The U.S. Senate gave final approval on Monday to a bill to renew a ban against firearms that can pass undetected through metal detectors, but rejected calls to update the law in response to the advent of plastic guns made with 3-D printers.

On a voice vote, the Democratic-led Senate passed the bill, which would extend for 10 years the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988.

The Republican-led House of Representatives approved the bill last week and, like the Senate, refused to pass tougher provisions opposed by the powerful gun industry.

President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law before the ban was to expire at midnight.

And so the fear-based political theater continues.

My favorite comment of the whole debate was from Connecticut’s gun-grabbing Senator Chris Murphy, who noted that, “this isn’t science fiction anymore,” tacitly admitting that the UFA has largely been political theater since it was originally passed in 1988, up until Cody Wilson printed his first working/exploding Liberator in May.

3D printed plastic printed guns like Wilson’s  were not covered by the extension of the act, which will be something citizen control advocates will obsess over out of their own fears of being assassinated apparently created by watching to an old Clint Eastwood movie. It’s a silly fear, frankly, but silly fears are what drive the citizen control debate.