The world’s first plastic gun has been successfully fired in Texas.

The small plastic hand gun, or ‘Liberator’, which was made on a second-hand 3D plastic printer, is made entirely of 15 ABS plastic pieces and a ‘DIY nail’ firing pin.

Defense Distributed, the group which developed and produced the firearm, plan to release blue-prints for the gun on the internet, seen by many as a very controversial move.

Much criticism surrounds the possibility of easy access to the gun’s blue-prints should they be made available, as anyone who owns a 3D printer will be able to replicate the firearm which can be undetectable through airport scanners and other security metal detectors.

Cody Wilson, the 25-year-old law student who founded the company that believe they are aiming to “defend the civil liberty of popular access to arms” through “information and knowledge related to the 3D printing of arms”, revealed that the ‘Liberator’ that was fired on Saturday features a 175g piece of steel making it visible on metal detectors, thus complying with US gun laws.

However, the fear is that should blue-prints be released by Defense Distributed, terrorist groups will be able to replicate and manufacture the gun on a large scale.

Although bullets can be detected by scanners, a few hidden discretely inside other metal objects, such as electrical devices

Europe’s law enforcement agency Europol has said it is monitoring developments but at present believes terrorist groups will use more traditional ways of acquiring firearms.

Technologically, the design of the gun is simple built from the principles of a gun: loading a bullet object into reinforced tubing, and then hitting the back of the bullet really hard. The complicated aspects, such as firing a bullet accurately without the firearm breaking or jamming, are still a distant ideal for 3D printers.

On the other hand, many believe that in a few years 3D printers, much like common laser printers today, will be available at more affordable prices than today’s asking prices of £5,000 upwards for second-hand 3D printers.

3D printers have been recognised as the future of manufacturing, with the notion that as printers become cheaper, consumers will download or create their own designs of goods and print them themselves at home.

Whilst some may find it scary to hear that an American student has manufactured his own gun using a laptop and a 3D printer bought on eBay, it is presently easier for someone to build their own firearm from a selection of items bought from a DIY store in their garden shed; think Javier Bardem’s pressurised air gun in No Country for Old Men (below).

Whilst many American anti-gun groups and political figureheads are calling for the introduction of new legislation to essentially stop citizens from producing their own weapons, Defense Distributed’s innovation highlights a promising future for 3D printing, with the hope that someone similar to Cody Wilson will soon release blue-prints for artificial limbs. It will be interesting to monitor what developments are made and what governments will do to counter any plastic firearm threat.