Posted on 10/25/2013 10:03:40 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Police believe the parts represent the "next generation" of firearms, which can be created by gangsters in the privacy of their own homes and smuggled with ease due to the fact they can avoid X-ray detection.
The gun parts were discovered, along with a 3D printer, when officers from Greater Manchester Police executed a series of warrants in the Bagley area yesterday.
Police found what is suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a working gun.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of making gunpowder and remains in custody for questioning.
The technology works by allowing anyone who has a 3D printer - which can be bought on the high street for about £1,200 - to download designs for guns or components.
The printers themselves squirt molten plastic to produce 3D shapes of whatever design has been downloaded.
The model parts can then be converted to become a genuine firearm capable of firing bullets.
The parts are now being forensically examined by firearms specialists to establish if they could construct a genuine device.
It they are found to be viable components for a gun, it would be the first ever seizure of this kind in the UK, police said.
A 3D printer was seized in the raid [PA]
The raid was part of Challenger, the largest ever multi-agency operation to target organised criminality in Manchester.
Detective Inspector Chris Mossop, of Challenger's Organised Crime Coordination Unit, said: "This is a really significant discovery for Greater Manchester Police.
"If what we have seized is proven to be viable components capable of constructing a genuine firearm, then it demonstrates that organised crime groups are acquiring technology that can be bought on the high street to produce the next generation of weapons.
"In theory, the technology essentially allows offenders to produce their own guns in the privacy of their own home, which they can then supply to the criminal gangs who are causing such misery in our communities.
A part believed to be a magazine for a plastic gun [PA]
"Because they are also plastic and can avoid X-ray detection, it makes them easy to conceal and smuggle."
He added: "These could be the next generation of firearms and a lot more work needs to be done to understand the technology and the scale of the problem.
"If what we have seized today can, as we suspect, be used to make a genuine firearm then today will be an important milestone in the fight against this next generation of homemade weapons.
"I would strongly urge anyone who has information about the whereabouts of a gun in their community to call us."
The phrase “first 3D gun” makes it sound like all guns prior to that were two-dimensional (flat like a sheet of paper).
Police jump the gun after 3D printer raid
Owner of supposed 3D printed ‘gun’ claims they are actually parts of a printer
All this fuss about a little bit of plastic....whilst the muzzies roam about cutting peoples’ heads off.
Fascist Brits trying to subvert people’s basic rights. Too bad. This is the future.
Then the toyshopkeeper whose workshop had been raided issued a tearful denial claiming the items were parts of the printer which he uses to make models.
The 38-year-old man, who wanted to be known only as Andrew, described how 30 officers swarmed over his premises where the printer was kept in full views on his workbench where it was employed to make everything from cake decorations to trinkets.
The pilots are locked up. At most one passenger could be hit before the terrorist would have to reload, and everyone would subdue him. No big threat.
They better not crack down on organised crime groups here. Congress will be out of business.
Polymers cannot be detected by x-rays? Am I reading this right?
How do you get the ammo on the plane?
Most people would find it much easier to just smuggle in the data required to print a gun at their destination, when they need it. For instance, a gang of criminals could use 3D printers to arm themselves just before a robbery, or whatever. They could simply melt the guns afterward.
Polymers can be detected by x-rays however a polymer firearm would not necessarily look like what a security guard would expect a firearm to look like and so could go unnoticed.
Real question is would a polymer firearm really work?
A true practical polymer firearm (one in which all of the parts are polymer) would have to be capable of firing repeatedly; as the article stated they had found a magazine; a practical firearm would need a magazine.
The real issues with the printed firearm are springs, barrels and firing pins. Plastics are not very good materials for these parts. To my knowledge you will not find plastic used for these parts in commercially manufactured firearms.
Barrels are subjected to extreme pressures when a cartridge is fired; any currently available plastic would fail if a barrel manufactured in a 3D printer had a factory loaded cartridge fired in that barrel. It may be possible to hand load a cartridge to a low enough pressure for the barrel to survive firing the cartridge but the heat of gases generated by firing would damage the plastic barrel (melt the plastic) enough that firing a second cartridge would be unsafe.
Firing pins are a problem because of hardness. Any plastic hard enough to fire a primer is too brittle to survive repeated strikes on a primer.
Springs suffer similar issues as firing pins. If the plastic is resilient enough to function as the spring as it is required to be in the firearm application it is too brittle to survive repeated cycle in the firearm.
Current materials available to 3D printing are lacking to make these vital components for a practical firearm. I believe that I read that a single use firearm has been made on a 3D printer; fire a single round and throw it away. But I would not want to fire one.
I believe that most any firearm could be printed on a 3D printer with the exception of the parts mentioned and that is a big deal.
Police found what they suspect is a box? Oh, dear! And they found a short, thin piece of plastic too? Oh, my! No barrel? No receiver? No 3D plastic ammo with 3D plastic bullets propelled by 3D plastic powder? I'm having a little trouble figuring out why this requires thirty cops, or even why it would require one retired meter maid to respond to the potential danger.
Which reminds me, the terrorist on 9/11 used plastic knives to hijack the planes. Which is on of the reasons for the harassing TSA, looking for metal objects. I think the terrorist will always find a way, maybe not on planes.
Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.
The government already can take guns onto aircraft.
Police found what is suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a working gun.
This is truly an improvement in technology to be able to make a gun with a magazine and a trigger. Who needs a stinking barrel and ammunition?
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