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What next, they'll ban transporting 3D printers across state borders and have the cops go around knocking down doors hunting for unlicensed 3D printers? Otherwise people would just buy them interstate.
The proposal is for 3D printers that are capable of printing a firearm, or firearm component. Which is actually really broad. From what I can find, NY law doesn't define "firearm component", but it does define "major firearm component" to include "barrel, slide, cylinder, frame or receiver". And I imagine pretty much any decent 3d printer can print a receiver for a gun designed to be 3d printed...
It would require fingerprinting for purchases of "certain 3D printers". What does that even mean? I guess the existing law defined what "firearm" means in the context of that law, but if I was a retailer selling 3D printers, I would have some serious questions about it.
My 5-year-old entry level 3D printer could probably print parts of a firearm, but those parts would probably not be very durable to a point they would be completely unusable. Would selling that printer be subject to this law? Who the f** knows. I don't think the author of the bill knows either.
Maybe someone could ask. She's Jenifer Rajkumar: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Jenifer-Rajkumar
This bill is listed on her list of sponsored bills: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Jenifer-Rajkumar/sponsor/
Are there any documented cases of people actually committing crimes with a 3D printed firearm?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghost-gun-use-crimes-1000-perce...
Number of 3D-printed ghost guns soaring in New York:
https://abc7ny.com/nyc-ghost-guns-3d-printed-printer/1334500...
3D Printed Gun Arrests Tripled in Less Than Two Years – 3DPrint.com Investigates:
https://3dprint.com/291684/3d-printed-gun-arrests-tripled-in...
What makes a 3D printer different from a lathe or a CNC?
What makes a 3D printer different from a lathe or a CNC?
Yes, you can buy old Bridgeports and Pacemakers on Craigslist, or cheap mini-mills and mini-lathes at Harbor Freight, and run them in your garage, and yes, those would be infinitely more valuable in the making of a firearm. No, this law won't prevent someone clever and determined from building a 3D printer with some aluminum scraps, an Arduino, and a few steppers. Similarly, those ITAR PoA forms don't prevent me from buying some servos and bearings from AliExpress, bolting some steel together, and downloading LinuxCNC to make a 5-axis machine that ITAR would say could be used to enable nuclear proliferation. Many in the industry [1] agree that all these restrictions are ineffective and harmful.
The good news for this law is that while a nation state can probably devote a couple engineers and dismantle some obsolete equipment to build a custom 5-axis mill, a New York gangster is more likely to be deterred by this obstacle. But whether these restrictions are completely ineffective political posturing, an opportunity to add a charge to a separate conviction, or an obstacle in front of would-be criminals that is actually effective at reducing crime, is a social question, and unfortunately answers probably depend more on your political preferences than on anything measurable.
[1] https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/technology-evalu...