According to weapons experts, the hybrid models created in this way are significantly more powerful than previous models, not to say more dangerous. Even in the USA there were final attempts to contain the spread. Two years ago, the US Department of Justice adjusted the definition of handguns so that individual parts that can be converted into firearms are now subject to the same regulations as conventional firearms. Mind you, this only affects commercial traders.
Such legal details do not affect the ghost weapon scene. The members network in online forums, in Telegram groups or on the Darknet and share their construction plans with others via appropriate 3D printing portals. The authorities are powerless, especially since the provision of 3D construction plans does not constitute a criminal offense in many countries. And even if that is the case, the authors are hiding in the anonymity of the Internet.
But sometimes a look behind the scenes opens up. This is what happened in 2021. Back then he had Mirror spoke to a weapons tinkerer who went by the name JStark. In fact, it was a German-Kurd named Jacob D. He died two days after the police searched his apartment in Völklingen, Saarland. Information from Great Britain put the German investigators on the trail.
JStark was considered a big name in the scene because, as part of the online collective Deterrence Dispensed, he developed a semi-automatic weapon called the FGC-9 between 2018 and 2020, which was later used by rebels in Myanmar, among others. The production of an FGC-9 is said to have cost less than 500 euros and came with detailed instructions. The model is still being adapted and developed today.
The blueprints for the FMDA 19.2, which Luigi Mangione is said to have used to kill his victim, are also said to have come from Deterrence Dispensed, which is now active under the name The Gatalog. In a handwritten manifesto that Mangione carried with him, he is said to have described the planning of the assassination attempt as “pretty trivial.” All that is required is “social engineering, a lot of patience and rudimentary CAD knowledge” – a reference to the computer-aided design software used in 3D printing processes, among other things.
