“Ivan the Troll” 3D Printed Guns. SCARY- BUT ARE THEY 21st CENTURY TECH WITH THE RELIABILITY OF A FLINTLOCK? Maybe a flintlock fires just after pulling the trigger. It might fire a minute or two later. Or it might not fire. 3D Printed Guns might not fire.

3D printed guns don't seem to be very reliable. That said, Pashtun gunsmiths in Afghanistan can make an AR-15 from scratch. The custom guns by Pashtun gunsmiths are said to be better than the originals. 

The thing is these printed guns are supposed to bring 2nd Amendment guns to anyone, not only expert gunsmiths. 

I think the 2nd Amendment, NRA and gun manufactures would like to make all printed guns illegal. After all the real purpose of Republican Party backing of gun rights is to sell guns. 

James Pitcherella

No law enforcement official has yet linked an FGC-9 to a homicide, though they say that may be because traditional forensic techniques are not always reliable on homemade weapons…

“There is an obvious ideological element,” said Colonel Pétry, the French officer. “But we must not be naïve. Above all, there is a desire to make themselves fabulously rich.”

 

FROM, IvanPrintsGuns:

“Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff reviewed thousands of pages of documents and interviewed law enforcement authorities and firearm experts around the world.

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…

“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.

While countless 3D-printed guns have been designed and circulated on the internet, international law enforcement officials say that the FGC-9 is by far the most common. The gun is so desirable among far-right extremists in Britain that the possession and sharing of its instruction manual is being charged as a terrorist offense.

Nobody does more to promote the gun and the ideology than its co-designer, who goes by the online name Ivan the Troll. The figurehead of Deterrence Dispensed, he has appeared in numerous YouTube videos and podcasts, but always under his aliases.

Court documents, corporate records and information posted on his social media accounts link the Ivan the Troll persona to a 26-year-old Illinois gunmaker named John Elik. The nephew of a state representative, Mr. Elik has emerged as one of the most important figures in the nascent international industry of 3D-printed guns…

His aunt, Amy Elik, is a Republican state representative and a staunch supporter of gun rights. She voted against the state’s ban on homemade firearms. She did not respond to a message seeking comment…

No law enforcement official has yet linked an FGC-9 to a homicide, though they say that may be because traditional forensic techniques are not always reliable on homemade weapons…

And while the FGC-9 has become a staple with some of the world’s far-right extremists, it has also been embraced by insurgent groups that are fighting Myanmar’s military junta, which has committed atrocities on its own people.

“A lot of people use them,” said a fighter there who goes by the call sign 3-D. He said the FGC-9 was often used for personal defense rather than for combat because its design left it susceptible to jamming in the harsh jungle environment…

Increasingly, the FGC-9 is being produced not only by individual hobbyists and extremists, but also by criminal operations that manufacture weapons to sell or rent. Makeshift factories have been found in Australia, France and Spain.

“There is an obvious ideological element,” said Colonel Pétry, the French officer. “But we must not be naïve. Above all, there is a desire to make themselves fabulously rich.”

MORE AT:

The New York Times

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

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.

Sept. 10, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

By Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff

My dad & brother carried the Smith & Wesson 38 Snub Nose. My Uncle & cousins kept revolvers behind the counter in their stores. Semi-automatics don't always work. 

Model 36 38 calibre Smith & Wesson Wikipedia