Heading: 3D Printed Guns Trigger Alarm over New Invisible Crime Wave, Reinforced by Mangione Incident

Heading: 3D Printed Guns Trigger Alarm over New Invisible Crime Wave, Reinforced by Mangione Incident

Summary: By following the trail of firearms used in crimes, American detectives have made remarkable advancements in criminal probes for many years. This procedure largely requires inspectors to carefully examine ballistics, gun serial numbers, and collate a vast network of data, consisting of gun store records, manufacturer codes, and crime databases.

However, this traditional investigation method is swiftly being outdated due to the rise of the new gun scene: 3D-printed weapons and suppressors that are difficult to track—similar to those found with alleged killer Luigi Mangione earlier this week. With the increasing availability of 3D printers, even obtainable on Amazon for as low as $300, specialists caution of a growing attraction for possible law breakers.

The so-called ‘ghost gun’ and suppressor snatched from the accused businessman’s backpack in Pennsylvania were allegedly created with a 3D printer and easily available metal parts, according to the Altoona Police Department. David Pucino, legal head of the Giffords Law Center, a gun violence prevention institution, remarked, “It was bound to happen that such a weapon would be involved in a high-profile shooting incident.”

Prosecutors have linked Mangione’s homemade device to bullet casings from Brian Thompson’s murder scene. These 3D printed firearms, once considered curiosities, have morphed into an untraceable menace, with arrests associated with them tripling recently. As the quality of 3D printers heightens inversely to price, this trend appears unstoppable. Some are concerned it could revert the United States into a modern-day version of the Wild West: flooded with hidden, unregistered weapons.

Existing laws ruling over these “ghost guns” are uneven, differing state by state, although President Biden has vowed to tackle this issue. The President initiated a task force in September to assess and neutralize the potential risk of these 3D-printed firearms.

Felipe Rodriguez, veteran instructor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, characterizes the situation as “the most terrifying thing I’ve ever witnessed,” indicating that the issue of unregulated guns could potentially worsen due to advancements in 3D printing technology.

Rodriguez also underscores that home-based gun production negates existing tracking techniques that generally involve tracing back to creators and distributors.

Rodriguez is not alone in his concern; the U.S. Military has even built its own 3D-printed grenade launcher, endearingly named Rambo, that successfully discharged a 3D-printed grenade in 2017.

Guns like those discovered in Mangione’s possession are fairly inexpensive and simple to produce. Not only can they fabricate firearms, but conversion switches that transform semi-automatic weapons into automatic ones, grenades, and even bombs are all achievable with enough knowledge and resources.

Proponents of gun rights view this practice as consistent with the enduring American custom of homemade weaponry. However, some express anxiety over a potential new age of undetectable crime, driven by untraceable, easily produced weapons.

While it is yet to be confirmed if Mangione himself built the ghost gun in question or attained it from elsewhere, the fact remains that 3D printers and the necessary materials to make a working gun can be legally acquired. This poses a considerable obstacle in halting the growing influx of homemade weapons.

For instance, in 2019, authorities seized a 3D-printed AR-15 from a man legally banned from owning guns due to a past domestic dispute. Nevertheless, he defended possession of the weapon on the premise that he had “constructed,” rather than “purchased” it.

Though efforts to curb the use of 3D-printed weapons have been made, the task continues to present formidable challenges. Only 15 states currently regulate “ghost guns,” as per a gun control advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety.

Moreover, while 3D-printed firearms may still be legal in certain locales, a homemade suppressor is generally unlawful to possess without a valid tax stamp and ATF registration under the National Firearms Act.

The 3D-printed gun-linked arrests have seen a significant surge, as reported by industry publication 3Dprint.com, with these arms implicated in a variety of crimes with figures swiftly rising.

These 3D printers can potentially fabricate a range of weapons such as grenades, bombs, and mechanisms that can shift firearms to automatic.

As Rodriguez dreads the repercussions of these hard-to-track weapons disseminating, the Giffords Law Center’s Pucino proposes several countermeasures for 3D printed gun proliferation. These include mandating a license for gun printing and monitoring and regulating 3D printers used to build such weapons.

However, despite these suggestions, Pucino worries they might merely serve as temporary solutions to a problem he describes as having already let the “genie out of the bottle.”


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