Saying Congress “doesn’t act in this area,” a state representative from Natick is drafting legislation on Beacon Hill to address 3D-printed firearms, which Attorney General Maura Healey described Monday as “an imminent threat to public safety.”
“We’re drafting a bill right now,” Rep. David Linsky told the News Service. “We’re reviewing the existing laws in Massachusetts and we expect we’ll get something ready for filing in a few days.”
Healey on Monday joined a multi-state lawsuit that her office says is designed to block a settlement and federal rule changes enabling the company Defense Distributed to post files online allowing individuals to make guns using 3D printers.
In a letter, Healey and her counterparts from 20 other states also called on U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to withdraw from the settlement.
“The federal government is trying to allow access to online plans that will allow anyone to anonymously build their own downloadable, untraceable and undetectable gun,” Healey said in a statement. “This is an imminent threat to public safety and violates the law. We have a responsibility to ensure that these files are not made easily available to the public.”
President Donald Trump tweeted about the topic Tuesday morning. “I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” Trump tweeted.
Rep. Linsky said he supports the lawsuit, in which the attorneys general are seeking a nationwide injunction requiring the federal government to refrain from making rule changes that allow 3D-printed weapons to be available online. The complaint against the U.S. Department of State was filed in Washington.
“We’ve got a huge problem here,” Linsky said. “People have already begun downloading the plans for firearms to be made through a 3D printer. We already know what’s going on. And the upcoming release in the federal settlement will only exacerbate this problem.”
“We need to make sure there is a way to trace every firearm no matter how or why or where it’s manufactured,” Linsky said.