Singapore criminalises unauthorised possession of blueprints for 3D printed guns

The parliament of Singapore has passed a bill that criminalises the unauthorised possession of digital blueprints for the 3D printing of guns. According to the Guns, explosive and weapons control bill, a person commits an offence if they possess a digital blueprint for the manufacture of a gun or a major part of a gun on a 3D printer or on an electronic milling machine, without a license to manufacture the gun or the major part using such means. The law defines a ‘digital blueprint’ as any type of digital (or electronic) reproduction of a technical drawing of the design of an object, while ‘possession of a digital blueprint’ is defined as: (a) possession of a computer or data storage device holding of containing the blueprint or of a document in which the blueprint is recorded; (b) control of the blueprint held in a computer that is in the possession of another person in Singapore (whether the computer is in or outside Singapore).