II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1831 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the distribution of 3D printer plans for the printing of firearms, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 13, 2019 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. 

HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. REED, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. LEAHY, Ms. SMITH, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, Mr. KAINE, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

SCHATZ, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. CASEY, and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, to 

prohibit the distribution of 3D printer plans for the 

printing of firearms, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘3D Printed Gun Safety 

5 Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Three dimensional, or ‘‘3D’’ printing, in4 volves the programming of a 3D printing machine 

5 with a computer file that provides the schematics for 

6 the item to be printed. 

7 (2) Recent technological developments have al8 lowed for the 3D printing of firearms and firearm 

9 parts, including parts made out of plastic, by unli10 censed individuals in possession of relatively inexpen11 sive 3D printers. 

12 (3) Because 3D printing allows individuals to 

13 make their own firearms out of plastic, they may be 

14 able to evade detection by metal detectors at security 

15 checkpoints, increasing the risk that a firearm will 

16 be used to perpetrate violence on an airplane or 

17 other area where people congregate. 

18 (4) The availability of online schematics for the 

19 3D printing of firearms and firearm parts increases 

20 the risk that dangerous people, including felons, do21 mestic abusers, and other people prohibited from 

22 possessing firearms under Federal law, will obtain a 

23 firearm through 3D printing. 

24 (5) On June 7, 2013, an assailant used a gun 

25 he had constructed by himself to kill his father, 

26 brother, and 3 other people at Santa Monica College 


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1 in California. The person had failed a background 

2 check when he tried to purchase a gun from a li3 censed gun dealer. The gun he used was made from 

4 an unfinished AR–15-style receiver, similar to a re5 ceiver that can now be made with a 3D printer. 

6 (6) Firearms tracing is a powerful investigative 

7 tool. When law enforcement agencies recover fire8 arms that have been used in crimes, the agencies 

9 work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 

10 and Explosives to trace these firearms to their first 

11 retail purchaser. The agencies can use that informa12 tion to investigate and solve the crimes. In 2017 

13 alone, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 

14 Explosives conducted 408,000 traces. 

15 (7) Firearms tracing depends on the ability to 

16 identify firearms based on their serial number. Tra17 ditionally, when a firearm is manufactured domesti18 cally or imported from abroad, it is engraved with 

19 a serial number and markings that identify the man20 ufacturer or importer, make, model, and caliber, and 

21 are unique to the firearm. Firearms made by unli22 censed individuals with 3D printers, however, do not 

23 contain genuine serial numbers. 

24 (8) Criminals seek firearms without serial num25 bers because they cannot be traced. In July 2018, 


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1 the Los Angeles Police Department completed a 6- 

2 month-long investigation that resulted in the seizure 

3 of 45 firearms, some of which had been assembled 

4 without serial numbers in order to be untraceable. If 

5 the schematics for 3D printing firearms and firearm 

6 parts are available online, people intending to com7 mit gun crimes may create similarly untraceable 

8 firearms in order to avoid accountability for these 

9 crimes. 

10 (9) Interstate gun trafficking, including the 

11 trafficking of untraceable firearms, interferes with 

12 lawful commerce in firearms and significantly con13 tributes to gun crime. Of the 211,384 firearms 

14 traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms 

15 and Explosives in 2016, 60,936 of those firearms 

16 were originally sold by a licensed firearms dealer in 

17 a State other than the State where they were recov18 ered. These guns made up 28.8 percent of all fire19 arm recoveries in 2016. 

20 (10) The proliferation of 3D-printed firearms 

21 threatens to undermine the entire Federal firearms 

22 regulatory scheme and to endanger public safety and 

23 national security. By making illegal the distribution 

24 of certain computer code that can be used automati25 cally to program 3D printers and create firearms— 


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1 the only means of combating this unique threat— 

2 Congress seeks not to regulate the rights of com3 puter programmers under the First Amendment to 

4 the Constitution of the United States, but rather to 

5 curb the pernicious effects of untraceable—and po6 tentially undetectable—firearms. 

7 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION. 

8 Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(aa) It shall be unlawful for any person to inten11 tionally distribute, over the Internet or by means of the 

12 World Wide Web, digital instructions in the form of Com13 puter Aided Design files or other code that can automati14 cally program a 3-dimensional printer or similar device to 

15 produce a firearm or complete a firearm from an unfin16 ished frame or receiver.’’. 

Æ 


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