first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

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tude dog
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by tude dog »

This is great. Great Britain and pretty much the rest of the world can kiss gun control good bye. Not looking forward to my next flight and having to deal with airport security.

How Mail On Sunday 'printed' first plastic gun in UK using a 3D printer- and then took it on board Eurostar without being stopped in security scandal

The Mail On Sunday today exposes the massive international security risk posed by a gun that can be easily made with new 3D printers.

We built the weapon, which is capable of firing a live round, from blueprints available on the internet – then smuggled it on to a packed Eurostar train.

Two reporters passed completely unchallenged through strict airport-style security to carry the gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour, alongside hundreds of unsuspecting travellers.

The pistol, capable of firing a deadly 0.38-calibre bullet, was produced in under 36 hours using a revolutionary £1,700 machine to ‘print’ its components. And because all the parts are plastic, they did not trigger the metal detectors all Euro-star passengers must pass through.

Last night, the train operator began an urgent investigation into the security breach as experts called for airports and public buildings to review their procedures in light of our revelations.

The Mail on Sunday pieced together the 16-part pistol – called The Liberator by its creators – after downloading the designs. They were originally published by an American university student, who proved the design works by successfully firing a bullet on a shooting range.

The blueprints have since been downloaded more than 100,000 times and are now widely available, despite attempts to remove them.

Made entirely of plastic except for a small firing pin and ammunition, the gun presents a huge problem for security services around the world, as it can be broken down into parts that do not set off metal detectors and may not show up on conventional body and bag scanning devices.

To test the procedures at St Pancras International Station, the gun produced by the MoS was split into three pieces and concealed in the clothing of two reporters who bought standard class tickets to Paris.

FULL STORY
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Ahso!
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by Ahso! »

tude dog;1426790 wrote: This is great. Great Britain and pretty much the rest of the world can kiss gun control good bye. Not looking forward to my next flight and having to deal with airport security.

How Mail On Sunday 'printed' first plastic gun in UK using a 3D printer- and then took it on board Eurostar without being stopped in security scandal

The Mail On Sunday today exposes the massive international security risk posed by a gun that can be easily made with new 3D printers.

We built the weapon, which is capable of firing a live round, from blueprints available on the internet – then smuggled it on to a packed Eurostar train.

Two reporters passed completely unchallenged through strict airport-style security to carry the gun on to a London to Paris service in the weekend rush-hour, alongside hundreds of unsuspecting travellers.

The pistol, capable of firing a deadly 0.38-calibre bullet, was produced in under 36 hours using a revolutionary £1,700 machine to ‘print’ its components. And because all the parts are plastic, they did not trigger the metal detectors all Euro-star passengers must pass through.

Last night, the train operator began an urgent investigation into the security breach as experts called for airports and public buildings to review their procedures in light of our revelations.

The Mail on Sunday pieced together the 16-part pistol – called The Liberator by its creators – after downloading the designs. They were originally published by an American university student, who proved the design works by successfully firing a bullet on a shooting range.

The blueprints have since been downloaded more than 100,000 times and are now widely available, despite attempts to remove them.

Made entirely of plastic except for a small firing pin and ammunition, the gun presents a huge problem for security services around the world, as it can be broken down into parts that do not set off metal detectors and may not show up on conventional body and bag scanning devices.

To test the procedures at St Pancras International Station, the gun produced by the MoS was split into three pieces and concealed in the clothing of two reporters who bought standard class tickets to Paris.

FULL STORY


Glad to see you're so happy about this new danger people are now in. Thanks for the revelation.
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Snooz
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by Snooz »

From 1995:

The Straight Dope: Is it possible to make an undetectable nonmetal gun?

'95 doesn't seem all that long ago to me...
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Týr
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by Týr »

Perhaps this indicates that additional restrictions should be placed on ammunition rather than guns. It will be some while before 3D printers will be able to print ammunition, detectable or otherwise.

I've not yet understood what objection any law-abiding group could have to unique molecular labeling of every batch of ammunition at the point of manufacture, to make law enforcement tracing of the sales chain cheaper and more effective.

I also note that no 3D printing system has yet produced a weapon capable of firing a supersonic round of any caliber, which pretty much excludes everything bar single-shot handguns. I can't see that changing over the next twenty years.
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tude dog
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by tude dog »

Týr;1426804 wrote: Perhaps this indicates that additional restrictions should be placed on ammunition rather than guns. It will be some while before 3D printers will be able to print ammunition, detectable or otherwise.

I've not yet understood what objection any law-abiding group could have to unique molecular labeling of every batch of ammunition at the point of manufacture, to make law enforcement tracing of the sales chain cheaper and more effective.

I also note that no 3D printing system has yet produced a weapon capable of firing a supersonic round of any caliber, which pretty much excludes everything bar single-shot handguns. I can't see that changing over the next twenty years.


It also does not include rifling and can't shoot shotgun shells.
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Scrat
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first plastic gun in UK-on board Eurostar

Post by Scrat »

Perhaps this indicates that additional restrictions should be placed on ammunition rather than guns. It will be some while before 3D printers will be able to print ammunition, detectable or otherwise.


Possible but it may not be hard to find a way around. The military uses ammunition with cartridges cases that are consumed when the gun is fired, all that is left is the base plate of the cartridge. This is especially useful in tanks because you do not have to worry about spent cartridge casings clattering around the crew compartment. Why not do this with a bullet? It can't be that hard.

I think taxing ammunition is a good idea but only a stop gap as people will find ways around it.
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