No background check, no serial number: Triangle area law enforcement sees spike in ghost guns
Criminals are turning to a new method to commit crimes that can make it harder for police to find them. They're going online to buy kits to build their own guns at home.
Known as privately made firearms or “ghost guns,” the kits can be bought without a background check, and the weapons are void of a serial number. There are few protections to prevent convicted felons or even children from purchasing them.
In the city of Durham, police told WRAL Investigates the number of ghost guns they are encountering is increasing dramatically. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, DPD saw zero of them. By 2022, that number had spiked to 71, and continues at a similar pace, with 25 seized as of May of this year. Nationally, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is tracking the trend. In a report published earlier this year, the agency noted a 1,083% increase in ghost guns it received from law enforcement between the years of 2017 and 2021, when more than 19,000 ghost guns were recovered.
“Where we were seeing them maybe once or twice a year, [we’re] seeing them now once or twice a week,” explained Ally Anderson, DPD’s Firearm Unit Supervisor. “Once they were able to be purchased online and these YouTube tutorials were being made, that’s when they became popular.”
Raleigh police told WRAL Investigates it does not track the number of ghost guns it recovers. Lt. Jason Borneo wrote in an email that RPD is “working to improve our processes for recording seized ‘ghost guns.’” Fayetteville police began tracking the weapons in 2022. In that year, it recovered two ghost guns as evidence, and four so far this year.
Campbell University Law School Professor Greg Wallace, who specializes in Second Amendment law, explained that building a gun at home is legal.
“If you’re going to transfer that firearm to someone else, though, you have to have a serial number,” he said. “And you can’t transfer it to someone who is considered a prohibited person under federal law.”
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence shows 12 states and Washington, D.C. have passed state laws regulating ghost guns. North Carolina is not among those. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) enacted a federal rule aimed at reducing the prevalence of ghost guns. It states that retailers have to run background checks before selling kits, and that even de-constructed guns must have serial numbers on them, when sold. Wallace said the rule is not often enforced.
“The ATF has been somewhat hesitant to enforce it stringently because it doesn’t want to trigger lawsuits that would challenge the ATF’s authority to issue that kind of regulation,” he said.
WRAL Investigates interviewed the owners of two companies who sell parts or kits to build ghost guns and provide materials for 3D printing the guns at home.
“What we do, we think, is closely related to second amendment culture in the broadest sense,” said Cody Wilson, Director of Defense Distributed in Austin, Texas. “We see it as like consistently American, traditionally American.”
Wilson said his company does attempt to vet its buyers.
“We’re looking for the very basic stuff that every e-commerce site is at the first level," Wilson said. "Like is this a known fraudulent address, is this a problem location, is this a U.S. person, or is someone maybe trying to smuggle this across the border.”
Rob Pincus, President of Avidity Arms in Fletcher, North Carolina, manufactures guns and provides files for people to 3D print guns at home. He believes most people who build their own guns are hobbyists and enthusiasts.
“It’s the nerds of the gun world,” he said. “We’re computer guys, we’re tech guys, we’re into the nuances of the way the gun works on the inside.”
Durham police firearms examiner lead Ally Anderson, though, sees a different kind of buyer.
“For the ones that, yes, we are typically finding on the street, I don’t think that is the actual reason they are producing these firearms,” Anderson said.
Data provided by the Durham Police Department shows the ghost guns have been used in serious crimes, including robberies and murders.
“I think it’s a challenge,” Wilson said. “And, I think we have a role to play in addressing the challenge. I don’t think we’re primarily responsible for it.”
In a statement, ATF Public Information Officer Corey Ray told WRAL Investigates that, since 2022, more than 1,400 ghost guns were recovered in North Carolina.
“Making ghost guns and illegal firearms possession a major focus for area law enforcement,” Ray wrote.
