Possession of digital blueprints for manufacture of firearms

Offence title:

Possession of digital blueprints for manufacture of firearms

Act:

51F Firearms Act (NSW)

Offence:

A person must not possess a digital blueprint for the manufacture of a firearm on a 3D printer or on an electronic milling machine.

Penalty:

Imprisonment for 14 years

Summary/Indictable/mixed:

Mixed

Jurisdiction:

Local, District or Supreme Court

How committed:

Person A finds a blueprint for a gun on the internet and downloads it out of curiosity.

Important note:

Five defences:

(1)   This offence does not apply to:

1. Someone authorised by a licence or permit to manufacture the firearm concerned, or
2. Someone acting in the ordinary course of the person’s duties as a member (other than a police officer) of the Police Force.

 (2)   Innocent production, dissemination or possession: It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under section 51F if the defendant proves that the defendant did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the defendant possessed the digital blueprint concerned.

 (3)   The defendant proves that the digital blueprint concerned came into the defendant’s possession unsolicited and the defendant, as soon as the defendant became aware of its nature, took reasonable steps to get rid of it.

 (4)   Public benefit: It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under section 51F if the defendant proves that the conduct engaged in by the defendant

1. was of public benefit, and
2. did not extend beyond what was of public benefit.

[NOTE: Conduct is of public benefit if, and only if, the conduct is necessary for or of assistance in:

1. enforcing or administering a law of the State, or of another State, a Territory or the Commonwealth, or
2. monitoring compliance with, or investigating a contravention of, a law of the State, or of another State, a Territory or the Commonwealth, or
3. the administration of justice.

[NOTE: The question of whether a person’s conduct is of public benefit is a question of fact and the person’s motives for engaging in the conduct are irrelevant.]

(5)   Approved research: It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under section 51F if the defendant proves that the conduct engaged in by the defendant:

1. was necessary for or of assistance in conducting scientific, medical, educational, military or law enforcement research that has been approved by the Attorney General in writing for the purposes of this section, and
2. did not contravene any conditions of that approval.

digital blueprint means any type of digital (or electronic) reproduction of a technical drawing of the design of an object.

possession, of a digital blueprint, includes the following:

1. possession of a computer or data storage device holding or containing the blueprint or of a document in which the blueprint is recorded,
2. control of the blueprint held in a computer that is in the possession of another person (whether the computer is in this jurisdiction or outside this jurisdiction).