3D printing is seeing the sun set on the Wild West phase of technical freedom with the recent arrest of Sicen Sun, an Australian who was arrested for 3D printed guns .
Sicen Sun was arrested after he tried to sell a 3D printed prop gun for $1 million AUS through a Facebook post. He was arrested with four imitation pistols, including a 3D-manufactured small Glock, a 3D-manufactured Glock, a 3D-manufactured Sig 250; two air pistols, computer equipment, and two 3D printers.
It appears that one of the 3D printed guns had the trigger mechanism to shoot airsoft pellets.
Australias Gun Control Restrictions
Australia is known for its tight gun control restrictions, and 3D printed guns have shown up in the past in Australian police blotters.
It is important to note that in Australian law, they make no distinction between a live firearm and a replica or prop gun.
Sicen Sun’s arrest is one of a handful in the whole world for possession and 3D printing of a firearm. It appears that he 3D printed the guns as cosplay props, and there are no indications that he had any hostile intent for the prop guns.
The merits of the Australian law regarding live guns vs replicas is subject to much debate outside of the scope of this article. If 3D gun possession alone was the only charge leveled by the NSW police, there would not be any implications to 3D printers.
However Australia took a dangerous step in charging Sicen Sun with “possess digital blueprint for manufacture of firearms”.
Dangerous legal precedent..
If the charges stick in court, Sicen Sun will set the dangerous legal precedent that digital files for 3D printing can be considered illegal.
Even in the narrowest view of 3D printed guns, this precedent is scary in its legal implications. It has many legal ramifications that must be answered before any law can be applied to Sicen Sun’s case.
Defining illegal 3DPrinted guns
One question is what defines an illegal digital file? The digital nature of 3D printing and CAD means that one original gun file for a working firearm can be modified into a non-firing prop gun, or vice versa. Is a digital file illegal because it has the potential to be a live gun, or is it illegal just because it appears to be a gun? Is a specific file name illegal and all subsequent versions and mods exempt? Or are all variants of that original file fruit of the poisoned tree? Australia will have to define what an illegal file is, and if they even have the authority to regulate digital files in the first place.
If we make one kind of digital file like guns illegal, what will stop us from making other digital files like political protest or toys illegal?
Cosplayers guilty of possession?
A second question is about accountability. If someone posts a 3D file for a non-firing replica Glock pistol for use by cosplayers, is the poster as guilty of possession as the person who 3D prints it? Given how easy it is to share digital files that means that the original file poster can be guilty of distributing a digital file to thousands or millions of people. Do we treat the CAD designer as a distributor like a drug manufacturer?
A third question is in criminal reporting. Sicen Sun made the very public blunder of advertising his prop guns for sale on Facebook, and further blundered when he thought he could charge $1 million AUS for a prop gun. While that alone may fall under “World’s Dumbest Criminals” it brings up a question of finding and discovering this crime. Someone reported the 3D printed guns to the New South Whales State Crime Command’s Firearms Squad, which then executed a warrant. Someone in the community may have acted in good faith, but they none the less treated the replicas as real firearms. Someone saw 3D printed prop guns as a threat.
It is chilling to see that an uninformed public that is ignorant about 3D printing is being encouraged by the law to report on digital crimes which may have no merit at all.
For every Sicen Sun, there are thousands of 3D printers that print prop guns without issue.
A fourth concern is privacy. How will the state know what files a 3D printer possesses without a warrant? How will the state know someone has an illegal print without examining every cosplayers pictures, facebook post, and blog? The NSW Police acted on a tip and a public facebook post, but what about other people who do not try to oversell their prop guns? If the Australian Police want to crack down on illegal files, they will have to launch a massive digital sweep and invade the privacy of 3D printers in their country.
The arrest of Sincen Sun
The arrest represents a dangerous threat to digital freedom around the world. 3D printing has flourished under open source and freely sharing digital files and ideas. When the State steps in and starts censoring digital designs, 3D printing as a whole suffers. It is worrisome to think that the State thinks they can censor files that are shared globally, and that they can censor anyone that 3D prints a digital file. The case of Sincen Sun reaches far beyond the scope of a local gun possession charge. It can impact 3D printing around the world if the State can dictate what an illegal file is.
The original police report can be found at (http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/media_release_archive?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGZWJpenByZC5wb2xpY2UubnN3Lmdvdi5hdSUyRm1lZGlhJTJGNjE0MDkuaHRtbCZhbGw9MQ%3D%3D).
17 thoughts on “3D Printed Guns as Illegal 3D File?”
I guess I was not aware printing parts and pieces was illegal? I guess if they find a way to make a gun whole from plastic, then we may have a problem.
Interesting how the laws are so radically different between countries.
Good article, you’ve raised some good points that could seriously affect our industry, in some maybe not so good ways especially regarding Open Source and Creative Commons.
At the heart of this issue is the question “What constitutes law?” Despite what we have been led to think, statutes do not constitute law. Statutes are simply the rules and regulations by which a corporation, its members, and property i.e. citizens are to conduct their affairs. Problems of this nature, like the one this article focuses on, will always plague mankind until we learn how to stand as we were born to be – free men.But that will require an evolution in consciousness, so start to educate yourself and begin your evolutionary journey by looking into the freeman movement, which is growing strong in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, and many other areas. You will be amazed by what you discover.
Peace!
What a shame all this is.
Agreed.. Its one thing to come for guns, but what about art or other utilitarian prints?
Yes, there is a lot of disinfo out there. Thanks for the info
Good article. I seem to recall that Simone in the US of A accomplished this feat of printing a firing gun. He got so man shots through and the receiver rear area gave way to the forces. I think disposable gun would be plausible, but until you can weave in carbon fiber or something I wouldn’t hold my breath. It would require a complete redesign of what we know as a gun to come close. As the aussies go, no blight, but you could probably print off a toilet tube holder and you would be arrested. Just saying. Be well.
That was Cody Wilson and the Liberator Pistol. Others have made functioning revolvers and semi-auto pistols. Cody is currently working on a carbon fiber printable gun made on the Mark Forge printer he got in a bounty hunt after Mark Forge refused to sell him their printer.
I still can’t believe this happens.
I guess in theory you could print pieces in wax & cast them, they would be far from accurate though
lol what did he think would happen
haha yeah.. i guess it came as a surprise..
Yet new laws are in the works.. blog soon…
Whenever a client approaches us to print parts for guns we decline.
Second that! I hate that first question always is “Can you print a gun”…. 😀
just say “Yes I can, but not for you!”
You should get an FFL if you have enough interest.