LAST UPDATE | 28 Jun 2025

GARDAÍ FEAR DRUG gangs in Ireland have made connections with a gun supplier who’s providing criminals with lethal ‘throw away’ 3D-printed plastic guns, The Journal has learned. 

It comes after gardaí seized at least five of the guns, known as Harlot 22LR or Derringer break-action pistols, in recent days. It’s believed the guns, which have a distinctive green colouring, were printed from a file that’s downloadable online.

The seizures happened in Dublin, Tipperary and in Shannon. The Shannon incident happened on Friday morning and it was part of a broader intelligence led operation targeting organised crime in the area.

We have discovered a large number of websites, apparently hosted in the US, which permit a member of the public in Ireland to get the blueprints to enable a DIY version of the gun to be produced at home. 

The devices can only be constructed with 3D printers which cost between €300 to €2,000 for basic models.

Gardaí are investigating the proliferation of these 3D-printed guns, however sources said that at this stage of their probe it’s not yet clear whether they’re being produced abroad or being manufactured in Ireland.

One of the websites advertising the print file for a gun similar to the ones seized in Ireland offers the plans for less than the price of a box of cigarettes in Ireland – less than $20 US. The website describes it as a ‘throw away’ gun.

A stock image of a gun printing device. Shutterstock Shutterstock

3D-printed guns became more widely available in the mid-2010s, with Texas-based ‘crypto-anarchist’ Cody Wilson playing a central role by offering the digital schematics needed to make a weapon.

Europol have also issued warnings about Far Right extremists obtaining printed guns. 

Dissident Republican groups, such as Óglaigh na hÉireann (OnH), have been spotted at events wielding 9mm 3D printed FGC sub-machine (FGC stands for ‘Fuck Gun Control’).

It is understood Far Right groups in the UK have also been spotted with the same guns. Mark Wolf was jailed for 10 years in 2023. Gardaí found child sexual abuse imagery on his phones and footage of a massacre of Muslim worshipers by a white supremacist in New Zealand. 

 In 2022 a man, who is originally from the UK, was arrested by gardaí in possession of homemade guns in Dublin – he was a Far Right sympathiser, and was later jailed.

Ghost guns

The US has been gripped in an epidemic of so-called ‘ghost guns’ – which is a term that broadly describes firearms that are bought as incomplete frames and receivers.

These components are being purchased across the US as they bypass US Law Enforcement. The ‘ghost guns’ are then turned into functional guns by assembling them with other parts that can be ordered separately.

Brian Thompson, CEO of US health insurer UnitedHealthcare, was allegedly shot dead by Luigi Mangione using a ghost gun.

Sources have said that ghost guns of this type have have not appeared in Ireland as yet.

In the past illegal firearms were either stolen from legitimate owners such as farmers or were shipped into Ireland in drug shipments or attained from stocks of weapons formerly held by the IRA.

A statement has been requested from An Garda Síochána.