• ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Ghost guns are unregulated firearms that anyone — including minors and prohibited purchasers — can buy and build without a background check.

      3D printed guns fall solidly into this category.

      • deFrisselle@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        The 1968 Firearms Act encased in law the right to make your own firearms and made it illegal to sell them So, Printed or Milled it was always illegal to sell legally made homemade firearms

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        This is not true. No one can legally buy them. You have to manufacture them yourself.

        • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You can buy the plans as long as they are sold by a licensed company. That’s where the buying part comes in but yes the sale or even transfer of the physical item is illegal.

            • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              If by SCOTUS you mean Trump, then he did say it was okay.

              in 2015 Defense Distributed sued the government for the right to sell their blueprints for their 3d printable guns. They lost in the federal courts and their appeal failed under the ruling that it was a violation of current firearm export laws.

              In 2018 the Trump administration settled with Defense Distributed and allowed them to share their blueprints as well as giving them $40,000 in compensation for previous legal fees. Side note: The founder of Defense Distributed left 3 months after the payment and was then arrested in Taiwan after having sex with an underage minor in Texas.

              in 2019 the attorney general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and the federal courts reversed the Trump decision once again making it illegal to share files without a license.

              As far as I am aware, I am not aware of any changes since then.

                • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Trump Derangement Syndrome?

                  I’m literally giving evidence AGAINST the things the lunatic tried to put into effect as well as pointing out slightly irrelevant information about that fact that one of the people he directly helped was a child molester and rapist. In what way did I come across as a worshiper of Trump?

                  The previous commenter mentioned SCOTUS and the only SCOTUS (that I am aware of) that was touched anything related to 3D printed firearms is Trump. That’s the only reason he got brought up.

            • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              If you want to read it, here is the legislation that explicitly states online posting of plans for 3D-printed firearms requires a license under the Export Administration Regulations issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security. Note the section where it says ANY file in ANY format is included in the legislation and that you can receive up to 20 years imprisonment and $1 million in fines.

              https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/policy-guidance/2572-faqs-for-the-commerce-category-i-iii-firearms-rule-posted-on-bis-website-7-7-20/file

              Because you probably won’t read all 69 (nice) pages here relevant information under the section of “3D Printing of Firearms”

              Under section 734.7©, such “technology” or “software” may not be posted on the Internet without authorization from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

              Q.34: I am planning to post technology or software that meets the criteria in section 734.7©. Do I require a license or other prior approval from BIS before posting the “technology” or “software” on the Internet?

              A.34: Yes, a BIS license is required under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) prior to posting on the Internet of “technology” or “software” that meets the criteria under section 734.7©. No EAR license exceptions are available for such postings.

              Q.35: I understand that section 734.7© applies to Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) files, such as in G-code or AMF format, as executable code to produce the items described in paragraph ©. However, can you confirm whether the criteria in section 734.7© would also to apply to Computer Aided Design (CAD) files?

              A.35: Section 734.7© covers “technology” and “software” for the production of a firearm frame or receiver or complete firearm, controlled under ECCN 0A501, that is made available by posting on the Internet in an electronic format, such as AMF or G-code, and is ready for insertion into a computer numerically controlled machine tool, additive manufacturing equipment, or any other equipment that makes use of the ‘‘software’’ or ‘‘technology’’ to produce the firearm frame or receiver or complete firearm. Any file meeting that criteria is covered regardless of name, including CAD files. Moreover, this includes any file, including any CAD file, that can be processed by a software program into an electronic format, such as a CAM file, with no or minimal additional information or manipulation from the operator(s), and that the file once converted will be in an executable code for the production of a firearm frame or receiver or complete firearm.

              Q.36: If I do not obtain a BIS license prior to posting “technology” or “software” that meets the criteria in section 734.7©, will I be subject to penalties under the EAR? A.36: Yes. This would be a violation of the EAR and may result in significant administrative and criminal penalties under the EAR. Under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, criminal penalties can reach 20 years imprisonment and $1 million per violation. Administrative monetary penalties can reach $308,901 per violation (subject to adjustment in accordance with U.S. law, e.g., the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 114 -74, sec. 701)) or twice the value of the transaction, whichever is greater. Violations of the EAR may also lead to the denial of certain export privileges, potentially for a lengthy period of time.

