A 3D-printed gun fires ordinary ammunition AFP/Getty Images
Lawmakers in the US are fighting to keep blueprints for 3D-printed guns off the internet – but how worried should we be about untraceable plastic firearms?
In 2013, law student Cody Wilson unveiled the Liberator, a plastic handgun produced on a 3D printer that could fire conventional ammunition. He posted the files online so that anybody could download them and, in theory, print their own pistol.
Soon afterwards, he added a second design that would allow people to mill a rifle part called a lower receiver from a block of aluminium. These parts…
