New York shooting suspect’s ghost gun underscores growing threat of untraceable firearms
The future of an ATF rule regulating ghost guns is currently in the Supreme Court’s hands
WASHINGTON — Today, GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released the following statement after the suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was reportedly arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a ghost gun.
Ghost guns are untraceable and are designed to avoid background checks. Prior to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’s (ATF) rule to curb the use of untraceable ghost guns, crimes with ghost guns were surging. With recent action from ATF and some states to address the rising crisis of ghost guns, their presence at crime scenes has been declining.
“Ghost guns are a criminal’s dream come true. The targeted assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, potentially committed with a ghost gun, shows just how dangerous these weapons are in the wrong hands. Anyone can print them at home or buy unfinished parts online without a background check or training. Yet due to extremists in the gun lobby, the ATF’s rule to stop criminals from getting ghost guns is under threat. Americans’ safety from ghost guns now lies in the hands of the Supreme Court justices. Here’s the bottom line: Ghost guns threaten public safety and must be subject to background checks like the guns they are,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown.
After GIFFORDS’ urging and under President Biden’s directive, in 2022 ATF issued a rule that defines the unfinished parts used to make ghost guns as firearms. The rule requires sellers to be licensed and include serial numbers on the parts. Sellers will also have to conduct a background check before every sale.
- Untraceable ghost guns can be made from kits bought online or at a gun show without a background check, or from parts made using a 3D printer. This makes it possible for anyone to obtain an untraceable firearm while entirely bypassing the background check law, making it harder for law enforcement to solve crimes.
- Between 2016 and 2021, more than 45,000 ghost guns were recovered at crime scenes.
- Ghost guns are unregulated and untraceable. Because of this, they are frequently used to commit egregious crimes like mass shootings, and are a choice weapon for illegal gun trafficking rings in the U.S.
- GIFFORDS Law Center has led the fight against ghost guns.
- In Philadelphia, GIFFORDS Law Center represented the city alongside the Hausfeld law firm and the City of Philadelphia Law Department to sue largest suppliers of ghost guns in the United States, Polymer80 and JSD Supply. The lawsuit was settled for $1.3 million.
- Additionally, GIFFORDS Law Center, along with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and Keker, Van Nest & Peters, LLP, led a lawsuit that was settled this year against Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, Inc., MDX Corporation, and GS Performance, LLC (Glockstore). Each company has agreed to immediately stop selling firearm parts without serial numbers in California and to stop manufacturing such parts in California. The agreement also included a significant monetary settlement: Each retailer will pay civil penalties totaling $675,000.
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