UNTRACEABLE DIY firearms are getting deadlier and easier to build in back rooms across the world – and could be impossible to stop, gun experts have warned.
It comes as the creator of the world’s most popular 3D-printed gun – the FGC-9 – was unmasked as incel Jacob Duygu, a former member of the German military.
National GeographicUntraceable weapons known as a ‘ghost gun’ have risen in popularity[/caption]
ICSRJacob Duygu has been unmasked as the creator of the world’s most popular 3D-printed gun[/caption]
ICSRDuygu was previously only known as ‘JStark1809’ who wore a black mask and sunglasses online[/caption]
3D printed pistols and parts on a tableNational Geographic
Duygu was previously only known as JStark1809 – but has now been pictured and named for the first time in a bombshell new report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.
The report describes him as an incel with extremist views – having been linked to more than 700 “anonymous” posts in online forums.
Staying anonymous in a distinctive black mask and sunglasses until his death in 2021, Duygu built a chilling network of 3D-printed gun enthusiasts to create designs and share blueprints online.
And his FGC-9 (F*** Gun Control 9mm) has been seen in the hands of gun enthusiasts, organised criminals, paramilitaries, insurgents, and terrorists across the world.
Firearms experts and police forces fear the homemade weapons are rising in popularity as they become easier to construct.
Often dubbed “ghost guns”, all criminals need in order to create their own DIY weapons are a 3D printer, a tool kit, the right software, a USB stick and readily available parts.
Cody Wilson, a gun rights activist who designs and publishes 3D guns, claims the flow and production of 3D guns will be impossible to stop.
Wilson told The Sun: “Producers and vendors in Amsterdam or the UK, where we see those 3D guns in Europe, is more of a fashion statement, it’s decorative almost.
“Even now, with the advent of like major AI and stuff, it’s not enough to stop the traffic of this stuff.
“This is something that’s with us now, and it’s going to be with us and you have absolute fanatics who will do everything they possibly can to keep it with us.
“We were privileged maybe to live through a period of history where the UN and the EU kind of imagined strong international institutions that could control the flow of small arms.
“That is now a fantasy. That is now an absolute dream. That is not the world you are living in. You can download a gun.”
Wilson created the first 3D-printed weapon in 2013 – The Liberator, which looks like a plastic clapper gun.
The building template was downloaded more than 100,000 times in just a few days.
Nowadays, more and more young people are starting to experiment with modern printable firearms, Wilson claimed.
“Every drug gang has its 3D printer guy who is experimenting with drones and maybe 3D guns or something,” he said.
“I know young people now, young criminals, whose first guns were 3D printed guns. Things have shifted.”
Nils Duquet, director at the Flemish Peace Institute, told The Sun how blueprints for the deadly 3D guns are readily available online.
The illicit firearms trafficking expert said 3D weapons are not only easy to produce within days – but are reliable and difficult to trace with no serial numbers.
Traditionally, individual weapons can be traced back to crimes thanks to their identification numbers.
“Police fear that 3D printing of firearms will further increase the availability of firearms to unauthorised persons, also persons without strong criminal connections,” Duquet said.
“The production of these weapons is also more difficult to track and prevent because they can be made by people without criminal connection.”
This simple process of building the weapon “is strongly connected” to the rise in numbers of younger criminals “who tend to shoot their guns much more frequently than more senior criminals,” Duquet said.
And he warned European streets could fall victim to the rising trend in 3D weapons as firearms experts within European police forces fear these types of weapons will continue to gain popularity.
One of the most popular types of 3D-printed firearms is the FGC-9 (F*** Gun Control 9mm).
The digital blueprints for the FGC-9 were first published in 2020 and an updated version was shared in 2021.
The gun carried the words “live free or die”, with an image of an arm holding a sword dripping in blood.
FGC-9 was designed in such a way that buyers can make the weapon using a mix of components that are commercially available and others that can easily be printed.
And the weapon has been in the hands of criminals and terrorists around the world – and has featured in several criminal cases in the UK.
The creator, previously only known as JStark1809, published a manual that is readily available online and includes 110 pages on how to build your own FGC-9.
He wanted the gun to “kick-start a new era for modern DIY firearm”.
The production of these weapons is more difficult to track and prevent because they can be made by people without criminal connection
Nils Duquet
JStark1809 has now been named as Duygu and pictured for the first time in a report from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London.
Rajan Basra, a senior research fellow at the ICSR, discovered he was a German national with Kurdish parents who arrived as refugees from southeast Turkey in the 1990s.
“JStark was hugely influential within the 3D-printed gun world – and that has only increased since his death,” Dr Basra told Sky News.
He described Duygu was an incel with extremist views.
“His story shows the dangerous overlaps that can exist between these niche online subcultures – with ‘JStark’, it was inceldom and 3D-printed guns,” Dr Basra added.
“There were plenty of warning signs, but fortunately he ultimately didn’t decide to act out violently on his incel beliefs.”
Duygu’s guide covers all the basics of DIY weapons – from how to use a 3D printer to where to purchase all the relevant tools from.
The day-by-day checklist runs through each item required for the gun build, as well as how long the parts will take to print.
In total, the guide says it should take just eight days for the gun to be completed.
He wrote: “I hope that the FGC-9 will kick-start a new era for modern DIY firearm.
“This document and the general design of the FGC-9 shall serve as a benchmark for a future DIY firearm designers.”
Duygu was a founding member and part of Deterrence Dispensed – a decentralised network of 3D printers with over 10,000 members.
The group promotes and distributes open-source 3D-printed firearms, gun parts, and hand-loaded cartridges.
But on October 8, 2021, JStark1809 was found dead in his car just two days after a SWAT raid.
Condolences about the gun fanatic flooded internet chatrooms and YouTube.
The members of Deterrence Dispensed are continuing their work and building the FGC-9, the Liberator pistol, and other designs “available in the name of freedom”.
According to fans, Duygu died a “martyr” as the creator of the infamous F*** Gun Control 9mm firearm.
Earlier this year, investigative reporter Mariana van Zeller met with the makers, dealers and buyers of DIY firearms in both Los Angeles, California and Denver, Colorado.
She told The Sun: “They are already being used all across Europe, people are already assembling them.
“You can buy the 3D printer and that’s not illegal. It is only illegal once it becomes a gun where you are.
“I know from our sources that many of these are being used in Europe.”
Britain has some of the strictest gun ownership laws in the world – where possessing “any relevant component part” of a firearm can be an offence if you don’t have a licence.
It is feared the UK could be overrun with the military grade shooters that cost a few hundred pounds to produce and require only a basic understanding of tech to print.
Former undercover Met cop Peter Bleksley said the rise of 3D-printed weapons “completely changes the criminal landscape”.
“There has been a rapid escalation – it’s very frightening,” he told The Sun in 2021.
“The activists teaching people how to make these weapons are deliberately setting the bar as low as possible – they are deliberately making it so anyone can do it.
“If you can read, have access to the internet, and have £300 spare, off you go.
“The most concerning element is that this cuts across and appeals to all criminality. From the loner in his bedroom to organised crime, they will all find it very attractive.”
ICSRThe ICSR discovered Duygu was a German national with Kurdish parents[/caption]
GettyCriminals need a 3D printer, a tool kit, the right software, and readily available parts[/caption]