New York suggests background checks for anyone who buys a 3D printer

The New York Legislature is still in the early stages of considering a bill that would require people who buy certain types of 3D printers to pass a background check.

State House Bill A2228 It says that “any retailer of a 3D printer sold in this state that is capable of printing a firearm, or any components of a firearm, is required and authorized to request and receive criminal history information.”

The state would then have 15 days to review the buyer’s information, look for weapons charges or any other disqualifying criminal record, and make a decision. This actually means that anyone who purchases a 3D printer capable of printing any part of a firearm (which a fair number of 3D printers do) will have to pass a criminal background check.

We live in a world where anyone with access to some 3D printers, the right digital documents, and some working knowledge can print and assemble an untraceable gun. Luigi Mangione, the killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, likely used a 3D printer A Glock pistol to hit its target. Governments around the world have struggled to figure out how to deal with the problem of widespread, home-printed, unregistered firearms spreading across the planet on demand.

The A2228 is one solution, but I have a hard time imagining Amazon or other online retailers requiring people in New York City to pass a background check to purchase a 3D printer online. But strange things happened.

Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Rajkumar is the lead sponsor of A2228, which was proposed on Jan. 15 and remains in committee. Rajkumar tried this earlier Pass similar legislation In 2023, but he died in committee.

“The prevalence of 3D-printed weapons is increasing every year. 100 people were removed from the streets of New York City in 2019. That number rose to 637 in 2022. At the same time, gun shootings rose by 1,000% across the country. In Currently, 3D printers allow people to make, buy, sell and use untraceable weapons without any background checks. Rajkumar said in a memo attached to the 2023 bill. “This bill would require a background check so 3D printed firearms don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

New York State bills can receive comments from the public, which are public on the legislature’s website. “I strongly oppose proposed legislation requiring background checks to purchase 3D printers,” one commenter said. “While I understand the intent to address concerns about misuse of 3D printing technology, this action raises important issues of abuse, effectiveness, and unintended consequences.”

State laws regulating 3D printed firearms are all over the place. In California Treats them like regular firearms. This means that a person needs to be legally allowed to own a gun, that the gun must be “legal” and must have a serial number. There are similar laws in Washington, Oregon and Nevada, and outright bans in other states.

To date, there is no federal law for 3D printed weapons. The Biden White House issued an executive order aimed at regulating people who sell 3D printed weapon assembly kits. But, as in California, Biden’s executive order is an attempt to regulate 3D-printed weapons as if they were regular weapons.

The truth is, anyone who 3D-prints a gun in their home probably wasn’t interested in putting their home gun in federal databases in the first place.