The modern-day Luddites at Everytown for Gun Safety cried wolf again in recent days with an alarmist summit held in New York City. Just how irrational was this gathering of anti-gunners?
Proclamations were issued before the gathering that “we’re at the start of a new public safety crisis and there is no time to waste.” Supporters breathlessly proclaimed that “3D-printed firearms are the new frontier in the fight against gun violence.”
Strong stuff, but what brought Everytown to this shaky conclusion?
Technology’s advances are often met with suspicion, and firearms are no exception
Organizers claimed that the group was given exclusive access to criminal data from 20 American cities. Is this supposed to build confidence in the anti-Second Amendment group’s claims?
The simple fact is that homemade firearms have been legal since the Founding Era. The builder must be lawfully able to possess a weapon, it must be detectable, and it cannot be sold for profit.
In other words, this is the domain of private hobbyists, and it has always been.
Anti-gunners are attempting to build momentum to prohibit hobby gun manufacturing
The 3D insanity first went on full display in 2023 when New York state lawmakers proposed regulating access to modern printers. This faction wanted background checks conducted on anyone purchasing these items.
The bill read: “Any retailer of a three-dimensional printer sold in this state which is capable of printing a firearm, or any components of a firearm, is required and authorized to request and receive criminal history information concerning such purchaser from the division of criminal justice services.”
The advanced printers are now ubiquitous among hobbyists, and online retail sites are full of creative ways 3D technology has advanced.
New York’s draconian effort to control printer sales failed, but that was only the start of a round of attempts to suppress the actions of law-abiding citizens.
There was even a push to ban the dissemination of blueprints for these hobby weapons. Not content to smack the Second Amendment around, the Empire State had the gall to target the First.
Controversial Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) targeted free speech by pressuring the printing industry and online platforms to suppress instructional videos and blueprints. This effort thankfully went down in flames, but there was no shortage of follow-up by 2A opponents.
Others called for technology to be embedded in 3D printers to prevent the creation of gun parts or anything resembling them. The privacy concerns are off the charts, but anti-gunners do not care how irrational or invasive their programs are.
There was even a proposal earlier this year by U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) that would immensely affect the personal information of the shooting community. The Gun Hardware Oversight and Shipment Act (GHOST Act) intended to give bureaucrats tracking authority over all gun parts.
These would include triggers, slides, barrels, and a host of standard firearm components.
There are times of incredible technical progress, and firearms have never been better designed and safer to use. The industry pours vast amounts of resources into spreading the message of gun safety and keeping weapons out of the wrong hands.
But Everytown and its anti-gun cronies do not concern themselves with how many times innocent citizens use legal firearms to protect themselves from violent criminals. And they are unmoved by sweeping programs to teach the safe handling and storage of weapons.
Instead, they are enraged by the freedom of law-abiding citizens to produce their own firearms. No government permission slip is involved; just the engineering know-how to continue a hobby that has been enjoyed for centuries.
Everytown is content to ignore First and Second Amendment rights in its quest to eradicate the freedom to keep and bear arms.
If they are willing to go after printers and blueprints, they will have no hesitation about confiscation.
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