A national police conference has heard anyone could be in the firing line of home-made 3D-printed guns sourced online.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has told the Standing Council on Police and Emergency Management in Darwin there are a range of risks when people stamp out their own plastic firearms from CAD designs available on the internet.

One such design, called 'The Liberator' allows someone to have their own single shot pistol for about $30 in materials and a few hours' printing time.

The NSW Police had earlier printed and tested their own Liberator; the gun exploded upon firing, sending a wayward bullet and plastic fragments flying. The main danger of the 3D-printed weapon seems not to be what it enables a person to do, but rather what unintended results it will throw out.

The IT revolution that is 3D-printing has most certainly arrived, with multiple printers and thousands of designs already available, people around the world are discovering the joys of home design and manufacture. So far there have been no reported injuries from 3D-printed guns in Australia.