3-D printed gun ban bill to be reintroduced by N.Y. Rep. Steve Israel

NEW YORK, April 7 (UPI) -- A bill banning 3-D printed and fully-plastic guns will be reintroduced by Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., in the coming months after years of not gaining traction.

The H.R.1474 - Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act, was first introduced in April of 2013 and the last action taken on the bill occurred late that same month. Israel has attempted to get the bill passed since, but with no success. He plans to reintroduce the bill in the coming months, according to WIRED.

3-D printed weapons have evolved from simple pistols to more complex rifles and revolvers. Israel's firearms act would ban the possession or manufacture of guns that could pass through a metal detector unnoticed and those in which metal components for the weapons could be removed.

"Security checkpoints will do little good if criminals can produce plastic firearms and bring those firearms through metal detectors into secure areas like airports or courthouses," Israel told WIRED. "When I started talking about the issue of completely plastic firearms, I was told the idea of a plastic gun is science-fiction. That science-fiction is now a dangerous reality."

The pro-gun advocate National Rifle Association does not support the bill, stating it would "aggressively fight any expansion of the [Undetectable Firearms Act] or any other proposal that would infringe on our Second Amendment rights."

Gun control group, the Brady Campaign, agrees that 3-D printed guns could present a real problem.

"As technology continues to advance and it becomes possible to make guns in homes and garages across the country, it creates a dangerous loophole for domestic abusers, felons and other criminals to make guns without any background checks and use them to harm others," a spokesperson wrote to WIRED. "Any gun made should not be able to slip through security checkpoints and certainly should not slip into the hands of dangerous people."