He’s Known as ‘Ivan the Troll.’ His 3D-Printed Guns Have Gone Viral.

The New York Times ^ | Sept. 10, 2024Updated 11:48 a.m. ET | Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff

[E. Pluribus Unum]

From his Illinois home, he champions guns for all. The Times confirmed his real name and linked the firearm he helped design to terrorists, drug dealers and freedom fighters in at least 15 countries.

After an attempted gang murder in the French city of Marseille last year, the police found what appeared to be a toy assault rifle, seemingly crafted from plastic and Lego parts.

“But the weapon was lethal,” Col. Hervé Pétry of the national gendarmerie recalled.

In the past three years, this model of homemade semiautomatic firearm, known as an FGC-9, has appeared in the hands of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, rebels in Myanmar and neo-Nazis in Spain. In October, a British teenager will be sentenced for building an FGC-9 in one of the latest terrorism cases to involve the weapon.

An online group known as Deterrence Dispensed publishes free instructions on how to build the weapon, a manual that says people everywhere should stand armed and ready.

“We together can defeat for good the infringement that is taking place on our natural-born right to bear arms, defend ourselves and rise up against tyranny,” the document says.

This American brand of libertarianism has historically been a tough sell in many other parts of the world. Even if some people believed it in theory, strict laws made buying a gun so difficult that the ideology was almost beside the point.

The FGC-9 is changing that.

“It’s not just a gun. It is also an ideology,” said Kristian Abrahamsson, an intelligence officer with the Swedish customs police. Dozens of FGC-9s have turned up in his country in recent years, he said.

[Red Badger]

3D Printed Ping!........................

[Qwapisking]

“God made man. Sam colt made all men equal” is a old, old attribution. seems that in the computer age we will need a new attribution for this guy.

[fretzer]

https://defcad.com/library/fgc-9-mk2-9mm-pistol/

[OldHarbor]

Oh my gerd ! They’re making guns !

Meanwhile billions in weapons sales are Ho hum done deals, wave of a hand, stroke of a pen, there goes billions in arms again !

[enumerated]

Can’t read - Paywall

[Antihero101607]

Governments, and the Military Industrial Complex do hate competition.

[null and void]

3-D Printer Ping!

I haven't used this list in a while...

Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[Mr. Blond]

Printer go brrrrrr....

[marktwain]

As technology increases in scope and power, so does the power of the people who use the technology.

This directly threatens the hold on power by those in power positions in society.

[roadcat]

Printer go brrrrrr....

For hours…

So much easier to get a regular gun. All the criminals will attest to that.

[Mr. Blond]

Depends where you live. Factory quality frames in 7ish hours, for $10 of nylon filament. Start print, go to bed, wake up to new gun.

[roadcat]

Start print, go to bed, wake up to new gun.

I’ve owned 3D printers for many years, and have downloaded gun files. More trouble than it’s worth. Not reliable, unsafe, and can’t handle the heat.

Far easier to get a gun on the street.

[Mr. Blond]

Modern filaments can.

[roadcat]

Modern filaments can.

I use nylon filament for builds where I need strength, such as for my tools. The other plastics are too brittle and crack. Even then, the nylon is not that strong. I haven’t tried carbon fiber or other tough filaments, because of the need for stronger nozzles. I hate the wear and tear on nozzles. My 3D printers are handy for making tool parts that aren’t easy to obtain. Such as hose adapters, knobs and clamps, etc.

I’m perfectly happy with my steel store-bought guns.