By Alysia Thomas-Sam and Mike Lorigan, ABC
3D-printed guns come in an array of colours and can resemble children's toys. Photo: ABC News: Michael Nudl
The lethal FGC-9 semi-automatic weapon can fire up to 30 rounds without needing to be reloaded and is the most popular 3D-printed gun in Australia, based on seizures in every state and territory over the past 12 months.
Police say the gun, branded under the name ''F*** Gun Control", is increasingly being found in the hands of organised crime groups, extremists and teenagers around the world.
These guns are deadly and far more advanced than the homemade wood and metal piece that was in 2022 used to kill former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
At the Australian Federal Police forensics headquarters in Canberra, the ballistics team manufactured their own FGC-9 to show ABC's 7.30 show how advanced and dangerous 3D-printed guns had become.
"Its characteristics, in terms of muzzle velocity and penetration, are comparable to other firearms if it's manufactured effectively," the AFP's forensics co-ordinator, Dr Michael Taylor, said.
It is illegal to make a 3D-printed firearm in Australia - and the possession of a digital blueprint to create one is an offence in some states.
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Those convicted in NSW of possessing a blueprint face a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.
The punishment is even greater in Tasmania, with the potential of up to 21 years in jail.
The AFP has blueprints and Taylor detailed a section which showed the sketch for the lower receiver of a 3D gun called the Urutau.
Australian Federal Police forensics co-ordinator Michael Taylor holds a 3D-printed gun. Photo: ABC News: Michael Nudl
"These are high-powered weapons," the head of NSW Police's Drug and Firearms Squad, Detective Superintendent John Watson, told 7.30.
"We've seen incidents overseas with armed active offenders. We've already had a Port Arthur. We do not want another."
Last month, WA Police executed a search warrant in Perth's north and uncovered 21 privately made 3D-printed guns.
A week later, NSW Police seized a 3D printer, 3D-printed firearm parts and approximately 10,000 rounds of ammunition on the state's south coast.
"We've seen evidence of organised crime offering for sale and selling particular [3D-printed] guns," Watson said.
"People with mental health issues, people living at home, people with access to firearms, they were either involved with or were licensed firearms holders … they were acting unlawfully and making their own firearms."
The issue is so urgent that every law enforcement agency around the country recently gathered with FBI representatives, legal academics and tech experts in Melbourne to discuss the increasing threat of 3D guns in the community under the national task force Operation Athena, which targets the trafficking and use of illicit firearms.
"We don't want 3D-printed weapons to become unmanageable," Watson said.
"It is critical for us all to talk, for us to get a clear understanding of the landscape and to make sure that we are doing everything we can to continue to put the controls in place that we need."
The FGC-9 is one of the most popular 3D-printed guns. Photo: ABC News: Michael Nudl
Did Australia help shut down 3D gun maker?
In 2013, American Cody Wilson created "The Liberator" - widely regarded as one of the first 3D-printed firearms in the world.
His mission was to make blueprints for his gun available for anyone to create one using a 3D printer at home; the design file was downloaded about 100,000 times before it was taken down.
Wilson describes himself as a defence contractor for the public.
Wilson's company bills itself as "the world's largest 3D gun repository" and he is an outspoken critic of gun control.
"Politics, government and these things, the question of state, are questions of the monopolisation of the means of force and violence. I'm an advocate for distributing the means of force and violence for its political ramifications," Wilson told 7.30.
He says the only way anyone in Australia can print a gun is "if you don't ask permission". He is aware of the illegality.
Wilson said he believed the Australian government lobbied US agencies to have his website shut down completely.
"It was explained to me through export control law firms and officials who at that time worked in the Bureau of Military Affairs and Department State that Australia was pressuring both the National Security Council of the Obama administration and State Department directly to find a way to take my website down or make it inaccessible to residents of Australia," he said.
"We took The Liberator down two days after we put it up, at the request of the US State Department, and we know they were pressured by other governments, and it remained down officially for some years."
The AFP said it was not "in a position to discuss" whether it had tried to take Mr Wilson's website down, but confirmed it was "looking at all opportunities and mechanisms" to manage gun control.
In 2018, Wilson and his company Defense Distributed won the right to publish their blueprints. However, he says he is still facing several lawsuits brought against him by separate US states.
"I don't think I've ever won against a state in court, but you can make that defeat take a long time and you can use your resources to create interesting alternatives to the quote-unquote defeat. That's kind of what I'm in the business of doing," he said.
In 2018 he also stepped down as director of Defense Distributed, after he was charged with an offence involving a minor. He pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony and was put on probation.
He has since been reappointed as director and believes everyone has a right to build a gun. The AFP doesn't agree.
"My view is that the ideology is not consistent with Australian values. The Australian community does not want illicit firearms flooding the streets," Taylor said.
Despite the lack of gun-related deaths in Australia and the high number in the US, where ABC USA reports that as of September more than 11,000 people have died this year due to guns, he attacked Australia for having strong legislation.
'Made in the bedroom'
Despite Wilson's comments, the dangers are real. The number of 3D guns seized in Australia has increased in the past year.
3D printers have become commonplace in schools, universities and even workplaces and the guns themselves can be attractive to children.
Any colour plastic can be used - pink, purple and even Hello Kitty-branded pistols are possible.
All of these issues are major concerns for law enforcement.
"Ten or 15 years ago, I think it's fair to say that 3D-printed firearms were more looked at as being novice or a niche," Watson said.
"We've had matters where people have been making firearms parts, either in their bedroom, in their lounge room or in rooms that are, for all intents and purposes, in a family home, yet nothing was ever reported to us."
Along with a rise in detections of 3D-printed guns during police raids, the printers used to manufacture these firearms are also being seized across the country.
Police say their focus is not on trying to regulate the use of 3D printers and parts but they haven't ruled it out as a possibility in the future.
"We would consider openly all options for mitigating illicit firearm crime, but in no way do we want to impede on legitimate industry or Australia's uptake of novel technology. So any actions taken would have to have a very balanced, balanced approach," Taylor said.
"People need to be aware that the decision to manufacture illegally a firearm makes you a criminal, and that's a key thing.
"People need to understand that you're not a hobbyist, you're not a tinkerer.
"By undertaking this kind of activity, you become a criminal, and that's a key message that I would send."
- ABC