Europe’s police keep wary eye on threat from 3D-printed guns
- Europol says rapidly evolving technology for making homemade guns may become a more significant threat in the near future
- 3D printers have become cheaper, and more blueprints for guns have been posted on the so-called Dark Web
A growing number of seizures of guns made at home from 3D-printed parts are raising alarm bells for European police over an emerging threat.
For now, interest among far-right activists may be limited, say analysts – and fears of a society awash with print-it-yourself weapons remain far-fetched.
But homemade guns have become more widespread since 2013, when a US weapons enthusiast first showed off a mostly 3D-printed pistol and shared its design online.
Only in September, Icelandic police said they had arrested four people suspected of planning a “terrorist attack”, confiscating several 3D-printed semi-automatic weapons.
The same month, Spanish authorities discovered an illegal gun-making workshop of a man in his forties in the Basque Country.
That find followed two other such cases in the country in 2021.
