Jerusalem – Knesset security has found itself on the defensive after the Israeli Channel 10 news program Tzinor Layla (Nightline) produced a plastic gun on camera using a 3-D printer and successfully got it into the Knesset building twice, highlighting that Israel’s security systems are not equipped to handle this kind of threat.
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Once the parts of the gun were printed and put together, the pistol was tested at a firing range and managed to fire a live bullet at a test target, Haaretz reports (http://bit.ly/1a35vFx). Armed with the weapon, the program’s staff then visited the office of Miri Regev, chairwoman of the Knesset Interior Committee. On their second attempt, one reporter, who had the gun on him, got within a few meters of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The reporter got through all phases of the security check, and came within reach of the prime minister without any detection of the pistol.
In response, Knesset Security Officer Yosef Grif said, “This is a new phenomenon that confronts all the security systems in Israel and abroad with an entirely new type of challenge. In the Knesset, as in all the government ministries and public institutions, the subject is now being examined in order to provide a solution as soon as possible.” Knesset security has also said it is working with other Israeli security organizations to come up with the best ways to deal with the threat this new weapon poses.
On behalf of the Shin Bet Security Service, the Prime Minister’s Office said, “The method of operation described in the report is known and familiar to the security system. In addition to the inspection system there are a number of overt and covert circles of security. This is an irresponsible act that could have endangered those carrying out the dubious ‘journalistic assignment’ and caused them serious harm.”
Twenty-five-year-old Cody Wilson, a law student from Texas, is credited with creating the first pistol ever made on a 3-D printer.