In response to public pressure and an increasing crime rate, on April 11, the Biden Administration announced new regulations on the firearm industry. The new policies would focus almost exclusively on products known as 80% firearms or ghost guns.
“Ghost guns are guns that can be made at home from individual parts that might be sold separately, sold in kits, or 3D printed,” said Alex McCourt, associate professor at the John Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. “Because they are built privately, they lack serial numbers and other identifying markings, which makes them almost impossible for law enforcement to trace.”
In a 2018 report by Small Arms Survey, over one billion firearms were estimated to exist. Of that billion, US civilians alone accounted for 393 million (approx. 46%) of the worldwide total of civilian-held firearms. This averages to 120.5 guns for every 100 people, or one and a fifth guns for every American alive. No other country comes close.
Outside these quantifiable numbers, are the guns that have no record. There’s no way to know how many ghost guns, 80% firearms, or otherwise un-serialized firearms are in circulation.
Non-serialized firearm components have risen in popularity in recent years alongside the inherent modularity of many modern designs. Companies like 80% Arms and Polymer80 are simultaneously famous and infamous for their products. In the case of Polymer80 their mission statement states that they, “…provide ways for our customers to participate in the build process, while expressing their right to bear arms. This provides a fun learning experience and a greater sense of pride in their completed firearm, strengthening our brand loyalty. We summarize this with our motto of ‘Engage Your Freedom.’”
Whether due to intent or design, that engagement of freedom has led to unforeseen problems.
How Easy is Too Easy?
Ghost guns are woefully underregulated. Not only is there no federal means of tracking, there are no systems in place to regulate the purchase, ownership, and use.
To put into perspective how easy it is to purchase and construct an 80% firearm outside the federal record system – in this case a firearm patterned after a third-generation Glock 19 pistol – this reporter built one himself. It’s astonishingly easy, both to assemble and order these products. It’s so easy, I purchased all the gun parts online, sight unseen, and had them shipped directly to me.
At college.
To my dorm.
Ammunition was more difficult to discreetly acquire on a college campus, but far from impossible. I assembled the firearm off campus, and without using all the recommended tools. I found it easier and cleaner to use a box cutter and high-grain sandpaper than shears and belt sanders to remove the polymer pylons. I spent nearly 30 minutes removing material. It could have been complete in a fraction of that time if I hadn’t prioritized form over function. Once everything was finished, I tested it. And it worked. Every trigger pull produced an accurate shot.
I do not condone the actions I took, but it was important to scrutinize the process. I believed this issue needed to be investigated, so I took it upon myself. The greatest difficulty I faced in finishing the construction was replacing the extractor and finding a gunsmith who would serialize the weapon for my personal record keeping.
To date, I’ve only managed to replace the extractor.
According to the official White House statement, “Last year alone, there were approximately 20,000 suspected ghost guns reported to ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations – a ten-fold increase from 2016.”
The Administration’s announcement stems from a proposed rule change written by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). The change primarily seeks to amend the definition of “firearm” and “gunsmith,” as well as providing new definitions for what constitutes a “complete weapon,” “privately made firearm,” and “complete muffler or silencer device.” The new rules would also create a deadline for marking firearms as manufactured and adjusting timelines for licensing, records, and the acquisition and disposal of firearms by manufacturers and importers.
This would result in regulating the un-serialized parts and kits by qualifying them as “firearms” under the Gun Control Act. This means commercial manufacturers and sellers would need to own a Federal Firearms License (FFL) and run background checks prior to each sale – just as every other commercially produced firearm is already handled.
Arguing With Hollow Points
Gun-rights advocates and conservative outlets vehemently oppose the new regulation. Many say the ATF is overstepping its bounds, claiming it is creating laws, not enforcing them.
“The ATF doesn’t have the authority to create laws,” said Chris Silverman, owner of CTS Custom Builds. “The Second Amendment shouldn’t be regulated.”
Business owners such as Silverman routinely sell components to ghost guns. At a recent gun show at the Dulles Convention Center in Chantilly, Virginia, CTS Custom Builds was one of several vendors with dozens, if not hundreds, of Polymer80 pistol frames for sale. One vendor with several tables full of Glock compatible parts advertised a “$430 special.” For $430, anyone could buy all the parts needed to build their own fully-functional, off the books, Glock-pattern pistol in the comfort of their own home. No tax if they paid in cash.
Silverman began selling Polymer80 pistol frames through his business less than two years ago, but says he’ll have to stop once the ATF’s ruling comes into effect, since he does not have an FFL. He believes the law change will affect businesses and law-abiding citizens like himself more than criminals.
“If people have to buy a frame the same way they have to buy a complete firearm, they’ll just buy the firearm,” Silverman said. “Criminals aren’t buying anything. They’ll just steal whatever.”
Criminals may steal whatever they need, but it’s not the act of thievery that interests them. It’s the convenience – the ease of access that lets them achieve their goal with the least amount of risk or effort – that they find so attractive.
