The weapons, sometimes referred to by officials as “privately made firearms”, or PMFs, do not have serial numbers, making them even more difficult to locate and regulate. Buying ghost gun kits online does not require a history check, so buyers can bypass the standard requirements that may arise when purchasing a firearm. This means that anyone – regardless of age or criminal record – can buy kits and assemble a weapon.
How widespread they are
Calls for ghost weapons have increased as their use in shooting in the United States has increased, with guns being recovered at crime scenes in some major cities more often. While ghost weapons make up a relatively small percentage of the total number of weapons recovered by law enforcement, officials in many cities reported sharp increases in those charges, according to a CNN analysis of 2021 data. In San Francisco, for example, about 20 percent of the nearly 1,100 weapons seized in 2021 were ghost weapons, police there told CNN. And New York is on track to bring down the whole of last year again, according to data shared on CNN. The NYPD has recovered 163 ghost weapons since the beginning of this year, compared to 29 in the same period in 2021, Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday. In 2021, New York authorities seized 4,497 firearms – 375, or 8.33%, were ghost weapons. Of the 12,088 weapons recovered in Chicago last year, 455, or 3.76%, were ghost weapons, according to city data, out of 130 ghost weapons recovered in 2020, when ghost weapons were the number one , 15% of the 11,343 weapons recovered. Between 2016 and 2021, the ATF received 45,000 reports of private firearms recovered from law enforcement authorities in criminal investigations, including 20,000 reported last year alone. The agency was able to identify only 1% of the 45,000, officials said, because the firearms did not have serial numbers. The number of weapons identified by the ATF increased from about 217,000 in 2015 to just over 393,000 in 2020. Just last week, a ghost gun was found outside the home of a suspect arrested for fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl in the South Bronx, a police source told CNN.
What Biden announced
The regulation announced by the Biden government on Monday addresses a gap in the government’s ability to track ghost weapons, which requires a pre-purchase history check and the inclusion of serial numbers on certain parts used to assemble weapons. “The Biden government is taking care of these kits as the deadly firearms they are,” a senior government official said before the announcement. The new rules require anyone who buys a kit to undergo a history check, which is required for other types of firearms purchases. The kits they sell should also include a serial number on the components that make up the weapon so that a firearm can be identified. In addition, the new rules oblige firearms dealers to add a serial number to already assembled ghost weapons they encounter. “He is no longer a ghost,” Biden told Rose Garden on Monday. “It has a return address. And it will help save lives, reduce crime and get more criminals off the streets.”
What steps have the states taken?
At least 10 states and Washington, DC, have already taken steps to restrict or ban the purchase or use of ghost weapons, according to the Giffords Legal Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence. Maryland was the last to join last week, when the governor allowed legislation to pass it changed the definition of “firearm” to include an unfinished frame or receiver and ban the sale of such components, among other steps. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan thanked lawmakers for tackling undetected firearms in a letter. However, he said that the legislation did not go far enough to hold those responsible for the shootings accountable. Last October, New York Governor Kathy Hotsul, a Democrat, signed legislation last October to tackle an epidemic of armed violence, including a ban on “selling ghost weapons and requiring gunmen to take up arms. firearms in their possession, “according to the governor’s office.
Federal cases have targeted alleged traffickers
Meanwhile, federal authorities are fighting those who either possess ghost weapons or want to move them. Four men were charged in Baltimore last month with conspiracy and trafficking in firearms – including ghost weapons – without a permit, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland. In January, a Rhode Island man was indicted by the New York Southern District Attorney’s Office for allegedly selling or attempting to sell more than 100 firearms he made at home. According to the Department of Justice, the 34-year-old allegedly bought the parts, repaired them at his home in Providence, Rhode Island, and then sold the complete weapons. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit firearms trafficking and one count of making false statements, the DOJ said in a press release. CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Mark Morales and Brynn Gingras contributed to this report.
