Firearms technology and organized crime: Assessing the threat

Abstract There has been a concerning rise in the availability, interce ption, affordability, and technological sophistication of 3D-printed (3DP) guns. This has occurred alongside, and due to, the increasing accessibility of the digital design files required to manufacture them, which are freely and readily available on the surface or open web. Our aim in this chapter is to explore these developments, catalogue evidence concerning cases where individuals have been charged or prosecuted for possession of design files, and their availability on the surface web. We document evidence and explore the risks and potential for organized crime groups to manufacture 3DP firearms. We consider potential policy, preventative and policing responses, highlighting challenges such as harmonization of legal definitions of firearms and their components, and the transnational nature of the Internet. We conclude that further research is required to more fully understand the interplay between organized offending and emerging technologies to inform law, policy, prevention, and policing practice.