The US Senate gave final approval on Monday to a bill to renew a ban against firearms that can pass undetected through metal detectors, but rejected calls to update the law in response to the advent of plastic guns made with 3D printers.
On a voice vote, the Democratic-led Senate passed the bill, which would extend for 10 years the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988.
The Republican-led House of Representatives approved the bill last week and, like the senate, refused to pass tougher provisions opposed by the powerful gun industry.
US President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law before the ban was to expire at midnight.
Along with many fellow Democrats, Obama would prefer an updated version of the ban to close what are seen as loopholes created by new technologies, such as 3D printing, an aide said.
Senate Democrats led by Charles Schumer failed on Monday to win quick approval of a measure to require all firearms to include at least 3.7 ounces (105g) of non-removable metal essential for its operation.
Without the provision, backers say, the metal could be taken off the gun, permitting a functional weapon to pass undetected through metal detectors and X-ray machines and carried into supposedly secure areas.
Senate Republicans refused to provide the unanimous consent needed to approve the change on a legislative fast-track.
Democrats then joined Republicans in voting to extend the ban, but promised to keep pushing for tougher provisions. A key Republican said he was ready to listen.
The ban was first signed into law in 1988 by then-US president Ronald Reagan shortly after the introduction of the Austrian-made Glock firearm. Made largely of synthetic material, the Glock created a fear of undetectable weapons.
That increased with the proliferation of the underground production of plastic guns with 3D printers.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy called for an update of the law, saying: “This isn’t science fiction anymore... Someone can make a gun in their basement.”
The gun industry favored extension of the ban, but opposed expanding it, saying the proposed modernization of the law would violate the right to bear arms and unnecessarily interfere with the legal production of firearms.
The Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy group, called it “crucial” to extend the ban, but denounced the measure passed by congress as “deeply flawed.”
“It does nothing to address new technologies like 3D printing that could allow terrorists and other dangerous people to easily make fully functional, undetectable guns,” said Winnie Stachelberg, an executive vice president at the center.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion