Committee on Public Safety
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6(a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHERAS, the Second Amendment provides the fundamental right of American citizens to keep and bear firearms, but the ability to download and print a deadly plastic gun poses a unique threat to public safety; and
WHEREAS, Cody Wilson (Wilson), the founder of Defense Distributed, a Texas company, first published downloadable designs for a three-dimensional printed firearm in 2013, introducing the firearm threat in a new form; and
WHEREAS, within a few months, there were numerous videos online demonstrating working guns made from three-dimensional printers, some capable of firing dozens of bullets; and
WHEREAS, hundreds of videos of people shooting different types of untraceable plastic guns are now available on the internet; and
WHEREAS, the first downloadable design firearm Wilson offered was a pistol called the "Liberator" that costs $9.30 and is made out of ABS plastic, the same material used to make Lego bricks, and a nail used as a firing pin to launch the bullet; and
WHEREAS, Wilson also offered an AR-15 rifle called the "Ghost Gunner," made from plastic and aluminum, and
WHEREAS, AR-15 rifles have been used in several recent United States mass shootings; and
WHEREAS, Wilson's design was downloaded about 100,000 times before the State Department ordered him to cease sales, stating that it violated federal export laws when the blueprints were downloaded by people outside of the United States; and
WHEREAS, after years of fighting Wilson, the State Department suddenly agreed to settle its case and allow him to resume posting the blueprints; an...
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