Question reference: S6W-14265
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 24 January 2023
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 February 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-13758 by Keith Brown on 19 January 2023, for what reason it does not hold this information; what consideration it has given to doing so, and whether Police Scotland holds this information.
Answer
The data received from Police Scotland for producing the National Statistics on Recorded Crime, is a simple count of the number of crimes and offences, for each local authority, which the police have recorded and cleared up. As such we are unable to separately identify any offences that included the seizure of a 3D printer or 3D printed guns. We also produce Official Statistics on crimes and offences involving the use of firearms in Scotland, but this doesn’t include information on seizures of weapons.
Whilst user needs are kept under review, there are no current plans to collect data on this specific type of activity as Police Scotland can be contacted for further information. In terms of the current position, they have confirmed that as of January 2023, there have been no seizures of 3D printed guns or 3D printers being used for illicit purposes.