Washington (May 5, 2021) – Following a recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that threatens to allow the immediate online distribution of blueprints for three-dimensional (“3-D”) printable firearms, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-06) today wrote to President Joseph R. Biden requesting that the Administration take action to keep in place strict regulatory controls over these weapons and prevent online sales.

 

“Widespread do-it-yourself gun printing undermines federal and state laws that block gun access by people who pose the most serious danger to the public — including terrorists, violent felons, and domestic abusers,” the lawmakers wrote. “3-D printed firearms allow anyone to have a gun without undergoing a criminal background check or otherwise involving the licensed dealer system. With gun schematics and a commercially available 3-D printer, anyone can print an unserialized, plastic ‘ghost gun.’”

 

Prior to the Trump administration, 3-D printed firearms and their technical data were placed on the U.S. Munitions List and governed by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which restrict exports of military technologies in order to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives. Under the Trump administration, however, 3-D-printed gun files were removed from the Munitions List and regulation under ITAR, placed under the control of the Commerce Department, and approved for public release on the internet.

 

In their letter, the lawmakers urge President Biden “through further proceedings under the Administrative Procedure Act, to undo the Trump rulemakings,” and “transfer regulatory control over 3-D printed firearms and their technical data back to the State Department, return them to the Munitions List, and once again control them under ITAR — a regulatory scheme that makes sense.”

 

A copy of the letter can be found HERE.

 

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Robert Casey (D-Pa.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) joined the letter. 

 

Representatives Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), Karen Bass (CA-37), Julia Brownley (CA-26), André Carson (IN-07), Ed Case (HI-01), David N. Cicilline (RI-01), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Diana DeGette (CO-01), Suzan K. DelBene (WA-01), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Theodore E. Deutch (FL-22), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), Mike Doyle (PA-18), Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03), Sara Jacobs (CA-53), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Robin L. Kelly (IL-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-13), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), Betty McCollum (MN-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Jerry McNerney (CA-09), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Joe Neguse (CO-02), Marie Newman (IL-03), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Scott H. Peters (CA-52), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Bobby L. Rush (IL-01), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Abigail D. Spanberger (VA-07), Thomas R. Suozzi (NY-03), Eric Swalwell (CA-15), Norma J. Torres (CA-35), Juan Vargas (CA-51), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) also signed the letter.

 

In March, Senator Markey joined with Senators Bob Menedez (D-N.J.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to urge President Biden to take executive action to close the “ghost gun” loophole in the Gun Control Act, which allows individuals—including domestic abusers, prohibited buyers, gun traffickers, and domestic terrorists—to buy untraceable, unserialized firearms without a federal background check.