No idea how reliable this source is:
https://www.americanprogress.org/is...497817/frequently-asked-questions-ghost-guns/
Law enforcement officials around the country are sounding the alarm about the dramatic increase in the recovery of ghost guns at crime scenes in their communities. ATF reported that approximately 10,000 ghost guns were recovered across the country in 2019.
14 Ghost guns have also been illegally trafficked to Mexico.
15 In addition:
- In 2019, Washington, D.C., police recovered 115 ghost guns, a 360 percent increase from 2018, when they recovered 25 ghost guns, and a 3,733 percent increase from 2017, when only three such firearms were recovered.16
- In 2019, ATF reported recovering 117 ghost guns in Maryland with almost 25 percent recovered from Baltimore alone. Ghost gun recoveries in the state then tripled in 2020.17
- According to law enforcement in Philadelphia, ghost gun recoveries in that city rose 152 percent from 2019 to 2020.18
- The special agent in charge of the ATF Los Angeles Field Division reported in January 2021 that 41 percent of the division’s cases involve ghost guns, and a May 2019 statewide analysis in California found that 30 percent of all guns recovered in connection with a crime in the state did not have serial numbers.19
NOTE: In addition, an investigation by The Trace found that ghost guns are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for violent white supremacists and anti-government extremists.20
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privately_Made_Firearm
privately made firearm (so-called "Ghost Gun") is a term for a (typically)
homemade firearm that lacks commercial
serial numbers. The term is used mostly in the United States by
gun control advocates,
gun rights advocates, law enforcement, and some in the firearm industry.
[1][2][3][4] Because home-manufacture of firearms for personal use is not considered to fall under the federal government’s
authority to regulate interstate (as opposed to intrastate) commerce, individuals making their own firearms are not subject to federal or state commercial
background check regulations.
Persons otherwise prohibited from owning firearms are still legally barred from the manufacture, transfer, or possession of firearms or ammunition, regardless of the method of manufacture or acquisition.
https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2020-07/rise-ghost-guns-and-what-it-means-gun-violence-prevention
Piecing this all together, it’s no surprise that ghost guns are becoming increasingly popular among those committing crimes. In May 2019, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) reported that
30 percent of seized firearms in the department’s possession were ghost guns. In Los Angeles county alone, the number of ghost guns showing up in county investigations increased by
50 percent over the previous year. Washington, D.C. saw a
342 percent increase in recovered ghost guns – a jump from 26 ghost guns in 2018 to 115 in 2019. Many ATF and local police officers fear that this emerging trend will only worsen.
https://www.cbs58.com/news/feds-rai...cts-they-say-are-linked-to-hundreds-of-crimes
ATF officials, based on data from the agency's National Tracing Center, estimate that
approximately 10,000 ghost guns were recovered in the US last year (2019), including about 2,700 in California. Polymer80 guns were used in "hundreds of crimes throughout the United States," and about 15 of the company's weapons were recovered during homicide investigations in California, the document states.
https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-rising-specter-of-ghost-guns/
More than 2,500 ghost guns were connected to criminal activity in 114 federal cases from 2010 to April 2020.
Herein lies the actual issue (an example):
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/f...son-arsenal-ghost-guns-and-smuggled-silencers
A 41-year-old Seattle man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to
70 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and smuggling, announced Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Eben Roberts and U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. Nathan Brasfield was arrested in February 2020 when agents seized 17 pistols and 24 rifles from his home – most of the firearms had been manufactured at his residence as ‘ghost guns’
“
Brasfield has a lengthy criminal history and has shown time and time again that he has no regard for the law,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Seattle Eben Roberts. “A repeat felon, caught in possession of an
illegally modified automatic firearm, is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. Brasfield, and criminals like him, should take today’s sentence as a stern warning. HSI and our law enforcement partners, working together, will seek, investigate, and ultimately bring to justice all those who seek to disregard our nation’s laws.”
“Undeterred by previous convictions and supervision from federal probation, this defendant built an arsenal of illegal weapons in his home and imported silencers from China,”
Previously, Brasfield was prosecuted in state court for crimes ranging from burglary to possession of stolen property. In 2002, he was arrested and prosecuted in state court for sending harassing messages as part of an effort to intimidate a person who was associated with animal research.
Summary:
Felon, previous convictions, previous felon in possession of a firearm, 48 months in prison already, on probation, not allowed to own firearms, builds ghost guns and illegal automatic weapons, and illegal silencers, this time he is getting 5 years and 10 months (70 months), because 4 years (48 months) worked so well the first time.
What is 70 months in prison going to do that the first 48 did not do? Nothing
How would a ghost gun law have changed this person? it wouldn't
Would it have prevented him from ordering silencers from china? NO
would it have prevented him from illegally modifying a semi auto into a full auto? No,
would it even have prevented him from having a firearm (most not all were ghost guns)? No,
What are they going to do different this time while he is in prison to rehabilitate? Nothing,
Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This is what we need to change, not the gun laws.
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