[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18302-18305]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            EXTENDING THE UNDETECTABLE FIREARMS ACT OF 1988

  Mr. NELSON. Senator Schumer and I are here for another reason. We 
don't want to make a mistake. For some number of years, there has been 
on the books a law which will expire at midnight tonight that has 
protected us from weapons going through detectors that are not made of 
metal which the detectors can't detect. Of course, not only are we 
talking about government buildings and other secure facilities, but 
clearly we are talking about airports as well.
  So now computer technology has advanced to the point, ever since we 
had that old law, that a person can actually, with a computer, through 
3D processing, laying down plastic layer upon plastic layer, create a 
weapon that cannot be detected with most of the detectors we have 
today. That old law needs to be updated, but apparently there are those 
who do not want it updated. So, as a last gasp, we are appealing to the 
Senate, before the stroke of midnight tonight when this law will be 
erased, to continue the old law that will at least go after the 
plastic-type weapons, plastic guns, of which their manufacture--it is 
required that they have some part of metal in them in order to detect 
them. But the technology has surpassed that. They can now manufacture 
them with 3D printing to have no metal parts and they will still shoot 
a bullet. That is what we are going to have to update. So with the 
simple click of a mouse, things are changed and it makes it practically 
invisible to metal detectors and other screening devices.
  I thank the senior Senator from New York, who has taken the lead on 
this issue. He has recognized this problem. He has asked me to join 
him.
  The House of Representatives last week passed similar legislation to 
not do what we ought to do to update the law but to continue the 
current ban on such weapons for another 10 years. They obviously pose a 
very serious threat to our national security as well as to Americans' 
personal security, and we need to do everything we can to keep them out 
of the hands of people who want to do harm to others.
  Mr. President, I am looking forward to the comments of the senior 
Senator from New York.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I would like to wait for Senator 
Grassley--here he is. I will speak for a minute and then propound my 
unanimous consent request, and then Senator Grassley will propound his 
request, I presume.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I wish to thank my good colleague from 
Florida who has been a great partner on this very important issue. He 
outlined it well. I will just speak for a few minutes on this subject.
  The bottom line is very simple. There are bad people who always want 
to evade the law, and there are good people--most Americans, the vast 
majority--who want to protect the law. Our job is to prevent the bad 
people without hurting the good people. We will have different views on 
the issue of gun control as to where to draw that line, but it seems to 
me on this issue there should be no dispute whatsoever. As the Senator 
from Florida outlined, there is new technology that for the first time 
will allow guns to be made that function without metal. That presents a 
serious danger--some might even say a mortal danger--to our safety 
because if a person can pass a gun through a metal detector with the 
very purpose to stop guns from getting into delicate areas, such as 
airports, sports stadiums, courts, and schools, it can create real 
havoc. To allow plastic guns that can fire one bullet, two bullets, 
three bullets, four bullets into these places creates real danger for 
our citizenry.
  There were some wise people back in 1988, even before these guns 
could be developed, who passed a law that said we should not allow them 
to exist. It was a good law. The trouble is, as my colleague from 
Florida has outlined, technology has advanced, so not only are these 
guns real, but they can be made so that the law that exists and expires 
tonight can be evaded.

[[Page 18303]]

