B003 Regulating Ghost Guns and 3D Printed Guns

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,

That the parts and kits used to build ghost guns—unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be built by anyone using unfinished frames or receivers—should be banned, and until that is possible, should be subject to full regulation as firearms and subject to all federal regulations that apply to firearms, including all oversight related to the provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act; and be it further

Resolved, that the manufacture of firearms or firearms parts using 3D printers poses a singularly dangerous threat and should be banned, and until that is possible, should be subject to full regulation as firearms and subject to all federal regulations that apply to firearms, including all oversight related to the provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act; and be it further

Resolved, That the Office of Government Relations, members of the Episcopal Public Policy Network and individual Episcopalians be encouraged to advocate for state and federal legislation that would ban and/or subject the parts and kits used to build homemade weapons to the same oversight and regulation that exists for firearms.

 

Explanation

The Brady Campaign explains that ghost guns are unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home. They are often sold through "ghost gun kits," which include all of the parts and often the equipment necessary to build these weapons at home. These kits are widely available and can be purchased by anyone, including prohibited purchasers, domestic abusers, and gun traffickers — without a background check. As these kits and guns are sold at gun shows and online every day throughout the country, they undermine all of the life-saving policies that state legislatures have fought so hard to put in place.

In short, ghost guns are:

  • Designed to avoid all gun laws
  • Untraceable and unserialized
  • Available to buy without a background check.

3D printed guns are a type of ghost gun that pose a singularly dangerous threat because they are “effectively invisible to law enforcement agencies.” (www.thetrace.org/2021/02/3d-printer-ghost-gun-legal-liberator-deterrence-dispensed/).