Gardaí are working to tackle a very modern problem posed by 3D-printed plastic guns flowing into the hands of gangs in the country.
At least five of the 'throw away' guns, known as Harlot 22LR or Derringer break-action pistols, were seized by gardaí in recent days, The Journal reports.
The guns, which have a distinctive green colouring, are believed to have been printed from a file that’s downloadable online.
The seizures happened in Dublin, Tipperary and in Shannon. The Shannon incident happened on Friday morning as part of a broader intelligence led operation targeting organised crime in the area.
A large number of websites seemingly hosted in the US facilitate the acquisition of blueprints necessary to enable a DIY version of the gun to be produced at home.
One of the websites advertising the print file for a gun similar to the ones seized in Ireland offers the plans for less than the price of a box of cigarettes in Ireland – less than €17.
The website describes it as a ‘throw away’ gun.
Texas-based ‘crypto-anarchist’ Cody Wilson played a central role in the proliferation of 3D guns in the emid-2010s by offering the digital schematics needed to make a weapon.
Europol have issued warnings relating to their use by far-right extremists.
Dissident Republican groups such as Óglaigh na hÉireann have been spotted at events wielding 9mm 3D printed FGC sub-machine guns.
It is understood Far Right groups in the UK have also been spotted with the same guns. Mark Wolf was jailed for 10 years in 2023.
Gardaí found child sexual abuse imagery on his phones and footage of a massacre of Muslim worshipers by a white supremacist in New Zealand.
In 2022 a man, who is originally from the UK, was arrested by gardaí in possession of homemade guns in Dublin. He was a far-right sympathiser, and was later jailed.
The US has been gripped in a recent epidemic of ‘ghost guns’ - firearms that are bought as incomplete frames and receivers.
These components are being purchased across the US as they bypass US Law Enforcement. The ‘ghost guns’ are then turned into functional guns by assembling them with other parts that can be ordered separately.
CEO of US health insurer UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was allegedly shot dead by Luigi Mangione using a ghost gun.
Ghost guns of this type are not thought to have appeared in Ireland yet.
In the past, illegal firearms were stolen from legitimate owners such as farmers, shipped into Ireland in drug shipments or attained from stocks of weapons formerly held by the IRA.
