New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione today issued a warning on the potential for 3D printed guns to be used in serious crimes in the state.
The NSW Police revealed that the force has created and tested two 3D-printed firearms. The police used the Liberator pistol blueprints produced by US-firm Defense Distributed. The original plans for the gun were downloaded more than 100,000 times before the company pulled them from its site under pressure from the US State Department.
Police believe that despite this, the files are still circulating.
The commissioner said that a Liberator pistol had experienced a catastrophic misfire during testing. The failure would have been capable of seriously injuring the person using the firearm, the police chief said.
One of the motivations for holding today's press conference was to warn of danger to the user if someone attempts to print, assemble and fire a Liberator out of curiosity.
As with other firearms, possession of a Liberator is prohibited unless the owner has an appropriate licence. It's an "offence to make one, possess one, use one," Scipione said.
"Not only are they illegal, they are enormously dangerous," Scipione said.
The Commissioner went on to say that they had managed to get one of these guns to work properly and they would indeed prove lethal if fired at a human being, which meant that the gun poses a danger to both the one using the weapons but also anybody at whom the weapon is pointed.
They are also completely untraceable, impervious to metal detectors. and have changed the debate about guns in a fundamental and frightening manner.
Despite the dangers of the weapon disintegrating when used it will no doubt be downloaded, printed, and assembled thousands of times in the nest year or so,
This version of the gun does not appear to have much use as a method for self defense as it only holds and fires one bullet at a time. However its viability as a weapon for use in assassinations is chilling.
Personally I think it is only a matter of time before we see the first attempt to take out a political leader or high ranking official with one of these guns. My only hope is that it fails for them as spectacularly as it did for the South Wales police department.
You say that like it's a bad thing. I know, bad attitude on my part, but that's how I feel about it. I'd rather they blow themselves up than hurt someone else.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I see blackened, pock-marked faces filled with shrapnel, and bloodied, now-useless and fragmented, hands – of the shooters, that is. Hmmmm, with the righties' hatred of Obamacare, combined with the sequester, wonder who might be payin' fer those medical bills?
DeleteAnything to prevent more Darwin Award candidates, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI knew that this was a very great possibility, these plastic guns blowing up - after all that's why guns aren't made of plastic!! And I do believe that they do have one piece made out of titanium, which would make it impossible to get past a metal detector.
ReplyDeleteYes, this technology has great concerns for its use. But it also has some amazing uses such as - print yourself out a new heart? The technology is right around the corner.
Is it capable of printing out a new brain? If so, maybe $carah would be interested, also Bristles, Willow, Toad and Piper. But wait, Chuckles Sr. would have to be around to load it for her.
Deletethe only metal piece was firing pin. It is small enough to get through all metal detectors.
DeleteDon't the bullets have to get through metal detectors too?
DeleteJust wondering just HOW the gun had the catastrophic failure - w/o hurting anyone...
ReplyDeleteOTOH,the more failures, the better for the Darwin awards...
Tie a 20 ft string to trigger. No need to hand fire it.
DeleteThe gun manufacturers' lobby cannot be happy about free DIY guns....as opposed to having to pay them for one.
ReplyDelete~Canuck~
Hey Gryphen, It is New South Wales, a state of Australia.
ReplyDelete