  If one were to add an easily removable piece of metal to one of these 
plastic guns, walk with it, with that metal on it--legal under present 
law--take it off as a person puts the gun through a metal detector, so 
it is all plastic, and then quietly insert it back on the gun after it 
goes through a metal detector, one would have a gun on both sides of 
the metal detector that is legal under present law, the law that 
expires tonight, and a person can then evade the very purpose that we 
have metal detectors at our airports, sports stadiums, and other 
places--to prevent guns from being smuggled in.
  So what we would ideally like to do, the Senator from Florida and I, 
is say that those types of guns, as well as guns that are purely 
plastic, should be illegal and that a gun must have some metal in it 
that can't be removed easily--and those guns would be legal, but those 
guns wouldn't be smuggled through metal detectors.
  Now, years ago, it seemed as though this was all fiction. I remember 
that in the movie ``In the Line of Fire,'' John Malkovich, seeking to 
kill the President, takes months to make a gun out of plastic. It was 
science fiction. But in the last few years that science fiction has 
become a reality. Three-D printers--a technology overall that is 
miraculous--can create a trachea for a baby so the baby can live. 
Three-D printers can create car parts at a much cheaper price. But they 
can also create plastic guns. Technology allows them to be sold for 
$1,000 or a little more than $1,000, so just about anyone can get one, 
certainly a terrorist intent on doing evil. So the ban takes on new 
urgency.
  Today there is good news and bad news. The good news is that the 
House of Representatives has passed a bill to extend that ban for 10 
years. The bad news is that the dangerous loophole I mentioned is still 
in the bill. Under existing law--the law that expires tonight--one can 
make one of these undetectable guns perfectly legal by simply attaching 
a metal handle at the last moment when you want to slip it somewhere 
where it could be very dangerous and then remove the metal part and 
make the gun invisible to the metal detector. All the Senator from 
Florida and I wish to do is simply require that the metal piece be 
permanently affixed to the gun. Any gun without a permanent metal piece 
would be illegal--a simple fix that will save lots of lives. 
Unfortunately, the House bill that passed keeps the present loophole in 
the law.
  I haven't heard any argument against our amendment other than: Nose 
in the camel's tent; this will allow people to do other bad things. But 
I haven't heard one specific argument against our closing the loophole 
in the law the way we want to do it. Unfortunately, from what I am 
told, there will be an objection to that and we will just pass a 10-
year extension. That is better than nothing, but it doesn't get us 
across the finish line. The House bill is a step in the right 
direction, certainly better than letting the law expire, but it still 
has a glaring loophole in it.
  So I hope we can pass a bill that not only extends the current ban 
but closes the loophole that allows for the manufacture of guns that 
can evade detection by simply removing a piece of metal. It is a simple 
fix to the existing statute that won't interrupt any lawful commerce in 
arms. One can be the most fervent believer in the Second Amendment, and 
the amendment we propose does not interfere with anyone's right to have 
a gun--none. All we do is keep the legislative language up to speed 
with technological developments.
  In conclusion, a few years ago these undetectable plastic guns were 
science fiction. Now they are frighteningly real. That is why we have 
to extend the ban and hopefully close the loophole.
  I again thank my colleague Senator Nelson, as well as my colleague in 
the House, Congressman Israel, and so many others who have joined us in 
this, including Senator Murphy, Senator Whitehouse, and Senator Schatz, 
who have been partners in trying to get this done.
  Now I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of H.R. 3626, which is at the desk; that the Nelson-
Schumer, et al. amendment, which is also at the desk, be agreed to; the 
bill, as amended, be read three times and passed; and that the motions 
to reconsider be made and laid upon the table with no intervening 
action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is this objection?
  Mr. GRASSLEY. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3626, which was received 
from the House. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third 
time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon 
the table, with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is this objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 3626) was read the third time and passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I don't think I find fault with anything 
Senator Schumer said, except as a matter of timing and when to consider 
those things. Before making any changes to current law, Congress needs 
to gain an understanding of printed gun manufacturing technology and 
its relation to permanent metal parts. There are other technical issues 
that should be resolved before any legislation passes that reflects 
scientific and manufacturing process realities.
  Today is the day the current plastic gun ban expires. The House had 
already passed a 10-year extension on a bipartisan vote. The only way 
to be sure the current ban remains on the books is to pass the House 
bill, which the Senate just did. Since the Democrats wish to extend 
current law, there are no current circumstances that demanded immediate 
changes to the law.
  Every previous extension of the bill has occurred on a bipartisan 
basis and has lasted for at least 5 years so that Congress does not 
need to constantly revisit it. Before Thanksgiving, my colleague, the 
Senator from New York, offered only a 1-year extension. Ten years is 
much better, and the 1-year extension proposal contained none of the 
substantive provisions the Senator from New York offered with mere 
hours to go before current law expires.
  After the Senate passes the House bill--which we did--Congress then 
has a responsibility to review the issue, hold hearings and obtain 
expert testimony, and consider alternative legislation, including what 
the Senator from New York has suggested. The date of expiration of the 
current ban has been set for many years. If anybody in the Senate is so 
concerned about what they consider to be a loophole in the law, this 
obviously should have been done through hearings and the introduction 
of legislation long ago. We did not even see the language of the 
proposed amendment I objected to until this afternoon. Dropping a bill 
at the eleventh hour without any investigation into the technological 
situation demonstrates that their real objectives were things other 
than just getting an extension.
  Under current law, ``the Attorney General shall ensure that rules and 
regulations adopted pursuant to this paragraph do not impair the 
manufacture of prototype firearms or the development of new 
technology.'' That is a quote from the proposed language that I 
objected to--or that is in present law, but the amendment of the 
Senator from New York strikes that language. It seems to me that the 
Justice Department's regulations should not impair new technology or 
firearm manufacturing, so I don't know why that change should have been 
suggested. I am willing to listen to anybody's arguments to the 
contrary, but that is the way I see it, and I am glad we have taken the 
action we have.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Warren). The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Iowa. 
Obviously, I disagree. I think we should be

