3D guns
Seized plastic handguns which were created using 3D printing technology are displayed at Kanagawa police station in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, in this photo taken by Kyodo May 8, 2014. A 28-year-old Japanese man became the first person to be sentenced to jail for designing and printing 3D guns. Reuters/Kyodo

A 28-year-old Japanese man became the first person to be jailed for designing and printing 3D guns. Yoshitomo Imura reportedly printed five plastic guns, two of which could fire real bullets.

The Yokohama District Court in Japan sentenced the former employee of the Shonan Institute of Technology to a two-year jail term for violating laws that restrict the production of weapons and its possession, the Telegraph reported Friday.

Imura also released 3D design data for his guns on the Internet, an act which was termed as “vicious” by the ruling Judge Koji Inaba, the Telegraph reported, citing local a news outlet. He also added that Imura had “flaunted his skills and knowledge and attempted to make gun controls toothless.”

The Japanese man was arrested in May at his home in Kawasaki, located about 13 miles south of the capital Tokyo, after he posted blueprints of the weapons online, the Daily Mail reported.

Imura reportedly purchased the 3D printer online for about $636 and reportedly produced two weapons between September and December 2013.

Last year, he reportedly posted a video on YouTube showing the assembling of a .38-caliber handgun out of plastic 3D printed pieces.

"Freedom of armaments to all people!!" he wrote in the video's description, according to the Telegraph. "A gun makes power equal!!"

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