Dem to propose bill banning '3-D printing' of high-capacity ammo clips

Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said Thursday he would introduce legislation that prohibits people from using 3-D printers at home to produce plastic, high-capacity ammunition magazines.

Israel said his bill is a response to a video from Defense Distributed, which he said is a group of "homemade gun enthusiasts." The video shows someone using a clip that was purportedly made at home using a 3-D printer, although it does not show the clip being printed.

"How's that national conversation going," the man in the video says before firing several shots with an assault rifle. "Welcome to the age of the printed magazine," he says.

The 3-D printers are a new technology that allows people to download instructions for printing layers of plastic that can be assembled into physical objects, including magazine clips.

Israel said he would include language banning the use of 3-D printed magazines in a bill that would renew the Undetectable Firearms Act. That law makes it a crime to distribute, sell or own guns that are not picked up by metal detectors.

Israel said that law expires this year, and needs to be updated and extended.

"Background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print high-capacity magazines at home," he said Thursday. "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 keep homemade high-capacity magazines from proliferating with a Google search."

At the video's conclusion, the man makes a remark about Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has offered legislation to renew an assault weapons ban and to impose a ban on high-capacity magazines. "It tastes like Dianne Feinstein's lunch," the man says. 

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