REGINA — The capability of 3D printers to create firearms is raising concerns with the Regina Police Service (RPS).
In a recent report, the police flagged 3D printers as one of the reasons firearms manufacturing is increasing.
“As technology advances, people use it for good, and then obviously for nefarious purposes as well,” said RPS Deputy Chief Laural Marshall in a media scrum on Tuesday.
Marshall said the police service is seeing mostly hobbyists creating the weapons.
She mentioned the risk this creates as firearms trickle into the community, including telling the difference between a 3D printed gun and a toy gun.
“In the next few years, that could really become an issue,” said Marshall.
As for approaching weapons, Marshall said police always assume the risk of a firearm even when it looks like a toy gun.
“So it's just treating everything with safety foremost and dealing with it, whether it looks real or not. We don't know what we're dealing with.”
A wider-scale issue:
RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather, Officer in Charge of Criminal Operations for the RCMP Central Region, said 3D-printed firearms have been a rising issue in certain parts of Canada over the last five years.
“We know they’re emerging in the West, B.C., in particular, and then in Central Canada [Ontario and Quebec] as well.”
Like the RPS report, Leather noted that most of these firearms are not made by criminal organizations.
“We've seen several folks producing these weapons who happen to have the technical wherewithal to procure the printers and materials required to make these firearms.”
Since there isn’t a crime group associated with these cases normally, Leather said it creates a challenge.
“It's been very scattered and difficult to investigate because if we think about it, say in the meth and fentanyl world, where there are precursors, there's a way to begin to detect those that are producing here. It's the printers themselves, which are not registered with the government, that make it challenging.”
Marshall noted that under legislation, it’s illegal to possess software that produces or facilitates the manufacturing of 3D printed firearms.
Since 3D printers are accessible in many stores across Canada, Marshall said this makes it tough for police to prevent weapons from being created.
As for banning 3D printers to prevent easy access, Leather said this wouldn't be warranted.
“Ninety-nine per cent of 3D printer applications are legitimate and helpful. I mean, you think about it in terms of engineering, medical prostheses and other artificial limbs.”
He added, “So [it’s] very difficult for a government to legislate against their production and use when so much, in fact, the overwhelming majority of what they're used for is legitimate and to the betterment of society.”
For now, Leather said it’s important to educate police and citizens on the matter.