        • mintyfrog@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Yep, if you’re a criminal making ghost guns to commit crimes because you can’t pass a background check to buy a gun (and then scratch the serial number off), then it’s already a crime for you to have that ghost gun because you’re a prohibited person.

          Requiring a serial number changes nothing and only affects nerds, not criminals.

          • Khotetsu@lib.lgbt
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            1 year ago

            And this right here is why the “Ghost Gun” thing is largely just a scare like the Halloween drug thing that happens every year. Because it’s generally cheaper and easier to go one state over to the state with lax gun laws and buy a gun there for the price of an Ender 3 instead of going through all the effort of buying a printer and learning how to use it. Same reason why the Mexican cartels smuggle guns out of the US and into Mexico, and not the other way around. Guns are cheap and plentiful in the US, and they’re not hard to get.

            There’s some “teh gubernment is cummin fer muh gunz!1!” chuds out there 3d printing guns, but there’s plenty of those people with guns they bought legally as well. The biggest large scale ghost gun manufacturing I’ve heard about is the Burmese resistance fighters who have been printing en masse a design to fight back against a genocidal military coup in Myanmar because the international community has largely ignored what’s going on there and they can’t get guns any other way, which is exactly the sort of situation that design was created for.

          • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            But for that you need all the parts, including the gunpowder. And for the gunpowder you need a special permission for handling explosives, at least in my country. So you just move into areas of even more difficult to procure things. it seems far easier to just buy a gun and ammunition somewhere else and take it over the border into California.

            • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              In America you MIGHT need to show ID for age verification purposes in most states when purchasing gunpowder.

              There is no country wide law requiring a permit to purchase everything you need to make bullets.

              The exception might be buying a large amount(like 50lbs) but low pounds(<10lbs) is legal without a permit.

            • nooneescapesthelaw@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              If 50 pounds or less of commercially manufactured black powder is being purchased, and the powder is intended to be used solely for sporting, recreational, or cultural purposes in antique firearms as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(16) or in antique devices exempt from the term “destructive device” in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(4), no form is required. However, if the black powder is being purchased for any other purpose (regardless of quantity), the purchaser or other transferee must possess a federal explosives license or permit.

              [18 U.S.C. 845(a)(5); 18 U.S.C. 926©; 27 CFR 555.141(b), 555.26(a)]

      • uis@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m not a lawyer, but what I heard is 3d guns somehow does not fall under definition of firearm in US.

        • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          A couple of things regarding this:

          Federally there is no law that says you can’t print and carry your own gun, no serial number required.

          However several states have strict laws and there are weird caveats. It has to be for personal use, cannot be sold or transferred and under the Undetectable Firearms Act any firearm that cannot be detected by a metal detector is illegal to manufacture, so legal designs for firearms such as 3d printed guns require a metal plate to be inserted into the printed body. Also online posting of plans for 3D-printed firearms require a license under the Export Administration Regulations issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security.

          So if you design your own gun, or get one from a company that has an export license, print it and then ensure that it has enough metal in it to be detectable… Go for it, should be legal.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Guns with a serial number are generally also untraceable, since the serial number is not registered to anyone in most states.

      • mintyfrog@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Untraceable for what?

        Almost all of them still use metal parts that can be x-rayed and still have barrels that leave ballistic fingerprints on bullets. Serial numbers don’t make something GPS-tracked.

        Untraceable in terms of ownership? There is no national firearm registry. Guns bought from FFLs require a NICS background check that is stored in an ATF database (of questionable legality), but private sale guns often don’t require NICS so the database isn’t an accurate registry of gun ownership.

        And criminals scratch off serial numbers anyways.

        And add on that any laws requiring serialization of privately-made firearms are only affecting nerds, not criminals. Criminals that are making guns because they can’t pass a NICS background check will continue not adding serial numbers - because they’re criminals.

        • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Guns bought from FFLs require a NICS background check that is stored in an ATF database

          NICS checks are not stored. Or at least they’re not supposed to be. The firearms info is collected on a form 4473 in paper and kept at the FFL where the firearm is purchased.

          But the ATF has been caught several times collecting these records and digitizing them in an attempt to create a registry.

    • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      No one really knows. It’s a made-up term. But generally it consists of 3D-printed and “80% lower” receivers made at home. Firearms you build yourself don’t legally require serial numbers.

      Similar to “assault weapons”