Eric Gerard McGinnis, Unlawful Possession of Firearm, Texas 2017

A Dallas man has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for possessing a partially 3D-printed AR-15 rifle and a list of lawmakers' addresses, despite a court order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm.

Eric Gerard McGinnis, 39, was found guilty of possessing an unregistered short barrel rifle and unlawfully possessing ammunition while subject to an active protective order, as per the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Erin Nealy Cox.

The case began in August 2015, when a county judge enacted a protective order against McGinnis following a violent altercation with his live-in girlfriend. The order barred him from possessing firearms or ammunition for two years.

However, in June 2016, McGinnis attempted to buy a semi-automatic rifle component at a federally licensed gun shop, which was rejected after an NICS background check uncovered the order. Instead, McGinnis obtained a barrel, stock, upper receiver, and grip, and used a 3D printer to create a 'lower receiver,' the gun's firing mechanism, and assembled the parts to construct a short-barrel AR-15 style rifle.

On July 2017, Grand Prairie police officers located McGinnis with the 3D-printed gun in his backpack, along with a list labeled '9/11/2001 list of American Terrorists.' The list included office and home addresses of several federal lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican.

McGinnis admitted to building the gun in a jailhouse phone call, stating, 'I didn't buy a gun, I built the gun. The upper, I printed a lower, and I built it -- installed the trigger and did all that stuff. I built it.'

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, with assistance from the Grand Prairie Police Department and U.S. Capitol Police. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian McKay and Rick Calvert prosecuted the case.

U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox stated, 'When he realized he couldn't legally purchase a firearm, Eric McGinnis circumvented our gun laws by 3D-printing his weapon, eliminating the need for a background check.'

Jeffrey C. Boshek II, Special Agent in Charge of ATF's Dallas Field Division, added, 'Controls to determine if an individual is prohibited from purchasing firearms and ammunition worked. Mr. McGinnis applied evolving technology to bypass those controls to manufacture an untraceable NFA weapon.'

Defendant Name: Eric Gerard McGinnis

Exact Criminal Charges: Possessing an unregistered short barrel rifle and unlawfully possessing ammunition while subject to an active protective order

City and State: Dallas, Texas

Exact Date: July 2017

Sentence or Outcome: 8 years in prison

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/man-carrying-prohibited-3d-printed-gun-found-list-lawmakers-addresses