State Senate votes to ban 3D-printed guns

A 3D-printed gun. AP Photo/Eric Gay, File.

By Jonathan Sperling

The New York State Senate Democratic Majority announced Tuesday that it will pass legislation that bans 3D-printed guns from being manufactured and sold across the state.

Senate Bill S1414, sponsored by Senator Kevin Parker, also bans other firearms, rifles, or shotguns that cannot be detected by an X-ray machine, portable pulsed X-ray generator, metal detector or magnetometer when set at a standard calibration.

Transportation Security Administration officials say they have found plastic guns made using 3-D printers in luggage.

“As legislators it is our duty to do everything in our power to New York’s citizens from gun violence,” Parker said in a statement. “My legislation will hold gun manufacturers accountable for knowingly producing undetectable firearms, which will make New York a safer and stronger state. It sends a clear and direct message that the manufacturing of a firearm will not be tolerated in New York State.”

The bill goes further by amending the penal law to criminalize the manufacture, sale or transport of an undetectable firearm as a Class D felony offense. It also adds the crime of criminal possession of an undetectable firearm, a Class E felony offense.

“Our country is under assault from gun violence, and there is a flood of firearms hitting our streets,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in a statement.

“Banning undetectable guns should be a non-controversial priority for all elected officials, yet it took the new Senate Democratic Majority to finally bring this legislation to the floor for a vote,” she added.

Passage of the bill comes just weeks before the start of Gun Violence Awareness Month in June.

Borough President Melinda Katz and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams will team up with community organizations to host a Queens town hall on gun violence on May 30 at 6:00 p.m. at Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.