"In 2023 a Canberra mechanic was servicing a grey BMW when he made a startling discovery. Under the seat he found a handgun. The pistol looked strange. It was made almost entirely of plastic half white, half black. The mechanic didn't know it but the car belonged to a street-level drug trafficker who'd come down from Sydney seeking fast money slinging meth across Canberra's suburbs. The gun had been made by an associate with a 3D printer, according to court documents."
"Manufacturing or possessing any type of firearm without a licence is illegal across Australia but specific laws on 3D printing vary between the states. Some have criminalised the manufacture of 3D-printed weapons or owning blueprints while others rely on existing firearm laws. Hemming says the united action Australia took to tighten gun laws after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people were murdered, is now coming undone."
A Canberra mechanic found a plastic, half-white half-black handgun under a BMW seat in 2023. The pistol was 3D-printed by an associate and linked to a Sydney street-level drug trafficker selling meth in Canberra suburbs. The weapon was untraceable and lethal. Experts warn 3D-printed firearms threaten Australia’s previously cohesive gun-control framework. Manufacturing or possessing firearms without licences remains illegal federally, but state laws on 3D printing vary. Some jurisdictions criminalise manufacture or owning blueprints, while others rely on existing firearms statutes. The national firearms agreement after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre introduced licensing, storage rules, weapon restrictions, buybacks and limits on reasons for ownership.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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