take on the chances of the bill’s passing. GOA has worked closely with companies inside Pennsylvania, such as JSD Supply, to push back against such bans. He is concerned about the possibility of some Republicans buckling under pressure from anti-gun activists.
GOA has set up a contact page to contact members of the House to urge them to vote against the possible ban.
“HB 777 would make you a felon for building a P80 kit or assembling your own AR with an 80% lower unless the parts are serialized,” Finnell said. “The radical Democrats who are pushing this bill have a razor-thin majority, and the only way they can pass it is with some Republican support. Unfortunately, nine Republicans voted for Universal Registration Checks and Red Flag Gun Confiscation orders in 2023. GOA has been putting enormous pressure on these nine RINOs to vote no on HB 777.”
If the bill passes, gun owners will have 60 days to serialize their frames through a federal firearms licensee (FFL) or turn their items over to the police for destruction. Gunsmiths will no longer be permitted to work on any unserialized firearms.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump 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 can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
![Time will tell if the decision to alienate half the country pays off. [The Onion/Facebook]](https://www.ammoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/InfoWars-End-450x253.jpg)
I call democrats from NY, and NJ locusts.
They have decimated their states, and now have moved to PA to destroy our state.
Pennsylvania isn’t banning anything. It’s the psychopathic control freak PARASITES that “govern” Pennsylvania who are trying to ban these. Which means it’s time for Pennsylvanians with fortitude to start building them by the hundreds to hand out to the soon to form due to circumstances MILITIA that all these insane edicts are going to drive back into existence. Seems like AmmoLand as well as every single Youtuber that deals with the second amendment are scared out of their pink panties about the whole subject. Seems to me that the first thirteen words may be the most important 13 words in… Read more »
I’d like to know how in the hell is anyone going to be able to “restrict the 3D printing of guns.” Again, another reach by politicians into the Twilight Zone in an attempt to create unenforceable legislation. All politicians need to undergo an IQ check before elections; would help to weed out the dummies before they try to inflict their stupidity on us.
The next ban that prevents people from getting something they really, really want will be the first.
“Experience is a hard school, but fools will learn by no other” — Poor Richard’s Almanac
Dear God, I pray that anyone that lives in one of the states including my own that has or is making laws that infringes on rights that you provide the money and the people to fight it and win. If that can’t happen, please give us enough wealth to be able to escape to a better state. Amen!
We have made firearms in garages and workshops and forges since before the US existed, and we will continue long after it has collapsed. They have no authority to ban these weapons, amd we won’t comply. Banning any firearm is unconstitutional, and a clear infringement, thus repugnant to the Constitution per scotus. Voting for the bill should be considered a felony, depriving civil rights under color of law, a crime under existing law, and those members arrested and jailed.