ANTI-gun activists are urging action to shutdown a controversial project to produce fully printable firearms and threat "to put a gun in the hands of every citizen".

Defense Distributed is behind the operation to manufacture the world's first fully printable, mostly plastic gun using basic three-dimensional printers which today cost as little as $1000.

The American company began testing its printed parts for a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle in December and have so far found its 30-round magazines can last 100 bullets before beginning to wear.

It will release its complete designs for free online.

Gun-control advocates worldwide fear online access to a gun's design plans will lead people to illegally build their own firearm on a 3D printer and fire it minutes later.

Roland Browne of Gun Control Australia said he feared organised crime would seize on the technology and labelled the project a "grave threat" to public safety.

Semi-automatic AR-15 rifles were used in the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School and Aurora cinema massacres, which together killed a total of 38 people.

Such weapons are highly restricted in Australia. In most states, licensing for semi-automatic weapons is limited to people involved in the military, the police or large-scale pest control.

AR-15 rifles use standard hunting and military cartridges.

"The ammunition is not impossible to get a hold of in Australia," Mr Browne said.

"If people here can manufacture these guns in their backyards it's a disturbing development.

"It’s the American gun lobby’s ideology to put a gun in the hands of every citizen and it’s finding its way to Australia."

He said there was a "deafening silence" from government and pro-gun lobby Sporting Shooters' Association of Australia (SSAA), who should be urging their American counterparts to "pull Defense Distributed into line".

"There needs to be a loud voice in Australia ... to shut this operation down," he said.

But SSAA spokesman Tim Bannister brushed off community safety concerns and objected to taking action.

"I don't think it's any of our business what happens in America," Mr Bannister said.

"It's clever, it's fascinating ... but of course it's totally illegal.

"A printed gun is probably not the most dangerous thing they (criminals) could use because it's going to break after a few shots and they're going to injure themselves."

Mr Bannister said he did not believe the designs could be perfected because plastic would not withstand the gas pressures to push a projectile.

But Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson said he was confident they would achieve their goal.

"It comes down to math, really," Mr Wilson said.

"There are critical thicknesses of some of these materials that can withstand the explosive force. Just a matter of sitting down and doing it."

A spokeswoman for Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare declined to say whether the Federal Government would raise matters with American authorities.

"What it does show more generally is how important it is for regulations and laws to keep pace with technological change," she said.