[[Page 18304]]

closing this loophole. The language may have been available this 
afternoon, but the concept was out there for weeks and weeks, if not 
longer. But I appreciate his language, and he said he did not object to 
any specifics that I have mentioned here.
  So I look forward. We are going to work hard with the Senator from 
Iowa and others, with whom I disagree on interpretations of the Second 
Amendment in general, to try and come to an agreement here to close a 
loophole that we do not think touches any Second Amendment rights in 
any way at all. If we can work together over the next few months, 
weeks, with hearings and other things, and convince our colleagues that 
we have no intent other than to close this loophole and make sure the 
very law the Senator from Iowa wished to renew is simply made whole, 
given the new technology and the loophole is closed, I look forward to 
that opportunity.
  So I appreciate my colleague's remarks. I wish we had passed this 
amendment. I think it would have made the bill better, stronger, with 
fewer loopholes, but that does not mean we cannot try to do that over 
the next several months. I appreciate the opportunity to do so with my 
friend, the only other ``Charles E.'' in the Senate.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, undetectable plastic guns used to be a 
hypothetical security threat. But now the threat is real.
  3-D printer technology has evolved to the point where a person can 
make a functioning plastic handgun in a matter of hours. These guns are 
lethal, and the technology used to make them is getting better--and 
cheaper--every day.
  It is a serious concern that the plastic in these guns does not set 
off walk-through metal detectors. Many of our buildings are protected 
by these walk-through detectors--courthouses, schools, government 
buildings, sports arenas, concert venues, and more.
  The Undetectable Firearms Act sensibly bans guns that are not 
detectable by these types of metal detectors. It is essential that we 
reauthorize this important law.
  I am glad the House of Representatives passed an extension of this 
law last week. It is important that we not let this law expire.
  But it is also important for Congress to update this law to close a 
potentially dangerous loophole.
  Under the current law, a plastic gun can be legal if the gun owner 
simply clips a piece of metal onto the gun, even if the metal is 
unnecessary to the functionality of the gun. This is a problem because 
the person could simply unclip the metal from the gun to pass through a 
metal detector and then have a fully-functioning gun inside a secure 
location.
  We need to close this loophole and make sure that the functional 
components of guns are detectable by walk-through metal detectors.
  I do not mean to be alarmist about the risk that these plastic guns 
pose, but the risks are real.
  Earlier this year the Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli 
journalist tried to prove this point by bringing a plastic gun to a 
press conference at the Israeli Knesset. He got the gun through 
security, and he filmed himself pointing the gun at Prime Minister 
Netanyahu.
  Fortunately the gun was unloaded and the journalist had no intent to 
harm anyone. But we should take steps to protect against the risks of 
these undetectable guns before a tragedy occurs.
  I will support efforts to extend the current law, but I also urge my 
colleagues to work to close this loophole as quickly as possible.
  Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, I thank Senator Schumer and Senator 
Nelson for their work on the extension of the Undetectable Firearms 
Act.
  Plastic guns printed from 3D printers are one thing: dangerous. They 
have no place in our society. These 3D-printed guns can be used to 
dodge security checks the way Tom Brady dodges opposing defenses. 
Members of the law enforcement community, police men and women, the 
ATF, TSA, FBI, and Secret Service all support this legislation because 
it will make our communities safer. I share their concerns and the 
concerns of so many of my constituents in Massachusetts. I come here 
today to express my support for this bill because the safety of our 
children and communities must be our top priority. No parent, student, 
or traveler should be worried that a plastic 3D gun could be left 
undetected and find its way into an airplane, a train, or a classroom.
  I am pleased we are passing this legislation today, but we must all 
remember that this is the bare minimum. Passing this legislation keeps 
plastic guns from becoming legal, but it does not crack down on the 
torrents of assault weapons filling our streets or ensure that all gun 
sales must include a background check. Neither does it close the 
loophole that allows a plastic gun with a single piece of removable 
metal to evade the ban.
  Even after this bill passes, we must continue to fight for 
commonsense gun safety regulations. In 1994, I worked with my 
colleagues and now-Vice President Biden to enact tougher gun control 
laws that helped remove dangerous Chinese assault weapons from our 
streets. At the time, it seemed like an insurmountable task, but we got 
those weapons of war off our streets. Today we face a challenge that 
seems similarly insurmountable. So I hope that in the coming days and 
weeks the Senate and Congress acts in a bipartisan manner to curb the 
epidemic of gun violence in our country. I will work with any Member of 
this Chamber, on either side of the aisle, to enact comprehensive gun 
control legislation that will keep our neighborhoods, our communities, 
our cities, and our public safe. I look forward to working with my 
colleagues to ensure that we finally put tough gun safety laws on the 
books and get these dangerous weapons off our streets and out of our 
neighborhoods.
  Thank you.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, on December 3, 2013, the House of 
Representatives passed a 10-year reauthorization of the Undetectable 
Firearms Act. This law prohibits firearms that are undetectable by 
widely deployed security screening technologies such as x-ray and metal 
detectors. These are the standard technologies used by law enforcement 
officials to protect the public in State and Federal government 
buildings, courthouses, airports, and a host of other public spaces and 
events and these are the same technologies that protect the public and 
elected officials in the Capitol and congressional office buildings, 
where so many congressional staff and members of the public work and 
participate in the democratic process in an open and accessible 
environment. It is not difficult to appreciate why lethal weapons 
capable of evading such detection cause significant concern for the law 
enforcement community. This law has been the widely supported policy of 
Congress since 1988, when the legislation was signed by President 
Reagan. Ten years ago, Senator Hatch and I came together to reauthorize 
this law in 2003.
  While today's legislation is an important step to reauthorize this 
law, we have more work to do. Law enforcement experts have urged 
Congress to make modest changes necessary to close a loophole that 
allows an individual who makes a firearm using 3D printing technology 
to easily evade the reach of the current law. I support those changes 
in order to better protect the public and update the current law in a 
responsible way.
  Unfortunately, these recommendations have been met by Republican 
objections. As the expiration of this law has crept closer and the 
issue has gained the greater attention of law enforcement officials and 
Members of Congress, I worked in the Senate to find bipartisan support 
for a reauthorization of the law that would include these needed 
updates. I was disappointed that no Republican senator was willing to 
engage in a joint effort to responsibly update the law.
  Today, a functioning, all-plastic, undetectable gun manufactured in 
the home using publicly available technology is not theoretical; it is 
reality.

