John Maxwell
In its 2016 Illicit Firearms in Australia report, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) assessed the threat of 3D printing of firearms as ‘low’. Guns manufactured illicitly using conventional technology posed a greater risk but were far outnumbered by factory-made ones in criminal hands. In the ensuing nine years much has changed.
Late last year state, territory and Commonwealth law enforcement agencies formed a cooperative national initiative targeting the manufacture, trafficking and use of illegal firearms throughout Australia. It’s called Operation ATHENA. Criminals have long used homemade guns but it’s 3D printed guns which have attracted media attention.
“Over the past three or four years, with advance of technology the quality of parts and materials have changed,” NSW Police Detective Superintendent John Watson, chairman of Operation ATHENA, told Australian Shooter. “Five years ago, privately-made firearms were single-shot, low-powered weapons. What we’re seeing now is the other end of the scale – high-powered semi-automatic weapons and really only limited by people’s imagination. Organised crime is certainly an element that’s involved with these.”
The growing risk has been highlighted by a succession of busts so here are a few. Last October, a 36-year-old was charged with multiple offences after investigators seized 21 3D-printed firearms, printers and gun components, along with methylamphetamine and $72,500 cash, during a raid on his home in Perth’s northern suburbs.
In July the ABC reported that a man who bought a 3D printer to help his autistic son with school work, pleaded guilty of attempting to manufacture firearms. Police discovered a dismantled 3D-printed firearm and seven boxes of manufactured firearm magazines in his home on the New South Wales mid-north coast.
In June 2022 an 18-year-old Western Australia man was arrested after a raid by the Drug and Firearm Squad which found a fully-functional 3D-printed semi-automatic firearm along with other illegal weapons. Then in August, Victorian police found 3D-printed guns along with a large scale hydroponic cannabis operation.
Yet law enforcement isn’t wholly worried about 3D-printed guns, with its concerns directed more broadly at what are now referred to as privately manufactured firearms (PMFs). These include 3D-printed guns, those made by home manufacture using conventional steel and other components and commercially sourced parts, or any combination thereof.
And this isn’t being done solely by criminals. DS Watson said police have encountered a wide range of individuals engaged in private manufacture of firearms. “It may well be people have an interest in technology, so not necessarily firearms themselves. They may not necessarily be licensed shooters, because technology is shifting and the ease with which people can do it has moved,” he said.
“Then you have those with the express intent to make firearm parts, people acting outside the law, the criminally minded, ones who want to make a profit and those who want to go under the radar,” he added. “Then there’s another side of the spectrum with fixated people, those involved in organised crime and, sadly, people with mental health issues.”
In all of this what hasn’t changed is the law. Making your own guns this way is illegal and most always has been. In some jurisdictions it’s also illegal to possess the computer files used for 3D-printing of guns, though DS Watson stressed Operation ATHENA wasn’t directed at licensed shooters.
As most of us well know, the shooting fraternity includes numerous inveterate tinkerers. For some that’s the process of repairing or improving their guns through addition of parts and accessories, for others it’s the creation of a custom hunting or target rifle. I myself assembled a number of .303 rifles from parts, while my ongoing project is the creation of a custom sporter in 7mm Mauser. In each case the basis was a registered legal receiver.
“If you’re a licensed shooter and have registered firearms, you’re lawfully allowed to make certain parts and modifications and arrange yourself through dealers to do those things,” DS Watson said. “The law hasn’t changed. As long as they know the law and their guns are registered, they’re entitled to do what they’ve always done.”
The problem with PMFs was highlighted globally after the murder of US health insurance chief executive Brian Thompson in New York on December 4. The killer was armed with a handgun which included some 3D-printed components including a suppressor. In US parlance this was a ‘ghost gun’, a term not applicable in Australia where gun laws are quite different.
Ghost guns feature a frame with no serial number and of which there’s no record, making the firearm untraceable (in theory). It’s entirely feasible to 3D-print the frame for a Glock or AR-15, then complete the job with unregulated components bought over-the-counter or online. It’s actually legal for an individual in the US to make a gun in this manner though it becomes highly illegal when that gun is sold. They especially appeal to felons who, under US laws, are barred from acquiring regular firearms through conventional channels.
Ghost guns have increasingly featured in US school and other shootings. In one case a 13-year-old boy was manufacturing and selling ghost guns to local criminals, one of whom sought to avoid paying. In the ensuing shootout the teen inadvertently shot dead his 14-year-old sister. Clearly the appeal of illicitly-made firearms whether in the US, Australia or anywhere else, is they’re available to those who can’t legally acquire guns and can’t be readily traced.
“What makes 3D printing and illicit parts so dangerous is we can’t track them, we can’t track the modifications, we can’t track the firearms in the conventional ways licensed dealers know and understand,” said DS Watson.
What particularly concerns him and others in Australian law enforcement is one specific 3D-printed design. “If there’s one weapon that’s of serious concern it’s something called the FGC-9. It’s a semi-automatic weapon, high-powered with potential for multiple rounds in short bursts. They’re a concern and we want to make sure people are aware they can’t manufacture these guns,” he said. “They’re highly illegal, it’s a criminal act and we in law enforcement are getting better at tracking people engaged this activity.”
FGC-9 is a 9mm semi-automatic carbine with high magazine capacity. Most components can be 3D-printed and these often seem to be encountered in a range of vibrant colours, creating resemblance to a harmless toy Nerf gun which they most assuredly are not. This is a notable advance on the first 3D-printed gun, the 2013 Liberator single-shot .22 pistol and the design which launched the furore over 3D-printed firearms. Liberator was nearly all plastic and many were made, including by law enforcement to assess how well they worked. The verdict? Not very well as if it didn’t blow up on first shot, it would soon after.
The reality is 3D-printed plastic won’t work for barrels and there’s really no substitute for steel in certain components such as pins and springs. The FGC-9, which has passed through various iterations, draws much of its design from the Shuty AP9, itself inspired by the Luty all-metal sub-machinegun designed by UK gun rights activist Philip Luty in the 1990s. His designs used a smoothbore barrel and parts modified from common hardware store items and have turned up all over the world in the hands of criminals, insurgents, extremists and obsessed loners.
FGC-9 means F**k Gun Control 9mm, with the design developed in Europe and intended to circumvent gun laws there through use of non-regulated parts. That’s less of an issue in the US, where components such as barrels and AR-15 fire control groups are readily available, though it’s not the case in Australia where many components are unavailable, even to licensed shooters.
But there is the vast US market and allure of the internet. Australian Border Force has busted people seeking to import firearms components by mail and freight, presumably on the assumption their items won’t be noticed amidst all those parcels from Amazon.
DS Watson said law enforcement is becoming better at tracking people seeking to make their own guns, whether by 3D printing or importing components. How are they doing this? “That’s a matter I won’t discuss,” he said. “Every law enforcement agency contributes and our forensic and ballistic intelligence capabilities are second to none.”
Anyone trying this faces severe penalties, including jail time, while for licensed shooters the consequences could be loss of licence and guns, with a potentially lengthy prohibition on regaining a licence, if ever. DS Watson again stressed police aren’t out to target licensed shooters. “It’s about those who step outside the law,” he said. “More importantly it’s about leveraging the licensed shooter community. If they know anyone who’s doing it, ask them to stop or report it to Crimestoppers. It just puts other licensed shooters in the spotlight.”