Bristol man jailed for 3D-printing sub-machine gun and posting it to accomplice
Court heard that an unemployed armourer manufactured a firearm in his garage, sold converted weapons on profit, and coordinated smuggling plans with a Liverpool partner.
By Matthew Collins ·
More than 1,000 bullets and 35 blank-firing rifles formed the core inventory seized from the home of Luke Fortune in July. The 23-year-old resident of Mapstone Rise in Longwell Green was sentenced to prison on Friday, November 6, for a series of firearms offences that included the manufacture of a 3D-printed sub-machine gun.
Fortune operated his criminal enterprise from the garage of his family home. He purchased tools and equipment to convert blank-firing weapons into lethal firearms, a process he conducted between 2022 and 2024. His bank records indicated he spent several thousand pounds on blank firearms during that period. He admitted to two counts of firearms possession, two counts of possessing ammunition, one count of converting firearms, one count of manufacturing a firearm, one count of selling or transferring firearms, and one count of conspiracy to import firearms.
Digital evidence revealed a close partnership between Fortune and Gerard Dagnall, a 33-year-old firearms offender from Norris Green, Liverpool. Dagnall had previously attempted to smuggle eight handguns from Belgium into the United Kingdom and was sentenced in November 2024 to eight years and three months in prison. Messages between the two men showed that Fortune was intended to receive a share of Dagnall's smuggled stock. Fortune also brokered deals for Dagnall to sell guns to other criminals. The pair discussed a joint plan to travel to Thailand to smuggle firearms back to the UK, with subsequent trips to Belgium planned for additional acquisitions.
The most striking piece of evidence involved the 3D-printed FGC9 sub-machine gun. Fortune mailed the weapon to Dagnall and included a video of himself test-firing it in a wooded area. Dagnall responded with a photograph of the package placed next to his passport, writing: “I can’t believe you sent me a machine gun through the post.”
Avon and Somerset Police arrested Fortune again in January 2026 while he was on bail. Officers found two handguns, including a Glock-type pistol and a revolver, hidden in a bush in Longwell Green. A separate National Crime Agency raid on Fortune’s home uncovered numerous blank bullets, cartridges, cases, and primers in various stages of conversion.
Andy Lawton, a senior investigating officer with the NCA, described Fortune as a dangerous offender who disregarded the potential devastation caused if converted guns reached the wrong hands. Lawton noted that UK firearms crime remains among the lowest in the world and that protecting the public is a principal priority for the NCA and its partners in policing and Border Force. Nigel James, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, stated that Fortune set up his enterprise from within his family home and that the scale of his offending was deeply troubling. James added that prosecutors secured the convictions by piecing together a trail of messages, financial records, and firearms evidence.
The case highlights recent efforts to reduce the number of blank-firing weapons in circulation. Approximately 4,300 top-venting blank firearms were surrendered during two amnesties held during 2025 and 2026. The NCA and the National Police Chiefs’ Council organized these amnesties, targeting specific models including four Turkish-made guns in 2025 and five types of Italian-made Bruni blank firers this year.
