Airport security3-D printed plastic gun discovered at Nevada airport

Published 11 August 2016

Airport screening agents at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada last week confiscated a plastic handgun produced with a 3-D printer from a man’s carry-on luggage. Federal official said Wednesday this might have been the first time a 3D-made gun was discovered as a passenger was trying to bring it on board. Airport authorities said the white gun was loaded with five .22-caliber bullets, but that it was a replica that could not fire and.

The Liberator, a working 3-D printer firearm // Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Airport screening agents at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada last week confiscated a plastic handgun produced with a 3-D printer from a man’s carry-on luggage. Federal official said Wednesday this might have been the first time a 3D-made gun was discovered as a passenger was trying to bring it on board.

Airport authorities said the white gun was loaded with five .22-caliber bullets, but that it was a replica that could not fire and.

Whether it’s a replica or not, it’s not allowed,” Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said, noting that people in the airplane cabin might not be able to distinguish a real gun from a replica.

The bullets were detected on a luggage scanner, according to the police report obtained Wednesday.

ABC News reports that the passenger was identified as Frederick Vandeman, 64, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, who told police he was a medical doctor who owns a 3-D printer and wanted to show his work to colleagues. He also said he had flown with the gun from Indiana and forgot it was in his bag.

He left the gun and ammunition with security at the Reno airport and was allowed to continue traveling, Dankers said. He was not charged with a crime.

Vandeman is now facing a fine up to $7,500, “depending on the circumstance,” Dankers said. Such a process would be administrative, not public.

ABC New notes that the police report said the early morning American Airlines flight on 4 August was bound for Dallas-Fort Worth. It said the FBI was alerted and was waiting to interview Vandeman in Memphis, Tennessee, which was his final destination.

An FBI spokeswoman in Las Vegas referred questions to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

ATF spokeswoman Helen Dunkel said she had no immediate information about the case.

TSA’s Dankers said she did not know whether any other 3-D plastic guns had been found at other airports, but added that her initial inquiries did not find any other cases.

Dankers said firearms, ammunition, and firearm parts are always prohibited in carry-on baggage. All these items can be transported in checked baggage, but the traveler must declares them to the airline during check-in, she said.

3D all-plastic guns cannot be detected by airport security screening machines. A law being considered in Congress would require that all firearms have some metal parts so them to allow detection.