From the moment the Trump Administration dropped its case against Defense Distributed, the anti-gunners have been beyond themselves about the idea of “untraceable” guns. Nevermind that the weapons have been around for years now and the crime rate has continued to fall. Clearly, they’re not that big of a problem.

But Maryland doesn’t want to look at facts. It wants to deal with fears and feelings. As a result, it’s considering banning these so-called “untraceable” firearms.

With just weeks until the General Assembly returns to Annapolis on Jan. 9, the new Democratic state House Majority Leader is looking to continue the progress made last session on gun violence prevention by banning 3D and ghost guns in the state.

House Majority Leader Kathleen Dumais, D-Montgomery, said she will be introducing a bill banning the possession of 3D-printed guns — plastic guns capable of shooting live ammunition and made in a 3D printer — and ghost guns — nearly complete and without serial numbers — in Maryland.

Federal law already prohibits the creation of untraceable guns.

Dumais said her bill would provide legislative support to the legal actions already taken by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh.

First, let’s talk about the claim that federal law prohibits the creation of untraceable guns.

You see, it does and it doesn’t.

What it does prohibit is unserialized firearms from being sold, if memory serves. It’s why I added a serial number to an AK-pattern rifle I built from a kit. I figured I might want to sell it someday.

Making the guns, however, is perfectly legal so long as there’s no intent to sell it. If you want to build an AR-15 for personal use with a less than 80 percent complete receiver because you like making things, that’s legal.

And that is what is ultimately on the table here. That’s what Maryland wants to ban.

The thing is, it won’t stop the bad guys.

If they want to create “ghost guns,” then they’ll do it. Even if there were a national ban on unserialized receiver kits, it wouldn’t stop them. They can create receivers through 3D printed files or with a CNC machine. They’ll continue to create whatever guns they want because it’s what they want to do. They don’t care about laws.

I don’t know how many times we have to repeat that, but we keep having to.

The problem with laws like this is they only dissuade the law-abiding. They penalize the men and women who have done nothing wrong while anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell that the bad guys will find ways around it. They’ll keep doing what they want to do, which is arming themselves.

Meanwhile, Maryland has done everything in their power to disarm the law-abiding. Then they wonder just what the hell is going on in Baltimore.

They keep creating a vicious cycle with violence, not understanding that disarmament isn’t the answer. It never was and never will be.

Empower citizens to defend themselves with their firearms and watch the problem take care of itself soon enough. Too bad Maryland isn’t exactly a state that will follow that advice.