NY Congressman Introducing Ban On 3D-Printed High Capacity Gun Magazines

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Reacting to a viral video of a 3D-printed high-capacity magazine being successfully fired in a semiautomatic rifle, posted online last weekend by the “Wiki Weapon” group Defense Distributed, which aims to democratize firearms manufacturing through 3D printing, New York Democratic Rep. Steve Israel on Wednesday announced he would be introducing legislation to renew a ban on firearms and magazines that can’t be picked up by standard metal detectors. The current ban on plastic firearms expires this year. As Israel said in a statement posted to his website

“Background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print high-capacity magazines at home. 3-D printing is a new technology that shows great promise, but also requires new guidelines. Law enforcement officials should have the power to stop high-capacity magazines from proliferating with a Google search.”

Defense Distributed responded to Israel with the following blog post on its Tumblr:

Good fucking luck.

Watch video below of Defense Distributed’s successful test fire of a 3D printed 30-round, high-capacity magazine for the AR semiautomatic rifle: 

Defense Distributed previously made headlines for its quest to print and assemble a full working pistol, a quest that was hampered in October 2012 when 3D-printing company Stratasys confiscated the printer that Defense Distributed was using for that purpose. 

(H/T: Forbes, Julian Sanchez

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