(Con):...There has been media
comment about firearms being made by 3d
printing I know that Home Office officials are
aware of this, but does my noble friend the Minister agree that
the current legislation adequately deals with the problem and
that there have been successful prosecutions? I understand that
officials are keeping a close eye on the situation but, at the
moment, the technology of 3d printing
is not quite good enough to make a really effective firearm; you
still need to machine steel...
(Lab): During my
time as Secretary of State for Defence, I grew extremely familiar
with Clemenceau’s axiom that generals always prepare to fight the
last war. It strikes me that, in our attempts to deal with very
serious problems, we sometimes have a tendency to do that too.
However, the Bill is not one of those occasions for this reason,
which is one of the reasons why I commend it to your Lordships’
House: it seeks to close a loophole in Section 11(4) of the
Firearms Act but as part of an incremental process of improving
our firearms laws and in response to concerns raised by law
enforcement in the firearms safety consultation. I do not want to
go back to 3d printing
but I hope that 3D-printed weapons will be a
significant part of that review...
(Lab):...My
honourable friend asked the Minister, , to state
“whether he is confident that even with those changes, the law
would adequately reflect the application of recent technological
developments such as 3d
printing and other evolving technologies”.
The Minister confirmed that
“3D printed weapons—either the weapons
themselves or the components thereof—are treated the same as
regular weapons”.—[Official Report, Commons, 3/3/23; cols.
1075-76.]
For context, OPEN HERE
