Ghost Guns
Ghost Guns
What is the problem?
A ghost gun is a do-it-yourself, homemade firearm made from easy-to-get building blocks. These guns are made by an individual, not a federally licensed manufacturer or importer. In less than one hour, these self-made weapons become fully functioning, untraceable firearms.
Ghost guns are the fastest-growing gun safety problem facing our country. ATF estimates that more than 70,700 suspected privately made firearms (i.e., ghost guns) were recovered by law enforcement between 2016 and 2022—nearly two-thirds of which were recovered in 2021 and 2022.1Everytown Research analysis of US Department of Justice, “Justice Department Announces New Rule to Modernize Firearm Definitions,” press release, April 2022, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-new-rule-modernize-firearm-definitions; US Department of Justice, “FACT SHEET: Update on Justice Department ’s Ongoing Efforts to Tackle Gun Violence,” press release, June 2023, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/fact-sheet-update-justice-department-s-ongoing-efforts-tackle-gun-violence. Note: The ATF warns that “[t]he dramatic rise in trace submissions involving PMF’s reflects both increased criminal use of these firearms and enhanced awareness among law enforcement that ATF will process trace requests for PMFs. In particular, the substantial increase in PMF trace submissions since 2020 is in part attributable to education, outreach, and training that ATF has provided to LEAs on how to identify PMFs and the importance of submitting them for tracing.” They are becoming a weapon of choice for violent criminals, gun traffickers, and other legally prohibited persons, as well as right-wing extremists. The country has also seen incidents of gunfire on school grounds and unintentional shootings by children involving ghost guns.
Recent Federal Action
Federal authorities finalized a rule which took effect in August 2022 that clarified that the core building blocks of ghost guns are firearms under the law—ensuring they are traceable and that licensed dealers must conduct a background check before their sale. The rule updated and clarified key regulatory definitions, including “firearm,” “frame,” and “receiver,” to ensure that kits and components that are easily assembled into untraceable ghost guns are subject to the same regulations as firearms.1US Department of Justice and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” Federal Register 87, no. 80 (April 26, 2022): 24652–749, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-04-26/pdf/2022-08026.pdf.
This ATF rule has been challenged in court, and litigation is ongoing. In the event that the ATF rule is struck down, Congress must act to ensure that the core parts for ghost guns are defined as firearms and properly regulated. States should also consider additional action to regulate ghost guns.
WHAT DID THE ATF PREVIOUSLY NOT CONSIDER TO BE A FIREARM?
Prior to the federal rule in 2022, the ATF did not consider an unfinished frame or receiver—the basic building blocks of pistols and long guns, respectively—to be a firearm, even though the difference between an unfinished and a finished, ready-to-install frame or receiver is a few tools and very little handiwork.
Which states regulate ghost guns?
15 states have adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Alabama has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Alaska has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Arizona has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Arkansas has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
California has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, all ghost guns must be reported to officials.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Colorado has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers for component parts.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Connecticut has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, all ghost guns must be reported to officials, no plastic undetectable guns.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Delaware has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, no plastic undetectable guns, no 3D printing of guns, no distribution of 3D printing instructions.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Florida has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Georgia has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Hawaii has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, all ghost guns must be reported to officials, no 3D printing of guns.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Idaho has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Illinois has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for all firearms and component parts
Ghost Guns Regulated
Indiana has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Iowa has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Kansas has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Kentucky has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Louisiana has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Maine has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Maryland has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for all firearms and component parts. All ghost guns must be reported to officials.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Massachusetts has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for all firearms and component parts. All ghost guns must be reported to officials.
Ghost Guns Regulated
Michigan has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Minnesota has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Mississippi has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Missouri has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Montana has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Nebraska has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Nevada has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts
Ghost Guns Regulated
New Hampshire has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
New Jersey has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, all ghost guns must be reported to officials, no 3D printing of guns, no distribution of 3D printing instructions, no plastic undetectable guns.
Ghost Guns Regulated
New Mexico has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
New York has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, all ghost guns must be reported to officials, no plastic undetectable guns.
Ghost Guns Regulated
North Carolina has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
North Dakota has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Ohio has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Oklahoma has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Oregon has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Prohibits undetectable firearms, including 3D printed guns; requires all firearms, frames, and receivers to be serialized
Ghost Guns Regulated
Pennsylvania has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Rhode Island has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, no 3D printing of guns
Ghost Guns Regulated
South Carolina has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
South Dakota has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Tennessee has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Texas has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Utah has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Vermont has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for all firearms and component parts
Ghost Guns Regulated
Virginia has not adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- No plastic undetectable guns
Ghost Guns Regulated
Washington has adopted this policy
- What does the state law require?
