A Pennsylvania lawmaker is hoping to crack down on ghost guns in the new year. Ghost guns — privately-made firearms that do not have serial numbers — are difficult for law enforcement to trace and are increasingly popular among criminals.
Over the last decade, the ATF says a growing number of ghost guns have been recovered from crime scenes across the United States.
“Sometimes they can use a 3D printer to manufacture the frame or the receiver of the firearm and order other firearm parts online, which aren’t regulated, and then they can build the gun themselves,” Eric DeGree, a special agent in charge with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) told CBS News Philadelphia.
Police data shows that about 6,000 crime guns were recovered in Philadelphia in 2022 and 2023. In both years, roughly 9% of them were ghost guns. So far in 2024, about 5,200 crime guns have been recovered, including approximately 400 ghost guns, making up about 7.5%.