Current Issues: Ghost Guns

MCRGO opposes SB 1149 and SB 1150 which would make it illegal for hobbyists to use 3D printers to manufacture and assemble firearms without a federal license. These bills would also prohibit the sale of 3D printers and CNC milling machines for the purpose of unlicensed firearm manufacturing.

• These bills would likely be found unconstitutional. A federal district court, and later the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, have already overturned recent Biden-Harris administration rules regulating ghost guns in Garland v. VanDerStok that the pending legislation is based on. The Michigan Legislature should postpone consideration until the expected United States Supreme Court’s ruling in 2025.
• Despite the sensational headlines about cases of ghost guns, all firearms are heavily regulated under current federal law, regardless of how they are manufactured.
• The 1968 Gun Control Act, the 1988 Undetectable Firearms Act, and other federal laws all govern firearms produced by a 3D printing process or any other process, just as they apply to conventional manufacturing processes using machine tools.
• It is already illegal under the federal Undetectable Firearms Act to manufacture, import, sell, ship, deliver, possess, transfer, or receive an undetectable firearm. Even firearms produced with 3D printing technology are required to include a component made of metal, and hence detectable by metal detectors and x-ray machines.
• In addition, ammunition cartridges are made with metal components that are detectable.
• Even without metal components, current Transportation Security Agency (TSA) screening machines will detect an object, regardless of its composition.
• Americans have always had the ability to legally make firearms on their own and some choose to do so as a hobby. It has allowed individuals who are passionate about building their own firearms to assemble them in their homes.
• If the argument is that criminals won’t follow the existing laws and regulations, there is no evidence they will abide by new laws. By definition, criminals don’t have respect for the law. Enacting further laws at the state or federal level to make the possession of an illegal firearm more illegal will not deter criminal behavior.
• Rather than layering another level of regulation on law-abiding hobbyists and businesses, lawmakers should seek enforcement of the existing laws and regulations.