>92k

More than 92,700 suspected privately made firearms (i.e., ghost guns) were recovered by law enforcement agencies between 2017 and 2023—a more than 1,500 percent increase from 2017 to 2023.

US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA): Volume IV: Protecting America from Trafficked Firearms—Part V: Privately Made Firearms Updates and New Analysis,” January 2025, https://www.atf.gov/sites/default/files2/nfcta_volume_iv_-_part_v_0.pdf. 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.”

Last updated: 10.20.2026

You are leaving

More than 92,700 suspected privately made firearms (i.e., ghost guns) were recovered by law enforcement agencies between 2017 and 2023—a more than 1,500 percent increase from 2017 to 2023.

More Stats

A study of crime gun recoveries in 20 US cities found that law enforcement recoveries of 3D-printed guns increased from 32 in 2020 to 325 in 2024—a 916 percent increase.

In Baltimore, after Maryland passed ghost gun regulations in 2022, recoveries of ghost guns manufactured by Polymer80 dropped by 25 percent in 2023 and again by 29 percent in 2024.

A study of crime gun recoveries in 43 US cities found that following litigation and regulatory and legislative fixes, recoveries of ghost guns manufactured by Polymer80 declined by 43 percent in 2024, compared to their peak in 2022.

In mass shootings, four times as many people are shot when an assault weapon or high-capacity magazine is involved compared with incidents involving neither.