Article: https://tg.la7.it/cronaca/bolzano-coltelli-stampante-3d-a-scuola-denunciato-minore-26-01-2026-251562
Local student arrested for ‘manufacturing weapons.’ In reality, he printed some PLA shivs that would probably shatter if they hit a piece of parmesan cheese. The police seized the printer like it was a meth lab. 10/10 for the dramatic crime scene photo, though.
(Backstory: a few weeks ago a student in another city/school was stabbed with a (iron) knife and died so now politicians need to show that zero tolerance policies are successful.)
Not sure how rules are in Italy, but where I live “switchblades” and other one-hand operated collapsible knives are illegal.
Afaik, all single hand operation deployment knives are illegal in Italy. It’s somewhat of a nonsensical rule when there are teenagers stabbing themselves with kitchen knives, but still…
You can make surprisingly sharp objects, I once cut myself with my printed bed-scraper by accident.
These printed knives can absolutely also be used to hurt/kill someone, if you wanted to…like all type of knives and basic cutlery really…these being an illegal type is the trigger here I believe.
Let’s just hope that the politicians never realize the danger of sharpened sticks or they might ban trees and bushes too.
Of course, I never intended to imply that a plastic knife would not be dangerous