Day: August 5, 2018

On 2^nd August, the Center for International Strategic Studies published an article saying that 3D printing technology allows the manufacturing of metal-free guns that are nearly impossible to identify with metal-detection security measures.  Understanding how and why export controls have taken on such a central role in the debate over 3D printing of guns is critical to understanding what the Trump administration’s policy reversal means, and what its implications may be in the years ahead.  The article set out the current situation under US laws.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/fired-over-firearms-how-do-export-controls-relate-3-d-printing-guns

RTE on 4^th August carried a feature saying that the investigations by the Criminal Assets Bureau into the financial dealings of the organised crime group led by Dublin man Liam Byrne give an insight into the business of crime at the highest level in Ireland; and strong connections to international criminality in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands.  It refers to businesses that do not operate as legitimate businesses should, and are in fact, are a cover for laundering money earned from crime.  This was facilitated by a system that operated through car dealerships and other businesses in Ireland and the UK.  The gang also used the mechanisms of the motor trade as “a trading and alternate currency system” and the cars and motorbikes represented currency among criminals and were moved between organised crime groups.  It looks at the gang’s drug smuggling into Ireland and VAT fraud in the UK.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2018/0803/982893-crime-liam-byrne/