Police want to make it an offence to download or possess blueprints for 3D-printed firearms amid rising manufacturing. Video / Ben Dickens / Michael Morrah / Mark Mitchell
Grant McLean, also known as G-Man Mann, was sentenced for using a 3D printer to create two semi-automatic weapons.
He used online blueprints for the FGC-9, which stands for ‘F*** Gun Control’.
Police also found a bullet press after executing a search warrant at a South Auckland storage facility.
A man who has already spent three-and-a-half months in jail and over 1200 days on electronically monitored bail awaiting trial on charges involving the manufacturing of 3D-printed guns will have to spend a little more time on restricted conditions because he can’t get along with others.
Northland resident Grant McLean, who also goes by the moniker G-Man Mann, appeared in Manukau District Court via audio-video feed recently for sentencing after pleading guilty to manufacturing prohibited items, breach of a protection order, and unlawful possession of bullets and a gun magazine.
“This case had an extremely protracted history,” Judge Janey Forrest said, explaining that previous trial dates had been adjourned several times before Mann opted to enter guilty pleas in August.
Because of the delays, the punitive aspects of sentencing “have largely been met” already, the judge said.
“I’m a little concerned that the rehabilitative aspects of sentencing have not been met,” she said, explaining that McLean, 52, has had what has been described by authorities as “a fairly difficult relationship with Corrections staff”.
Court documents state police found the 3D printer and enough parts for two semi-automatic guns inside the garage of his former Papakura, South Auckland home in March 2021.
A 3D-printed FGC-9 Jstark1809 semi-automatic pistol. Photo / Supplied
He had sold the home several months earlier but had initially arranged to keep his belongings in the garage. In January 2021, the new owner asked him to remove his belongings and stop having mail sent to the house but he did not respond. One month later, the new tenants contacted police when a package arrived for McLean that they considered to be suspicious because the packing slip indicated it contained firearms parts.
With the new tenants’ blessing, police conducted a warrantless search.
Inside the garage, they found a partially assembled FGC-9 gun and enough scattered parts to assemble another. McLean’s community service card was found among the parts.
“An FGC-9 is a 3D printed firearm designed to get around various laws around gun control,” according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. “The plans for it, for 3D printing, can be downloaded online. ‘FGC’ stands for ‘F*** Gun Control’.”
Police then obtained a search warrant for a storage unit rented by the defendant.
“Approximately 100 ammunition primers were located inside the storage unit, together with brass ammunition casings, ammunition press tools and projectiles for ammunition,” court documents state.
McLean was not a firearms license holder. In fact, he had been specifically restricted from being in possession of firearms as a result of a protection order against him that had been issued 10 years earlier.
As a result of his guilty pleas, he faced up to four years’ imprisonment for unlawfully possessing the bullets, up to three years for breaching a protection order and up to two years each for possession of the 3D-printed magazine and for manufacturing prohibited items.
He had been initially charged with attempting to manufacture a firearm, punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment, but it was reduced to the lesser manufacturing charge earlier this year.
Owning or downloading blueprints for a 3D-printed gun is not currently illegal, although police have recently advocated making it so.
Crown prosecutor Jazmine Cassidy sought an end to home detention, while defence lawyer Shane Cassidy, who is unrelated to the prosecutor, asked for a sentence of community work. He argued that electronic monitoring was no longer necessary given how long McLean had already been subjected to it.
But the judge noted that McLean had already been ordered by the court to do community work, regarding lesser theft-related charges he was sentenced to in August, and he was not on track to complete it before his sentence ended.
“There seems to be an unwillingness to complete community work,” the judge said, noting that there have been several occasions since his last sentencing in which he has been described as failing to follow directions, intimidating or aggressive towards those tasked with helping him carry out the sentence. “They’re describing you as difficult to work with.”
Shane Cassidy said his client had moved out of Auckland for a fresh start and until recently had perhaps been prioritising his job over his sentence.
“I suspect that’s what’s been driving this is Mr McLean’s desire to move on with his life,” the defence lawyer said.
“I want him to move on too,” the judge replied. “I want him out of the court system.”
While his time in custody and on bail made him “effectively at time served”, the judge said he needed a “short, sharp sentence of community detention” that would “get this over and done with and out of the system” rather than having the reluctant community work drag on. She ordered one month, cancelling the over 100 hours of outstanding community work.
“It seems that your shift up north has been a good one for you,” she said. “You’re wanting to get on with your life and put these matters behind you. I fully endorse that.”
McLean pointed out that he does overnight shift work, meaning the curfew that comes with community detention might endanger his job.
“I realise that’s going to have an impact, but that’s the reality of community work not being addressed,” the judge said.
Police earlier this year told the Herald they’ve seen a “ramping up” in the manufacture of 3D guns by organised crime groups. The so-called “ghost guns”, without serial numbers, are difficult to trace.
Since 2018, 58 3D-printed guns and between 200 and 300 firearms parts have been seized, authorities said at the time.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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