PRINT GUNS BUST
Fear as police seize 3D plastic weapons
POLICE have seized guns made from 3D printers in Britain for the first time.
Experts at the National Ballistic Intelligence Service have examined two computer-generated plastic weapons.
Neither had been fired and scientists said they were more likely to have killed the gunman than any target. Both were so unstable that they would have exploded in the hand of anybody who pulled the trigger.
But as 3D printing improves, police fear they could become the weapon of choice for criminals as they are not registered, bear no serial numbers and makers will be almost impossible to trace.
Expert Martin Parker said: “Would I consider that
3D-printed plastic guns constitute a very real threat? No, I would not.
“But if you ask me the same question in five years time I may be giving you a different answer.
“Once they start printing with metal it may be a different matter and they may become a greater threat.’’
The first generation of 3D printers could only produce items in plastic but the technology is developing.
Newer machines can combine metal powder with the plastic to create more realistic metal items like guns.
At the moment printers sophisticated enough to make all a gun’s components cost up to £200,000.
But downloadable blueprints to produce guns have been illegally available online for less than £10. The Star Says: Page 6