edit: title word

  • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    38
    ·
    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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      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

      • mintyfrog@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        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.

        • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          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
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            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
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      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
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        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
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

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

      • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        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
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            edit-2
            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.