There are concerns over the alarming number of home-made guns using 3D-printers which don't have serial numbers and are hard to trace. Police say these so called 'ghost guns', are cheap and easy to make, and have been advertised for sale on social media.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Homemade guns. Authorities say the threat is increasing because the firearms are untraceable
00:08and cheap.
00:09These weapons in the wrong hands cause untold harm to the community.
00:15They can be made using 3D printed technology and blueprints that can be found online. While
00:22other firearms are a hybrid using parts of pre-existing guns.
00:27Weapons that police have demonstrated include fully automatic weapons that can shoot 40
00:35rounds before needing to be reloaded.
00:383D printed guns have allegedly been used in high profile crimes overseas and here at home.
00:46Police say every state and territory has seen a rise in illegal manufacturing using 3D printing.
00:53Border Force seized 828 firearms across the country in 2023-24. Federal and state police
01:02believe homemade guns will soon overtake illicit weapon imports.
01:08So rather than people importing firearms from overseas we're now producing our own. So it
01:14really is an issue of significant concern.
01:19Unlike legal firearms, these weapons don't come with safety features, exposing frontline
01:25police to added dangers.
01:28I'm aware at the beginning of December there was a traffic intercept in Burpingerry where
01:32a privately manufactured firearm was located and during its seizure actually went off.
01:38It's illegal to make a 3D printed firearm in Australia and in Queensland, Tasmania and
01:44New South Wales it's an offence to possess a digital blueprint.
01:49A national taskforce has now turned its attention to homemade guns.