Concern as 3D printer gun is test-fired and files go up online

Computer files to create a plastic handgun almost entirely from parts made with a 3D printer have gone online, alarming gun-control advocates after it was successfully test-fired by its inventor.

The single-shot .380-calibre Liberator bears a vague resemblance to its namesake, the FP-45 Liberator pistol that the US developed during the Second World War to be air-dropped to French Resistance fighters.

“Everyone’s seen the movie In The Line of Fire, where one of the great bad guys, [played by] John Malkovich, laboured at making a gun out of plastic and wood so it could get through metal detectors and he could assassinate the president,” US senator Charles Schumer said.