UK Police Seize 3D-Printed 'Gun Parts,' Which Are Actually Spare Printer Parts

nk497 writes "Police in Manchester have arrested a man and seized what they claim are 3D printed components to a gun. They made the arrest after a 'significant' discovery of a 3D printed 'trigger' and 'magazine,' saying they were now testing the parts to see if they were viable. 3D printing experts, however, said the objects were actually spare parts for the printer. 'As soon as I saw the picture... I instantly thought, "I know that part,"' said Scott Crawford, head of 3D printing firm Revolv3D. 'They designed an upgrade for the printer soon after it was launched, and most people will have downloaded and upgraded this part within their printer. It basically pulls the plastic filament, and it used to jam an awful lot. The new system that they've put out, which includes that little lever that they're claiming is the trigger, is most definitely the same part.'"

over-reaction?

[Custard Horse]

FTFA: "The man was also arrested on suspicion of making gunpowder"

He was probably making coffee...

Re:over-reaction?

[Ralph Michael De Leon]

That actually wasn't a 3D printer it was a pillow.

Re:over-reaction?

[RDW]

This is England, so it was probably tea. It's an easy mistake to make:

http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/type/green-tea/gunpowder-tea [whittard.co.uk]

Kudos to the police for realizing...

[Godwin O'Hitler]

...a 3D gun is much more likely to be viable than a picture of a gun.

"During the searches, officers found a 3D printer and what is suspected to be a 3D plastic magazine and trigger which could be fitted together to make a viable 3D gun.
It they are found to be viable components for a 3D gun, it would be the first ever seizure of this kind in the UK."

Re:over-reaction?

[auric_dude]

Barista seeks Barrister?

Speaking as a Brit

[sa1lnr]

I love that the Greater Manchester Police site has suffered the curse of slashdot. :)

Re:over-reaction?

[paiute]

I'm hearing every comment in this thread in the officious voice of the late Graham Chapman.

Re:Speaking as a Brit

[daremonai]

If this is what the Greater Manchester Police are like, I'd hate to meet up with the Lesser ones.

Police seize $1000 in Cash

[Anonymous Coward]

Police seized $1000 dollars in cash due to the possibility of obtaining a gun with said cash.... source: future...

Re:Kudos to the police for realizing...

[Zemran]

You need special glasses to fire a 3D gun and only people wearing those glasses can get shot by one.

Re:Oh god

[tmosley]

I was about to make a comment about how modern music is garbage, and that people only download the stuff made a long time ago and probably that they already owned at some point, but then I realized that there are a bunch of damn kids on my lawn again.

Re:smug retribution

[qbast]

Clearly the only answer is 'more guns'. If other 14 years olds (hell, why not start at 8 years?) all were carrying, this tragedy could be avoided.

Re:Simple solution

[cdrudge]

Or that you can use replacement gun parts to make printers.

Re:over-reaction?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

So if you try to grow it yourself, does that mean that you have your own small gunpowder plot in the backyard?

Re:over-reaction?

[fahrbot-bot]

What happens when a person designs and builds a series of parts that are separately useful as something other than a "gun", but when combined in the right way does build a functioning "gun"?

Is that you Francisco_Scaramanga [wikipedia.org]?