by Alan Brooks
In what could turn out to be a major embarrassment for the Greater Manchester Police, a man arrested yesterday on suspicion of illegally manufacturing gun powder also had what police suspect to be 3D-printed components for a firearm… or not. According to the BBC, Manchester’s finest raided the home as part of a larger operation targeting organized crime and stumbled upon the mystery parts by accident. Manchester Police spokesman Detective Inspector Mossop had this to say . . .
“If what we have seized is proven to be viable components capable of constructing a genuine firearm, then it demonstrates that organised crime groups are acquiring technology that can be bought on the high street to produce the next generation of weapons.
“In theory, the technology essentially allows offenders to produce their own guns in the privacy of their own home, which they can then supply to the criminal gangs who are causing such misery in our communities.
“Because they are also plastic and can avoid X-ray detection, it makes them easy to conceal and smuggle.”
He added: “If what we have seized today can, as we suspect, be used to make a genuine firearm then today will be an important milestone in the fight against this next generation of homemade weapons.”
Or a milestone in the fight against printing replacement parts for your 3D printer. Either way, lives were saved and the good people of Manchester can sleep safe tonight knowing that the only thing they have to fear is midnight raids by the Greater Manchester Police.