Lawmaker seeks to holster 3-D printed firearms

The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman has asked the State Department to suspend removal of export controls currently in place for certain software.

   Rep. Edward Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a letter Friday asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to suspend the State Department’s removal of export controls currently in place for certain software to 3-D print firearms.
   The State Department’s action is based on the June 29 settlement reached between the department, Texas-based 3-D gun printing software developer Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation. Part of the settlement includes the State Department’s use of its Section 126.2 authority under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to temporarily remove the software from the U.S. Munitions List (USML) Category I.
   The removal from ITAR control would allow Defense Distributed customers and Second Amendment Foundation members to use the Internet unhindered to “access, discuss, use, reproduce or otherwise benefit from the technical data” from the company, according to the settlement. 
   The changes, based on the settlement, are expected to take effect Friday.
   Royce, a Republican who represents California in Congress, noted his concerns that removing controls on this software will further the ability of “anyone with a laptop and a 3-D printer” to produce firearms made of plastic, which are “undetectable by most security systems.” 
   “With these stealthy weapons in the hands of terrorists, lone wolf killers or mentally unstable individuals, it will become virtually impossible to protect anyone from gun violence,” he warned. 
   He added, “Insomuch as Sec. 126.2 authority is reserved for use only in the interests of U.S. security and foreign policy, it stretches credulity to believe that release of this information is in the U.S. interest.”
   Royce also said the State Department’s ITAR authority related to the 3-D gun manufacturing software “suggests that the department has found a way to avoid compliance with Section 38(f) of the Arms Export Control Act, which requires advance notification to Congress for any removal from the USML.”