Congress renews undetectable gun ban just in time
Congress' easy renewal of an expiring ban on undetectable plastic guns belies the larger reality that major new firearms restrictions have little chance of enactment soon.
Lawmakers took an easy step Monday when the Democratic-run Senate unanimously gave final congressional approval to a bill adding another decade to the prohibition against guns that can slip by airport metal detectors and X-ray machines.
The National Rifle Association did not oppose the extension. But backed by the NRA, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to strengthen the law to fend off a fresh wave of undetectable guns produced by rapidly improving 3-D printers, which can make plastic firearms.
Saturday is the first anniversary of the massacre of children and educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
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