Liberal Lawmakers Propose Draconian New Bill to Regulate, Restrict Purchase of 3-D Printers
Leave it to New York to come up with a new plan for governmental overreach.
A bill introduced in October and currently in the committee stage in the New York State Assembly would require “criminal history background checks for the purchase of three-dimensional printers capable of creating firearms.”
Sponsored by Democratic Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, the bill is rooted in growing fears about the inability to track unlicensed “ghost guns” created by 3-D printers.
According to Rajkumar’s memorandum on her proposal, 3-D printers “allow people to buy, make, and sell untraceable guns without any background checks.” The new legislation will ensure that these phantom firearms won’t “get in the wrong hands,” she said.
However, 3-D printer owners who use them to create firearms are in the “extreme minority,” according to Ammoland.
While the bill is still far from becoming law, the fact that a New York state lawmaker even proposed this measure with a straight face is ludicrous.
Well, ludicrous, but not unexpected.
Liberal politicians have a long history of governmental overreach, especially in New York.
In 2013, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted a deeply unpopular ban on large sodas that was eventually reversed by the New York Court of Appeals, stating the Board of Health had “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority,” according to The New York Times.
In 2020, along with its draconian COVID-19 restrictions, New York City banned plastic bags, and New York is still in the throes of intense debates regarding its proposed ban on stun guns.
Banning something, however, doesn’t necessarily make it go away. Banning plastic bags won’t magically save the environment, banning large sodas won’t magically cure obesity, and banning all firearms won’t magically cure the crime plaguing the largest city in the United States.
But the purpose of these bans has never been about curing our societal ills.
Whether our enlightened lawmakers admit it or not, these efforts have always been about exerting control.
Anyone who wants to kill will find a way regardless of the red tape in his way. For instance, the man who killed former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in “gun-free” Japan created a weapon with materials easily obtainable at an average hardware store.
Political violence is rare in Japan, a country with strict gun regulations. The gun used in the shooting of Shinzo Abe appeared to be a home-made firearm https://t.co/7yj5STgXit pic.twitter.com/PrxnqviU7G
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) July 8, 2022
If someone is deranged enough to go on a killing spree, no legislation against specific kinds of weapons will hinder him.
Instead, this ban would only make life more difficult for ordinary people who just want a 3-D printer to easily replace common household objects, bring unique designs to life or play around with for their amusement and enrichment.
Imagine having to undergo a criminal background check to buy a set of chef knives or a baseball bat simply because some people have used those knives or a bat to kill or maim someone. If this bill passes, ordinary New Yorkers will face the same treatment for wanting to 3-D print a new fidget spinner.
As is all too common in the long history of liberals enacting sweeping plans for their imagined utopias, those in favor of the bill have overlooked or obscured its consequences.
Instead of deterring crime, they want to treat ordinary people like criminals while the criminals roam the streets unmolested.
Which, in liberal cities, is a depressing pattern we’ve seen far too many times before.
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