Dear Conservative,

In the past year, we have been forced to fight for our Second Amendment rights more than ever in our history. Because of you, we have been able to overwhelm Congress with literally thousands of faxes urging them to honor their oath and defend the Bill of Rights. Whenever success seemed certain for the gun grabbers, your activism has convinced Congress that the constitution isn’t negotiable!

Unfortunately, we are once again confronted with a gun control push that could systematically destroy the second amendment… and I don’t use those words lightly!

It is easy to look at the gun control movement and chalk it up as a hoplophobia – the fear of weapons. Yet that would be a mistake. More accurately, I’d describe it as a fear of new firearm technology. Gun grabbers repeatedly tell us that they have nothing against us owning muskets, arguing that the Second Amendment should only apply to technologies available at the nation’s founding… But these gun control advocates completely disregard the fact that no other constitutional right has technological constraints. The first amendment applies just as much to internet communication as it does to those standing on a soap box!

Recently, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has made it his mission to renew the ban on so-called “undetectable firearms,” meaning firearms made completely out of plastic. 3D Printers work similar to regular inkjet computer printers. You give it a blueprint, and it prints it out. However instead of using ink to print a two-dimensional design, 3D printers use plastic and metal filaments to construct three-dimensional objects. This technology can revolutionize the way we build things: from creating a user-specific plastic heart valve to using a 3D printer to make pizza on the International Space Station (really… that exists). However when it comes to making plastic firearms using 3D printing, Democrats lie when they claim that the technology will increase criminals’ access to firearms and compromise areas like TSA checkpoints that require a metal signature to detect a firearm. Yet while the Democrats are having us focus on national security, they are sneaking provisions into the law that would outlaw all plastic components of firearms!

Tell Congress NOT to Use Plastic Guns as an Excuse to Strip Away Our Rights!

First of all, this is a textbook example of a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. It has never been easier to buy an illegal gun on the street. This isn’t due to a lack of gun control, but rather because of a lack of morality in our society. Firearm theft is at an all-time high and felons continue to use straw purchasers to skirt the law and illegally acquire guns. Banning 3D printed weapons will do absolutely NOTHING to stop felons from gaining access to firearms and NO ONE will pay hundreds of dollars to make a plastic gun when they can buy a metal one the street for pennies on the dollar! Even if it was cost-effective to ‘print’ a firearm as opposed to buying one on the street, how will this law (essentially words on a piece of paper) stop criminals from 3D printing firearms anyway? By definition, criminals have no respect for the rule of law. But the Democrats aren’t interested in stopping crime… they just want to control YOU!

Secondly, it is already incredibly easy to sneak firearms past security checkpoints and metal detectors. Every year, people are caught accidentally or intentionally trying to bring a firearm through an airport security checkpoint. But there are also cases where firearms and dangerous weapons go unnoticed by TSA staff. If the problem is firearms getting through checkpoints, common sense would suggest that the reforms should focus on the checkpoints themselves! Additionally, detectors and x-ray machines have already advanced to the point where there is really no such thing as an ‘undetectable firearm!’

Thirdly, it is already possible to construct a firearm from ingredients legally available within the secure zone of the airport. A Youtube account named Terminal Cornucopia shows just how easy it is to build weapons from products sold after security checkpoints. That’s right: with everyday items sold at an airport convenience shop, you can easily build a lethal bomb, crossbow, and even a reloadable break-action shotgun! Unfortunately, no amount of security will ever be able stop ingenuity. That is a fact that we must live with every day…

The Democrats want to prohibit 3D printed firearms because they say it will allow felons and terrorists to illegally gain access to firearms. If that is the case, the Federal government should make it illegal for prohibited persons to build their own firearms with the intent of committing a crime. Instead, they are trying to ban this technology for all of society, including law abiding citizens and those who are licensed to manufacture firearms for resale. This isn’t about stopping criminals and terrorists. The Democrats want to turn law-abiding citizens into felons!

FAX Congress NOW.

Under the proposed extension of the “Undetectable Firearms Act,” the Democrats are trying to outlaw the “manufacture and possession of any receiver for a rifle or handgun, or of any ammunition magazine, that is made of polymer.” In layman’s terms, the Democrats are trying to ban a sizeable percentage of magazines and firearms, already legally sold in America, simply because of their composition.

How many criminals do you think have engineering degrees and can build a safe, functioning firearm? This isn’t an attempt to make our communities safer. No, the Democrats are trying to ban affordable and accessible firearms and firearm parts!

The Second Amendment affords us the right to keep and bear arms. There is nothing within the Bill of Rights that requires us to purchase these arms, which is why in most states it is completely legal to build your own firearm for personal use. The majority of the Federal government’s power to regulate firearms ownership comes from the Interstate Commerce Clause. The government can regulate what arms can be mass produced and which can be bought and sold across state lines, but the government does not have the constitutional authority to regulate your actions alone.

This terrifies the Democrats and RINOs! 3D printing technologies upend the very foundation of federal gun control policies because they take away the government’s ability to regulate firearm commerce. If we have a right to keep and bear arms, why should we be required to purchase a firearm through their system? Shouldn’t Americans have the right to build their own firearm for their own personal use?

It is easy to look at this issue and, at first glance, not see anything wrong with banning 3D printed firearms. Perhaps you agree with the Democrats and don’t think that Americans need 3D printed guns… but it’s the Bill of Rights, not the Bill of Needs. The constitution doesn’t protect our rights only when we need them!

The only way to stop Congress from infringing on our God given, Second Amendment rights is to remind them that their actions have electoral consequences!

There is absolutely nothing common sense about extending the ‘Undetectable Firearms Act’ in this manner. While firearms technologies have advanced over the last few decades, so too have the X-Ray technologies protecting our vulnerable landmarks. The material a firearm is made of will have a negligible impact on its detectability!

We can’t allow the Democrats to frame the debate around national security when their sole desire is to infringe on our rights! This isn’t about limiting criminals’ access to weapons. This is about limiting YOUR access to affordable and well-designed firearms. And we must remind Congress that the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, is non-negotiable!

Tell Congress NOT to Use Plastic Guns as an Excuse to Strip Away Our Rights!

Sincerely,

Joe Otto


Conservative Daily