this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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My country's police just busted a dangerous 3d printed weapons manufacturer. (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 days ago by Wispy2891@lemmy.world to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
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Article: https://tg.la7.it/cronaca/bolzano-coltelli-stampante-3d-a-scuola-denunciato-minore-26-01-2026-251562

Local student arrested for 'manufacturing weapons.' In reality, he printed some PLA shivs that would probably shatter if they hit a piece of parmesan cheese. The police seized the printer like it was a meth lab. 10/10 for the dramatic crime scene photo, though.

(Backstory: a few weeks ago a student in another city/school was stabbed with a (iron) knife and died so now politicians need to show that zero tolerance policies are successful.)

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[–] entwine@programming.dev 77 points 4 days ago (4 children)

I don't get it, are knives illegal in Italy? What if I want to cut my spaghetti?

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 87 points 4 days ago

What if I want to cut my spaghetti?

[–] squaresinger@lemmy.world 71 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This is the really weird thing. If these knives were made of metal and in a kitchen drawer, nobody would think of them as being weapons. But since they are 3d printed, that's novel enough to warrant some panic or something...

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Not sure how rules are in Italy, but where I live "switchblades" and other one-hand operated collapsible knives are illegal.

[–] Jocarnail@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Afaik, all single hand operation deployment knives are illegal in Italy. It's somewhat of a nonsensical rule when there are teenagers stabbing themselves with kitchen knives, but still...

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

You can make surprisingly sharp objects, I once cut myself with my printed bed-scraper by accident.

These printed knives can absolutely also be used to hurt/kill someone, if you wanted to...like all type of knives and basic cutlery really...these being an illegal type is the trigger here I believe.

[–] Test_Tickles@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Let's just hope that the politicians never realize the danger of sharpened sticks or they might ban trees and bushes too.

[–] treep@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

I could probably poke out some eyes with my knitting needles, glad nobody banned those (yet)!

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[–] Jocarnail@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

It's not because they are 3d printed. He was distributing them at school! That is the problem.

If he were to file down toothbrushes and do the same he would still be arrested and his files confiscated.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 21 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (6 children)

Spring assisted switchblades are illegal in quite a few countries, so I imagine they are in Italy as well. Still completely ridiculous, as these are plastic toy replicas, and not actual knives.

[–] teft@piefed.social 5 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Often even unassisted switchblades are illegal. They're called gravity knives.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Just to be pedantic, gravity knives aren’t switchblades.

They have a blade that slides freely (and under the force of gravity.) the grip is basically a hinged nutcracker that, when closed, traps the sliding blade either deployed or retracted.

In any case, they’re no more dangerous than your standard folding knives of the same general proportions.

The illegality of certain knives (switch blades, gravity knives, balisongs, etc) are largely not based on the danger or actual use of those knives as weapons.

In the US it’s usually reactionary and racism.

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 5 points 3 days ago

Like butterfly knives, many places in the us too. Ny for instance, cops are taught to flick knives open to be able to charge for knives no reasonable person would think fit the gravity description I read once.

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[–] turmacar@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Auto-translate is saying 'snap knife', but I'd imagine it's to do with it being deployable / spring loaded in some way.

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 3 days ago (1 children)

But they didn't confiscate his kitchen knives?

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Those probably have serial numbers and a whole tracking system lol

[–] pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

Did they take away his rocks too?

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 40 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Poor guy even got his ams with four rolls of pla confiscated ☠️

I can't imagine getting a search warrant for toys in a teenager room.

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago

3D printers are not really toys though, regardless of how ridiculous this arrest is. It's a tool, like a hammer or drill...nothing more, nothing less.

[–] Spesknight@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Background: there was a student stabbed to death in Liguria (whole other place) and so media is going crazy about anything knife related.

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 13 points 3 days ago

The students were of Egyptian and Moroccan descent, so right-wing politicians are having a field day with the whole "culture war" shit

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm sure they'll be introducing legislation that makes owning your own means of production onerous if not illegal within a week or two. Can't be having citizens realize they can make their own replacement parts or consumer items!

[–] Stampela@startrek.website 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There’s a little nuance here, the kid was dumb enough to bring one of those to school, so some worry is warranted… some. Now as you can imagine this is going to have consequences, but as we do have functional gun control laws, it’ll be something inane. Probably won’t impact 3D printing at all is the upside.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Italy is fairly rightwing and has been drifting more right over time. Don't underestimate their ability to not let a crisis go to waste!

[–] Stampela@startrek.website 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah, but we seem to like hampering the right to manifest, so I’m sure it’ll get thrown in the mix.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That's performative. Sucks to be the student who will have his life ruined to be made "an example" out of.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

The just d took a shortcut to filing a toothbrush. Those don't do shit a kitchen knife wouldn't do.

[–] Bazell@lemmy.zip 19 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

People who 3D print anime weapons replicas:

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The swing speed on Guts' greatsword is so slow, the cops have plenty of time to unload 2 maybe even 3 magazines into them, so they're not as dangerous as the faster DPS weapons like daggers and shivs.

[–] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 3 points 3 days ago

Yeah, but in this case it's less a sword and more a lump of plastic.

[–] sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 12 points 3 days ago

Hopefully someday these places make murder illegal so people can't kill others without violating the law.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

he printed some PLA shivs that would probably shatter if they hit a piece of parmesan cheese.

How big of a piece of parmesan are we talking? Ever tried to cut into a wheel of cold parmesan? It's pretty tough. Meatbags are a lot less tough.

That being said, we learned how to make knives by smashing a couple of rocks together like a thousand years ago, this ain't stopping nobody.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can confirm it's much harder to stab a wheel of parmesan cheese than a person, but at least the cheese doesn't scream

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 2 points 3 days ago

Ok, I'm stabbing the cheese wrong then I guess.

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 10 points 3 days ago

Next we'll all see more legislation to make 3D printer software monitor everything you make and auto-report anything deemed dangerous to the elite

[–] escapeVelocity@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago

This guy will go to jail and start making knives for other inmates lol

[–] fonix232@fedia.io 11 points 3 days ago

To be perfectly fair, a proper wheel of Parmigianino Reggiano IS quite hard...

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 5 points 3 days ago

Those knives sure are dangerous

Hope they will soon ban these too and put their manufacturer in jail:

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wow. Going after letter openers now, are they?

[–] Jocarnail@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago

If you were to bring a letter opener to school and sell it to your friends you would still get a nice meeting with the police. The existence of the journal article is more related to the fact that a kid was stabbed to death in school last week, than to the fact that a dumb kid did something stupid and marginally related to his 3d printer.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Well, I guess if I ever move to Italy I'll be screwed...

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