3D-Printed Guns are a Genuine Concern for the Future
In the United States of America, gun control is a complicated topic. The fact that the Founding Fathers couldn’t possibly have envisioned a world in which automatic weapons would be used in schools is neither here nor there; those that preach the ‘right to bear arms’ believe that there should be no limits on that.
For those of us in the United Kingdom, it can seem like genuine insanity that people would rather see others murdered on a mass scale than have any kind of limit put on their ‘freedom’, but now the invention of 3D-printed guns presents a real threat globally.
3D-Printing Has Come on Leaps & Bounds
The idea behind 3D-printing has been around for years, having first been described by Murray Leinster in a short story called Things Pass By that he wrote in 1945. It was in 1971, though, that Johannes F. Gottwald patented a ‘liquid metal recorder’, which could print using a continuous inkjet metal material device that would present a removable metal creation.
More developments followed in the 1980s, yet the things that were printed were considered to be suitable for little more than functional prototypes, to such an extent that it was called ‘rapid prototyping’ at the time.
@paul2travel 3D prints that WILL change your life! #3dprinting #3dprinted #diy #homehacks #useful ♬ original sound – Paul 2 Travel
Things began to see real progress during the 2000s, when 3D printers were initially used largely for manufacturing and research thanks to the fact that the technology was still young and too expensive for consumers.
In 2005, however, users began to be able to distribute plans for designs that could be made using 70% of their own parts, resulting in more and more companies coming into existence in order to facilitate such home creations. Nowadays, though, 3D printers can be found in homes up and down the country, being relatively cheap to buy and easy enough to use.
3D Guns are Real
When the Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealthcare was killed in the United States of America in 2024, the story made the news for several reasons. Obviously, the death of anyone is tragic, whilst the fact that this was essentially the assassination of someone was chilling.
One of the points that may have been missed by a lot of people, however, was the fact that the murder of Brian Thompson was carried out with what was referred to as a ‘ghost gun’. The black pistol used by Luigi Mangione was thought to have been made, at least in part, by a 3D printer, making it potentially untraceable.
Little modeling practice. A flaregun with ammunition.
Modeled in blender and rendered in cycles.
#b3d #blender #cycles #rendering #3dart #3d
— Eric (@3deric.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 17:58
The fact that such guns can be made at all will be a real worry for the authorities. It means that any and all gun control law that may eventually be passed in the US will be all but made null and void, whilst countries around the world that already have strict gun control criteria may find them obsolete.
On top of that, 3D-printed weapons can be used in crimes and remain entirely untraceable, on account of the fact that they don’t need to have a serial number attached to them and there will be no legislating against their creation thanks to how the designs can be passed on.
The ‘Weapon of Choice’ for Criminals
Nick Suplina is a gun control advocate in the United States of America, working for an organisation known as ‘Everytown’. It is his belief that 3D-printed guns are likely to become the weapon of choice for criminals moving forward, especially when the ability to print more and more intricate designs becomes commonplace. He said, “The materials have gotten better, the cost has gone down, and the ease of access of these blueprints is at a high.”
In spite of the fact that social media platforms such as Meta, the parent company of Facebook, have rules against advertising the sale of ‘ghost guns’, it is still easy to find them on the platform.
Customers looking to get hold of the designs for a ‘ghost gun’ were directed towards the likes of Telegram and WhatsApp, where messages can be sent in an encrypted manner and criminality is rife. Not only are 3D-printed guns possible to find, you can also get parts that can turn a gun such as Glock from a pistol into an automatic weapon.
Worryingly for UK crime organisations, the nature of 3D-printed items is such that stopping them from making it through customs is all but impossible, whilst printing them in the United Kingdom itself is also likely to become more and more common.