Alleged doomsday prepper Michael Tyler charged with manufacturing guns, parts using 3D printers
Police will allege they discovered a smorgasbord of illegal guns, gun parts and digital blueprints for pistols and military-style weapons throughout Michael Tyler’s Taree home.
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An alleged doomsday prepper charged with using 3D printers to make prohibited guns had turned his northern NSW home into a “firearm manufacturing facility”, a court has heard.
Police will allege they discovered a smorgasbord of illegal guns, gun parts and digital blueprints for pistols and military-style weapons throughout Michael Tyler’s Taree home during a raid in September last year.
Among the weapons allegedly found was a FGC-9 - a semiautomatic pistol purposefully designed to be manufactured on a 3D printer using blueprints downloadable from the internet.
According to documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court, FGC stands for “f—k gun control”, which prosecutors claimed in court “aptly sums up [Tyler’s] attitude to … the laws surrounding firearms in Australia”.
The court heard Tyler was arrested and charged with nine offences including manufacturing a prohibited firearm and multiple counts of possessing digital blueprints to manufacture a firearm.
The 57-year-old was remanded in custody at the time but faced the NSW Supreme Court recently seeking bail.
Justice Sarah McNaughton refused the application, finding the proposed bail conditions were not stringent enough to alleviate the risk he posed if at liberty.
According to prosecution documents tendered in court, police allege Tyler is a reclusive man whose “doomsday prepper” lifestyle made him a potential flight risk on bail.
“Tyler’s premises had multiple rooms set up with food, camouflage outfits and emergency supplies, in line with ‘doomsday preppers’ (sic) outlook,” firearms squad detective Brian Lowe wrote in a letter to the court.
“These items may be accessed and used by Tyler to flee and be self-sufficient avoiding authorities and court obligations.”
However, Tyler’s lawyer hotly disputed the claims, saying to label him a doomsday prepper was “mere speculation” by police.
The court heard NSW detectives were alerted to Tyler’s alleged weaponry stash after initially receiving a referral from the Department of Home Affairs indicating he had imported a number of items “consistent with the manufacture of a 3D printed prohibited firearm”.
Police will allege Tyler’s home had been turned into a “firearm manufacturing facility”, with officers who searched it unearthing two 3D printers, a curing machine designed to increase the hardness and strength of printed items and various chemicals used in the 3D printing process all set up inside a dedicated manufacturing room in the house.
Among the items seized were several gun parts including magazine clips, upper and lower receivers, and a trigger guard, plus a tub of gunpowder.
The court heard detectives also confiscated six legal firearms from the home, which Tyler was permitted to own and use under the terms of his approved firearm’s licence, which has now been suspended.
Tyler, who has no prior criminal record, will remain behind bars on remand ahead of his case returning to court on March 11.
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