- Serial numbers and background checks for component parts, no plastic undetectable guns
Ghost Guns Regulated
West Virginia has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Wisconsin has not adopted this policy
Ghost Guns Regulated
Wyoming has not adopted this policy
Why is it an issue?
Criminals can easily build a gun in under an hour.
Decades ago, it may have required certain technical knowledge and skill to convert an unfinished frame or receiver into a fully functioning firearm, but those days are over. Prior to the ATF rule in 2022, with just a few tools and little time, a person with no gunsmithing skills could purchase an unserialized, unfinished frame or receiver without a background check and convert it into a working firearm. Without serial numbers, these guns are virtually impossible to trace when later recovered by law enforcement at crime scenes.
Online sellers have tapped into this market, becoming one-stop shops for ghost gun parts, tools, and how-to guides, often openly promoting that their products are designed to evade ATF regulation. Following the finalization of the ATF rule, some ghost gun sellers shifted to offering 3-D printing files for frames and receivers along with the rest of the parts necessary to build untraceable guns. It should come as no surprise that ghost gun recoveries across the U.S. are on the rise, and have recently been connected with criminal enterprises, gun trafficking rings, and far-right extremists.
By the numbers
>25k
More than 25,000 privately made firearms were recovered by law enforcement agencies in 2022—a more than 1,300 percent increase from 2016.
1 hour
A person without gunsmithing skills can complete an unfinished frame or receiver with just a few tools and less than an hour of work.
2/3
More than ⅔ of the 80 online firearms sellers identified started selling ghost gun building blocks only within the past 5 years.
2,500
More than 2,500 ghost guns were connected to criminal activity in 114 federal cases from 2010 to April 2020.
What are the solutions?
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Background Checks on All Gun Sales
Background checks are the foundation of any comprehensive gun violence prevention strategy. Current federal law requires that background checks be conducted whenever a person attempts to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer. This is to ensure that the buyer is not legally prohibited from having the gun. Since federal law began requiring these background checks in 1994, background checks have blocked millions of sales to people with felony convictions or other prohibiting histories.[mfn]United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Publications & Products: Background Checks for Firearm Transfers,” https://bit.ly/2F4vMYw. Data on federal- and state-level denials were obtained from the BJS reports for the years 1999–2010 and 2012–2020. Local-level denials were available and included only for the years 2012, 2014–2018, and 2020 from the BJS reports. Data for the years 2011 and 2021 were obtained by Everytown for Gun Safety from the FBI directly. Though the majority of the transactions and denials reported by the FBI and BJS are associated with a firearm sale or transfer, a small number may be for concealed-carry permits and other reasons not related to a sale or transfer.[/mfn]
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Stop Downloadable Guns
Downloadable guns,[mfn]Everytown for Gun Safety, “The Danger of Downloadable Guns,” January 17, 2020, https://www.everytown.org/report/the-danger-of-downloadable-guns/.[/mfn] or 3-D printed guns, are serious threats to our communities. The key to stopping the spread of downloadable guns is to stop the spread of the computer code that is used to 3-D print the firearm or its parts.
Featured Resources
Ghost Guns Recoveries and Shootings
Everytown Research & Policy has collected examples of reported murders and shootings using ghost guns since 2013.
ATF’s Final Rule to End the Proliferation of Dangerous, Untraceable Ghost Guns
The ATF announced a final rulemaking clarifying that the core building blocks of ghost guns are firearms under the law.
ATF & the Rising Threat of Ghost Guns
Ghost guns are emerging as a weapon of choice for criminals, gun traffickers, extremists, and others banned from legally buying firearms.
All Resources
Ghost Guns
All Resources
Who is Manufacturing the Guns Used in Crimes?
On February 14, 2024, multiple people opened fire at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade, killing one person and wounding…
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The Smoking Gun
An online resource committed to exposing the gun industry’s role in our gun violence epidemic today.
Everytown Research & PolicyThe Gun Industry’s Power Broker: A Closer Look at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the Front Group for America’s Gun Makers and Sellers
The NSSF isn’t as well known as the NRA, but it is just as extreme and exacerbates our gun violence epidemic.
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Update Background Check Laws
Updating federal and state laws to require background checks on all gun sales is a common-sense way to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
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Untraceable: The Rising Specter of Ghost Guns
Ghost guns are do-it-yourself, homemade guns made from easy-to-get, unregulated building blocks.
Report
Assault Weapons and High-Capacity Magazines
Many of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States have been carried out with assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
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