Your Privacy Choices
A friend of TFB sent me this story and, even though it’s more than a year old, I thought it might lead to an interesting discussion or two. The Queensland Police in Australia were doing what good detectives do and uncovered an organized criminal drug enterprise that was also manufacturing firearms. This ‘secret gun factory’ appears to have been outfitted with a 3D printer to make firearm parts.
The Gold Coast Bulletin goes on to state that the above improvised weapon “resembles a TEC-9, a popular and deadly firearm banned in several cities in the US”.
- Issue #1: Referring to the above-pictured abomination as resembling a TEC-9 is an insult to the hard-working engineer(s) who designed the TEC-9.
- Issue #2: Even though I drooled over the TEC-9s laid out in the glass case at the LGS when I was I kid, I would never pretend that they were ever “popular”.
- Issue #3: All responsible gun owners realize that every gun is “deadly”. However, in some instances, I could see that the TEC-9 is actually less deadly than other guns on the market. I mean, sure, it was featured in Beverly Hills Cop II, Falling Down and Robocop, but the bad guys in the A-Team never hit anything or anyone when spraying with their TEC-9s.
Anyway, I came here looking for 3D printed gun parts and all I found were laughable gun facts and sensational journalism. Anyone else?
“Secret Gun Factory”
Credit: Gold Coast Bulletin
new sTory: Machine guns, drugs — inside the Gold Coast’s secret gun factory
The firearms came with magazines and silencers and at least one was professionally packed in a hard-shell, foam-lined case.
Police confirmed early evidence indicated the guns had already been test fired.
The weapons resemble the Intratec TEC-9, a popular and deadly firearm banned in several cities across the US where it has been used in gang violence.
At a professionally fitted out workshop in Lawrence Dr, Nerang, officers found a drug laboratory and a commercial pill press, along with a 3D printer used to make parts for the guns, lathes, drill presses and other tools.
Police also discovered three silencers, computers, ammunition, magazines, a taser, drugs and other gun parts.
At a Hilldon Ct business in Nerang, they found a lab capable of producing commercial amounts of methylamphetamine as well as a .45 calibre pistol, a replica handgun, an air rifle, steroids and ammunition, along with cannabis, GBH — also known as fantasy — steroids, a flick knife and amphetamines. – Read more on the Gold Coast Bulletin.
