By Lisa Marie Pane ‘Ghost guns’ untraceable, easy to make & prevalent
Criminals take advantage
For a few hundred dollars, tools and some elbow grease, you can make your own rifle or handgun. It’s all perfectly legal – and it can be done without leaving anything behind for the government to trace.
These “ghost guns” have long been popular among hobbyists or gun enthusiasts. But gun control advocates say they are increasingly popping up in crimes, used by people who are prohibited from buying a firearm and are trying to circumvent a background check.
“Whatever the hobbyists think about it, criminals are taking advantage of this,” said Nick Suplina, managing director for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“These firearms directly undercut federal and state law designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them,” he added.
Last week, a teenager used a homemade handgun to fatally shoot two classmates and wound three others at a school in suburban Los Angeles, authorities said. He shot himself and later died.
He was too young to legally own a gun in California. It’s not immediately clear how he acquired the firearm – a .45-caliber, 1911-model replica pistol assembled from gun parts with no serial number.
The boy’s father was described as an avid hunter who died two years ago. He had six registered guns, but officials found several other unregistered firearms in the home after the shooting and were working to determine their history.
There are several ways to make your own firearm, some requiring more knowledge than others – from building each piece and then assembling it with the use of high-tech machines and tools to buying a kit online and assembling the gun with minimal machinery required. There also are some people who use a 3D printer to create the “receiver” – the essence of a firearm – that houses its critical components. Plenty of online companies sell what are called 80 percent receivers, which are nearly finished and require just a bit of drilling to be usable. They don’t have a serial number and don’t require a background check.
There have even been so-called build parties – sometimes promoted on social media – where people construct firearms together. It’s legal to make your own firearm if it’s for your personal use and you don’t intend to sell it.