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| A 3D gun illustration |
(Scroll down for video) Israeli security officials are angry after television reporters smuggled a printed 3D gun into the Israeli parliament building, and one reporter even pointed the gun undetected at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The journalists were able to smuggle the homemade plastic weapon into the Knesset with little difficulty, the television station said.
Tzinnor Layla, a television correspondent, printed the gun on a three-dimensional printer following the instructions he downloaded from the Internet.
Investigative reporters went through all the security checks of the Knesset with the weapon in their possession. They were first taken to a meeting at the office of the Knesset Internal Affairs Committee Chairwoman Miri Regev.
On a second occasion, the television reporter Uri Even, brought the gun into a Knesset ceremony with Benjamin Netanyahu, sitting less than 10 rows away from the prime minister. When Netanyahu rose to speak, he even pulled the gun, held close to his abdomen, and even pointed it at the prime minister.
Yossi Grif, a senior security guard at the Knesset, admitted that the new technology "presents a whole new challenge for all security systems in Israel and in the world." “The Knesset, as well as all government offices and public institutions, are investigating the issue in order to provide a professional solution as soon as possible,” he said.
Hundreds of domestic 3D printers are in private hands in Israel, which could produce an unlimited number of weapons. 3D printers are available on Israeli websites for as low as about $2,000. The plastic raw material cost only $50 more.
The Office of the Prime Minister, and the Israel Security Agency, criticized the move, calling it "an irresponsible act that could have endangered those who carried out this missions and that it could have caused serious injury."