A Dallas man was sentenced to eight years in prison after he was found with a partially 3D-printed AR-15 and a list of lawmakers' addresses in July 2017, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the North District of Texas said Wednesday.
Police officers in Grand Prairie arrested Eric Gerard McGinnis in the 2017 incident when they discovered partially 3D-printed gun and a list labeled "9/11/2001 list of American Terrorists," U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox said. The list was not used as evidence, but was presented at sentencing. It included home and office addresses of several federal lawmakers -- Democrat and Republican.
McGinnis was barred at the time from possessing firearms or ammunition because of an August 2015 violent altercation with a live-in girlfriend, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Since he wasn't allowed to have a gun, the U.S. Attorney's Office said McGinnis obtained individual pieces of the weapon and used a 3D printer to create a "lower receiver" -- the gun's firing mechanism.
"I didn't buy a gun, I built the gun," McGinnis said in a recorded jailhouse phone call with a family member. "The upper, I printed a lower, and I built it -- installed the trigger and did all that stuff. I built it."
"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," Nealy Cox said. "This case should send a message to prohibited persons contemplating acquiring guns by any method: this office is committed to keeping guns out of the hands of those who violate protective orders for domestic violence, no matter how the guns are obtained - by theft, purchase, or 3D printing."
Upon analysis of McGinnis' electronic devices, the U.S. Capitol Police suggested McGinnis had an interest in James Hodgkinson, the shooter who injured U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA 1st District) at a GOP Congressional baseball practice in Virginia in 2017.
