Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 3, 2018 04:12 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative P. Michael Sturla and Rep. Stephen McCarter |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Prohibiting Undetectable Firearms |
| In the near future, we will be introducing legislation that would ban the manufacturing, sale and possession of undetectable firearms, such as 3D printed firearms. As you are probably aware, 3D printed firearms are becoming more accessible in the U.S. and, unlike traditional firearms, are completely undetectable by traditional security measures. In addition to being undetectable, they are being printed without serial numbers, making them untraceable by law enforcement. Due to a recent federal settlement, blueprints have been made available online, granting anyone with access to 3-D printer explicit instructions to print their own firearm. Under current federal law, the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988, these types of devices should be illegal. However, it is unclear if President Trump’s Justice Department will be willing to defend its citizens against 3D-printed weapons. As such, the General Assembly needs to take action to protect Pennsylvanians in case our federal government won’t. Our legislation is modeled after the U.S. Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 and includes modernization language that was recently proposed in two federal bills, H.R. 2033 of 2017 and S.533 of 2017. By codifying this federal law into Pennsylvania statute, we are giving our Commonwealth’s law enforcement officials the tools they need to protect our residents from untraceable and undetectable firearms. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2745