Downloadable Guns
What is the problem?
Downloadable guns, or 3-D printed guns, are serious threats to our communities. With a 3-D printer and access to the computer schematics, anyone can build an untraceable firearm without a background check.
Anyone can print their own firearm or the parts for the firearm with a commercially available 3-D printer. All they need is the computer code, a printer, and the plastic printing materials—no background check required. These plastic guns evade metal detectors and exist completely outside the federal firearms licensee system. This makes it easy for individuals to carry these firearms with them anywhere, any time.
The Trump administration should return downloadable guns to the Department of State’s U.S. Munitions List and ensure that the schematics for dangerous downloadable guns are not readily available online. Congress should also pass a law making it illegal for anyone to distribute the computer files for 3-D printing downloadable guns, including making it illegal to post them online. Congress should strengthen the law banning plastic firearms to cover recent designs that undermine the law. States should also take immediate steps to regulate 3-D printed guns and the plans necessary to make them.
Downloadable gun
Do-it-yourself, downloadable guns are incredibly dangerous.
Why is it an issue?
Downloadable guns are a threat to public safety.
By the numbers
600k
Nearly 600k consumer 3-D printers were sold in 2018.
$150
A basic 3-D printer that can be used to print guns can cost as little as $150.
You might be wondering…
- 1 Do plastic guns even work?
- 2 Are downloadable guns considered to be ghost guns?
- 3 Why did the Trump administration decide to move jurisdiction over downloadable guns away from the State Department?
- 4 Is there proof that people who are not allowed to have guns are printing guns?
- 5 Isn’t the technology for 3-D printing guns too expensive to pose a risk?
- 6 Are 3-D printed guns illegal?