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Amid fears that 3-D printers could produce plastic weapons that easily evade metal detectors, the House plans to vote Tuesday afternoon on renewing a ban on these and other firearms. The bill is the rare piece of gun legislation that both parties seem capable of agreeing on. It is sponsored by Republican Rep. Howard Coble, of North Carolina, and Democratic Rep. Steve Israel, of New York. The Republican-led House is expected to approve a 10-year extension of the ban, which has been in place for 25 years. There is some partisan division, though, over how far Congress should go in regulating plastic guns. The bill on the floor Tuesday would renew a 1988 measure that bans the manufacture, import or sale of any firearm that can't be picked up by a metal detector. The measure has taken on new urgency as some have figured out how to produce plastic weapons on emerging 3-D printer technology. The bill would not necessarily ban someone from producing such a weapon -- but it would have to include a metal component. Some Democrats, though, want to go further and require the metal components to be a permanent part of the gun. Right now, the metal parts on such weapons can snap on and snap off.
