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Earlier this year, Cody Wilson, the 25-year-old founder Defense Distributed, a Texas-based group that promotes the use of 3-D printed guns, fired a .380 caliber bullet from a plastic gun called the "Liberator." The shot landed at a dusty firing range in central Texas, but was apparently heard in the halls of Congress.

On Monday, the U.S. Senate addressed those concerns by voting to extend the Undetectable Firearms Act for another 10 years, mirroring similar action last week by the House. The legislation, expected to be signed by President Obama, continues the ban on the sale or possession of firearms that aren't detectable by X-ray machines or metal detectors, a category that could include 3-D printed guns.

“In 1988, when we passed the Undetectable Firearms Act, the notion of a 3-D printed plastic firearm slipped through metal detectors, onto our planes in secure environments was a matter of science fiction,” Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said on the House floor. “The problem is that today it is a reality.”The law, as extended, requires 3-D guns to have a metal strip that would make them visible to metal detectors. Some Democratic senators wanted stricter controls, including a requirement that 3-D printed guns have permanent metal components.

3D printing with metal: The final frontier of additive manufacturingBy John Hewitt on December 27, 2012 at 9:21 amCommentShare This article The holidays are a great time to sit back, relax, and watch the world happen around you. Few areas of technology have seen as much development in one year as that of 3D printing. Undoubtedly, the most dramatic and challenging has been printing with metal. For your enjoyment, we have assembled a few incredible videos that showcase the power and flexibility of 3D printing with metal — to not be amazed is to be numb to the technology of our day.