Unless I am missing something obvious, the simplest solution is to require both uppers and lowers to be stamped. As far as I can tell, this would only be a burden to manufacturers unless there are some weird interactions with the idiotic “stamped part is gun” definition of a firearm.
Comment on California’s New Bill Requires DOJ-Approved 3D Printers That Report on Themselves
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago“3d printing guns” isn’t about the pressure holding parts, it’s about the traceable serial number holding parts. On most firearms the “lower assembly” or “receiver” (frame, trigger group, feeding assy) is legally considered the firearm and is what bears the serial. Most of those can be printed and use off the shelf hardware to work, albeit with a much lower lifespan.
Pressure containing wear parts that are meant to be exchanged (barrel and breech bolt) typically do not carry serials and are thus not normally traceable. If you eliminate the serialized, traceable part of the firearm, then any collection of parts could be used.
That said, eliminating an entire hobby and industry because gun serialization laws haven’t been updated in a hundred years is probably not the right way to do it.
Attacker94@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 hours ago
That doesn’t make much sense as a law against printers, since it’s far easier and just as illegal to grind off the serial numbers on a gun.
RedMari@reddthat.com 4 hours ago
Is printing a lower less illegal than removing the serial number? Must be, otherwise what’s the point other than cost?
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
Yes. In most of the US removing q serial is explicitly illegal, while manufacturing a firearm for personal use (sans serial) is completely legal.
tomalley8342@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Serialized parts have their purchases recorded and restricted, other parts are (usually) unrestricted.
RedMari@reddthat.com 4 hours ago
How would they connect a serialized part to a purchase if the serial number is completely gone? I guess 3d printing would also allow those who are unable to legally buy the parts to get them too.
tomalley8342@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
They can’t definitively pin a particular purchase to a particular serial-defiled firearm, but the fact that the government knows that you purchased a firearm on such and such date is probably enough of a concern for a lot of people. It’s a lot easier to gather a stockpile of parts without drawing much attention.
ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
If there’s a record of you purchasing X gun, and they find you have that same model with the serial filed off, 99% chance you filed that serial off your gun.
empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
Because to get the serialized part, you still have to be approved for the purchase through background checks, which will go live on the state police database, and then the police can check that database to see recently acquired firearms if something happens. Chances are the list of a specific type of firearm with the serial ground off is going to be pretty short.
And yes, the being able to obtain it with no background checks at all is the other big key.