Two teenage boys have been charged with serious weapons offences after being caught in a raid with a home-made semi-automatic pistol made of black polymer in a 3D printer in Bredäng on Maundy Thursday. The police have noted that this is just one of many examples of how 3D printed weapons are increasingly appearing in criminal circles. A year ago, 3D printed weapons were something of an interesting phenomenon, but now they pose a threat. So far this year, the police have seized as many 3D weapons as they did in the whole of last year. The weapons are impossible to trace, as they have no serial numbers, and the frames are usually 3D printed while the parts that need to be impact resistant – especially those that handle the firing – are made of metal. These weapons are now almost comparable to traditional weapons in terms of functionality. People who can handle 3D printers and are technology experts usually manufacture these types of weapons, but how many of them there are and how many 3D printers there are in Sweden is uncertain. It is also unclear how the weapons end up with criminals.
On Maundy Thursday, two teenage boys were charged with serious weapons offences. In a raid on an apartment in Bredäng, they were caught with, among other things, a home-made semi-automatic pistol. The body of the weapon was found to be made of black polymer in a 3D printer.
This is one of many examples of how 3D printed weapons are increasingly appearing in criminal circles.
– A year ago, 3D printed weapons were something of an interesting phenomenon, now they pose a threat. It has gone very quickly, says Stephen James, section manager at the National Forensic Center in Stockholm.
He points out that so far this year the police have seized as many 3D weapons as they did in the whole of last year.
How does it affect the work of the police?
– These weapons are impossible to trace. There are no serial numbers. It is a little scary that we could have a domestic production of weapons that cannot be traced.
When the first 3D-printed weapons appeared on the police radar about ten years ago, they were weapons that were almost entirely made of plastic, with the exception of the butt.
– They were very unreliable. If you fired such a weapon, you could lose your hand. Today, only parts of the weapons are 3D printed. Most often it concerns the frame. The parts that need to be impact resistant, especially those that handle the firing, are made of metal.
Now there are both semi- and fully automatic weapons with 3D printed parts. According to Stephen James, where applicable, they are almost comparable to traditional weapons in terms of functionality.
– When they work, they fire shots with an energy similar to real weapons, so they have a dangerous nature, says Stehpen James, who at the same time emphasizes that they have a tendency to hook up.
– Weapons require high precision. If something is just a little off, they pick up. We see that often. The gun can fire a round, but it may not eject the cartridge properly and you have to fiddle with it to get the fired case out.
For safety reasons, the staff keeps at the National Forensic Center not this type of weapon in the hand when fired. Instead, a firing chair, a technical aid for handloading or ammunition testing, is used.
At the beginning of March, three men from Vallentuna were charged on suspicion of smuggling large quantities of weapon parts, including about 40 3D-printed frames and sheaths for pistols. The weapon parts had been ordered from China and Italy and then sent in packages to Sweden.
According to Stephen James, it is difficult to say to what extent weapon parts are 3D-printed in Sweden.
– Most of the time, the police find these weapons by chance during various raids, so we don’t have a coherent picture of the situation, he says, noting that it is not criminal gangs that manufacture this type of weapon.
– These are people who can handle 3D printers and they are usually not criminals. They are technology experts. But how many are there? How many 3D printers are there in Sweden? These are questions that we must be able to answer in order to get an overview of the production. How these weapons then end up with criminals, we don’t have a very good grasp of, says Stephen James.
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