OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Extending the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 9, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Guns

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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.

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