The sad reality was far from the image of a Second Amendment-loving hero he projected as JStark online, where he was lionised after appearing in a 2020 documentary wearing a black balaclava and military-style clothing while unloading an FGC-9 in a forest.
“I have a responsibility to make sure everybody has the option to be able to get a gun,” he stated, with his voice electronically modified into a deep crackle. “The way they use it is up to them.”
Conspiracy theories sparked by Duygu’s death turbocharged his narrative of state “tyranny”, with supporters vowing to make the FGC-9 in his memory, while news coverage of his death brought the weapon to international attention.
Interpol, the international law enforcement body, believes it is now the world’s most popular 3D-printed weapon, and it has inspired several adaptations. They include an FGC-type weapon photographed being brandished by members of Real IRA splinter group Óglaigh na hÉireann at a 2022 Easter parade in Belfast.
Dr Basra says the gun has now “taken off” and is spreading so rapidly that authorities must consider “concrete steps to reduce the prevalence of these designs and tackle people that are trying to make these guns in the UK”.
Possession of the FGC-9’s manual is now being charged as a terror offence in Britain, but success requires prosecutors to prove an ideological mindset that those possessing the instructions for purely criminal purposes are unlikely to have.
Without that, those seeking to make the gun can only be prosecuted if they have already made component parts that breach the Firearms Act 1968.
The FGC-9 case is an example of how traditional regulation has failed to keep pace with modern technology. Plans and manuals can be freely distributed online, and 3D-printers, which use an additive process to produce 3D models, have enabled production processes once associated with factories to be carried out in our homes.
In theory, this was a boon for those keen to develop prototypes capable of improving our day-to-day lives, but it was not long before people adapted the technology to more dubious ends. The first 3D-printed gun emerged in 2013. Called The Liberator, it was the brainchild of Cody Wilson, an American pro-firearms activist. Since then, there have been countless models. In 2021, a Florida gun range held a competition for 3D-printed weapons.