3D printers are a veritable revolution. They make it possible to print anything at home: from decorative objects to figurines and even prosthetic limbs. To do it, all it takes is to download the blueprints for any of the millions of items available online.

Unfortunately, among these objects there are blueprints for real firearms. Accessible without restriction and in just a few clicks, anyone who owns a 3D printer can, in a few hours, manufacture their own functional weapons at home that are untraceable and undetectable.

The European countries have extremely stringent laws related to firearms. But those printed in 3D escape every form of control.

To date, no law or initiative has attempted to halt their spread.

Dagoma, a European leader in 3D printing, decided to stop this plague by launching operation Harmless Guns.

3D-printed weapons pose a genuine threat because they are untraceable and undetectable.

Untraceable because they carry no serial number. Undetectable because they are made of plastic and can therefore pass through any security checks easily.

The European countries have extremely stringent laws related to firearms. But those printed in 3D escape every form of control.

To date, no law or initiative has managed to stop their spread or their manufacture, at a time when the danger is more present than ever.

And the millions of 3D printers in circulation are becoming potential gun factories.

In parallel, the gun blueprints continue to spread on the web and are accessible on dozens of websites in a few clicks. And the 3d weapons available for download are becoming increasingly sophisticated, year after year.

It is for all these reasons that Dagoma decided, as a responsible and engaged manufacturer of 3D printers, to actively fight against these weapons.

To fight 3D-printed weapons, Dagoma attacked the root of the problem, their blueprints.

Through a participative platform, real weapon blueprints were collected with the help of web users. Then they were modified so none of the parts fit together, making the printed weapons completely harmless.

To ensure the blueprints are credible in the eyes of web users wishing to obtain a gun, all modifications are imperceptible to the naked eye: weight, appearance, name, composition. Then these blueprints were spread in the same places where the originals were found: forums, chats, 3D model platforms. All this with a single goal, to make real blueprints extremely hard to find, to discourage people who want a gun.

With the files collected to create HarmlessGuns, we developed software that detects and prevents printing of 3D weapons on Dagoma printers. It’s open source, so every manufacturer can prevent printing of weapons on their printers.

We created a participative platform on the Dagoma website to involve web users. They sent us hundreds of different blueprints which we then modified to make the weapons impossible to use once printed.

To target people seeking to make their own weapons on the web, we copied the strategy of the 3d-printed weapon blueprint creators. We created fake user profiles and used VPNs to be untraceable. Then we spread the blueprints in the same places where the real ones had been found: on 3D model platforms (Thingiverse, 3DShare, 3Dupndown, Yobi3D, Grabcad), in discussion group chats (Youtube, Reddit), on forums (DefCad, GitHub…).

Finally, with some developers, we created a software that detects 3d-printed weapon blueprints and prevents them from being printed. We made it available to all 3D printer manufacturers on the Dagoma website.

The campaign required 8 months of work.

From June 2018, we collected 3D weapon blueprints with the help of web users via a participative platform on the Dagoma website.

Then the blueprints were made harmless and spread on forums, chats and specialist platforms to discourage people wanting to make their own 3D-printable weapon.

Finally, on 9 January 2019, we revealed the operation to journalists and the media with brand content and a PR kit containing harmless guns.

The campaign was immediately picked up by television, the press and social media around the world. This media coverage allowed us to promote the open source software preventing the printing of weapons and made available to the 3D industry. And to create awareness of Dagoma’s commitment against 3D-printed weapons.

Without any media investment, and in less than 10 days, the operation was communicated in France and internationally on 10 TV stations, notably France 2 and BFM, and in dozens of articles.

The campaign generated over 128 million impressions in more than 25 countries (including USA, France, Australia, England, Korea and Turkey).

Visits to the Dagoma website increased 43%.

13,000 harmless guns have been downloaded, wearing down the nerves of users but importantly preventing the printing of thousands of functional weapons.

The software preventing the printing of 3D weapons has been downloaded by several 3D printer manufacturers who are integrating it in their printing application.

And this operation allowed Dagoma to be seen by the public as the first company to actively engage against 3D-printed weapons.