‘Extreme cannabis addict’ Robert Huxtable made guns and firearm parts using 3D printer

A man with an “extreme” cannabis addiction made firearms – including a working handgun and cannon – with a 3D printer just to “see if he could do it”, a court heard.

A Kangaroo Island man with an “extreme cannabis addiction” used a 3D printer to make a range of weapons – including a working handgun and a cannon – because he was tinkering to “see if he could do it”, a court has heard.

Robert Craig Huxtable, 25, was arrested at his parents’ Wisanger farm last September after police uncovered the weapons haul.

In a District Court hearing it was revealed Huxtable – who has pleaded guilty to six weapons manufacturing-related offences – made a “green polymer plastic firearm that was functioning correctly”.

“That firearm in fact had gunshot residue within it, showing that it previously had been fired,” James Slocombe, prosecuting, told the court.

Robert Craig Huxtable outside court after an earlier hearing.

The court heard that weapon was also loaded at the time it was found. The court heard the other weapons were gun parts, or “incomplete” firearms.

Judge Simon Stretton, who presided over the hearing, said a report indicated Huxtable had also made a working cannon “that appeared to have been fired”.

“There was also black powder, which is the explosive material that would be used in the cannon,” he said.

The court heard Huxtable had not been charged over the cannon because he entered guilty pleas at a very early stage and it was to be considered as “background” to the other offences.

Marie Shaw KC, for Huxtable, told the court her client’s case was “unusual” and that he had been cooperative with police, explaining to them that “he was just tinkering, ‘seeing if he can do it’” after learning how to use a 3D printer in high school technology classes.

The 3D-printed firearms found at the Kangaroo Island farm. Picture: SA Police

“So he had bought himself a 3D printer and commenced making things for around the farm and then naively had looked up online … he described to the police he might use it for hunting on the farm, that is in the context of feral cats,” she said.

“There was never any intention to take any of these items beyond the tinkering, or potential use on the farm.”

Judge Stretton said the weapons created “could have no conceivable legitimate use” and had not been secured.

“Even if he had a completely innocent attitude to this, even if he was making all these things for no apparent reason … those guns are available to be misused by others, stolen, used in crime or used on a domestic context if somebody snaps.”

He adjourned the case for six months to allow Huxtable to address his “extreme cannabis addiction” which a psychologist had found “would massively reduce his chance of reoffending”.

“This court, over many years, has seen how destructive long-term cannabis use is. There’s a myth about that it’s harmless; it’s not harmless, particularly when there’s a high degree of addiction. You become detached from reality, you’re in your own little world and things like this can happen.”

He adjourned the case until December to allow Huxtable to undergo regular drug-testing and address his cannabis addiction.