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.)

    • squaresinger@lemmy.worldEnglish
      48·
      9 days ago

      This is the really weird thing. If these knives were made of metal and in a kitchen drawer, nobody would think of them as being weapons. But since they are 3d printed, that’s novel enough to warrant some panic or something…

      • Jocarnail@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        8 days ago

        It’s not because they are 3d printed. He was distributing them at school! That is the problem.

        If he were to file down toothbrushes and do the same he would still be arrested and his files confiscated.

    • turmacar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      9 days ago

      Auto-translate is saying ‘snap knife’, but I’d imagine it’s to do with it being deployable / spring loaded in some way.

  • Wispy2891@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    241·
    9 days ago

    Poor guy even got his ams with four rolls of pla confiscated ☠️

    I can’t imagine getting a search warrant for toys in a teenager room.

  • Spesknight@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    8 days ago

    Background: there was a student stabbed to death in Liguria (whole other place) and so media is going crazy about anything knife related.

  • DaddleDew@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    9 days ago

    That’s performative. Sucks to be the student who will have his life ruined to be made “an example” out of.

    • Jocarnail@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      8 days ago

      If you were to bring a letter opener to school and sell it to your friends you would still get a nice meeting with the police. The existence of the journal article is more related to the fact that a kid was stabbed to death in school last week, than to the fact that a dumb kid did something stupid and marginally related to his 3d printer.