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Unfortunately, the legislation we pass today fails to provide law 
enforcement officials with the best tools possible to keep pace with 
current and rapidly developing technology. This reauthorization does 
give Congress time to consider necessary updates to the law that law 
enforcement experts believe are critical to close the loopholes that 
have been exposed by emerging technologies.
  I hope that as we go forward, Members of Congress on both sides of 
the aisle will closely examine the improvements we need to make to this 
law and will act responsibly in addressing them. Given this law's long 
history of bipartisan support, we should work together to carefully 
consider the recommendations that law enforcement experts have made to 
make this law better.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I too thank Senator Grassley for 
arranging so we could proceed with the current law. I have found 
Senator Grassley to be someone who will listen, who will deliberate, 
and who will try to do what he thinks is in the best interests of the 
people, in this particular case, the security interests of the people. 
I would ask Senator Grassley to consider, as we meet about this over 
the course of the next several weeks or months, since we both fly in to 
Washington, DC--and if you are on flights like this Senator is, there 
may be a good chance there is an air marshal on that flight because the 
flight is so sensitive coming in to a city where you are only seconds--
if an airplane aborts a landing, you are only within seconds of that 
airplane being near some of the centers of the U.S. Government, such as 
the Capitol, such as the White House, such as the Supreme Court. If a 
person were able to sneak a plastic gun through, then it seems to me 
that poses a much greater threat to the security interests of this 
country and its people.
  If it is, in fact, legal to have a gun where you can remove that 
piece of metal and someone has been able to sneak that through the 
metal detectors at the place of origin of that person's flight, then it 
seems to me we are asking for trouble. In the great tradition of the 
Second Amendment of protecting people and letting them have their 
rights to guns, this is an aberration of that right that we need to 
duly consider and protect against.
  I thank Senator Grassley for coming here and extending the law today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.

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