Metropolitan areas and locations with more progressive laws are more restrictive with who may own and carry firearms. An individual who could not otherwise possess a firearm can turn to 80% options to fill the void in armament. They’re quick, easy, relatively cheap, and above all, completely legal.
“[Ghost guns] can be purchased without a background check, meaning that those prohibited from purchasing firearms can order these kits,” McCourt said. “As a result, we’ve seen kids, those with a history of domestic violence, and other individuals at risk of violence access these kits and build guns.”
High-population urban areas, cities such as Los Angeles and Washington DC, have seen an explosion in the prominence of these firearms. Both the incomplete kits and finished firearms are increasingly found at crime scenes. Off the streets, Los Angeles and Washington DC have brought cases against the Nevada-based Polymer80, accusing the company of disregarding state and federal firearm laws. On the streets, the cities are struggling to effectively control the issue.
In 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department recovered 8,661 firearms. Of those, more than 22% were ghost guns. As reported by NBC news in March 2022, “…data from the LAPD included in a recent court filing, 1,722 of those ghost guns – almost 90% – were made from kits produced by a single company: Polymer80.”
On April 26, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department complied with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted for this story. The request was for a monthly breakdown of how many firearms were seized by the department from January 2016 to April 2022 categorically separated by type: pistol, shotgun, rifle, and ghost gun.
According to the response cover letter written by Tara Branch, the MPD’s FOIA Specialist, “After due consideration, your request is granted in full. Per a search conducted by personnel assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), please find attached a document deemed responsive for the information described in your request.”
Based on the limited records provided, the MPD never recorded how many guns it seized on a monthly basis until 2018. There was only ever a yearly tally. Monthly tallies began on January 2018, but the MPD’s own records have never included a breakdown of what firearm type is seized. There is no distinction between rifle, pistol, legally purchased traceable firearm, or homebuilt ghost gun. Per the documents provided by the MPD in response to a FOIA request, they have no data regarding what types of firearms are recovered from crime scenes.
Prior to April 2, 2021, the processing of seized firearms was done by the MPD’s Department of Forensic Science. Since that date, the ATF has taken over the responsibility of processing firearms found at crime scenes.
From prior reporting by the Washington Post and NBC Washington, in all of 2017, the MPD reported seizing only three ghost guns. In 2018, the number rose to 25. In 2019, it was 116. That 116 was only about 6% of the 1,998 guns seized that year across the District, but a 364% increase from the prior year.
A phone call with the MPD’s public affairs office confirmed both the data and the continuing trend. In 2020, the number of seized ghost guns more than doubled to 306. In 2021, it increased to its highest number and percentage ever. Out of the 2,410 firearms seized, 439 were un-serialized ghost guns, or over 18%.
Even with only a quarter of 2022 over, the number of recovered ghost guns is expected to surpass all prior records.
It’s Not a Faith in Technology. It’s a Faith in People.
The reason ghost guns and 80% firearms are so easy to acquire is due to their method of construction and the governing terminology. Legally, these products aren’t guns in the traditional, regulated sense. An 80% firearm is a firearm with approximately 80% of the work already done for the consumer. That last, arbitrary, 20% is incomplete. Therefore, it’s not a finished, working firearm and thus does not fall into a category that requires federal regulation and serialization.
The issue of part production and serialization is compounded when additive manufacturing – also known as 3D printing – is introduced into the equation. Spools of plastic can be turned into firearm parts with the push of a button. The polymer used as raw material, the digital files determining the finished product, even the printers themselves are completely unregulated. They were completely benign – existing almost exclusively in the garages, workshops, and bedrooms of entrepreneurs and figurine aficionados – until someone realized they could fabricate entire firearms from scratch.
Files exist online for developing and producing all manner of weapon systems. The curators of these files can be labeled anything from enthusiasts to anarchists. Some files exist to circumvent the federal system for questionable ends, such as refining fragmentary grenade housings. Others are clearly made just to see if a design works. A YouTube channel called Booligan Shooting Sports recently showcased a 3D printed Glock 17 pistol frame with integrated out-the-front bayonet called the “G17 MI-LF.” The MILF acronym stood for, “modular integrations – long frame.” The finished firearm, although fully functional, is not practical, easily concealed, or intended for sale. It was a prototype built for personal use, humor, and internet clout.
The ATF’s new ruling would not interfere with this type of firearm production. The ruling specifically states that “…if an individual builds a firearm at home and then sells it to a pawn broker or another federally licensed dealer, that dealer must put a serial number on the weapon before selling it to a customer. This requirement will apply regardless of how the firearm was made, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts, kits, or by 3D-printers.”
The goal of the legislation is not to intrude on individual freedom or security. The purpose is to regulate unchecked, untraceable, mass-production of firearms in America.
Companies like Ghost Gunner sell $2,500 desktop CNC mills that are preprogrammed to churn out receivers and frames for the AR-15, AR-10, 1911 pistol, AK-47, and of course, Polymer 80. Lesser-known companies like Logic80 offer 80% kits for enterprising buyers to build 12-gauge shotguns outside of government regulation. Numerous other companies routinely sell “solvent traps” for firearms that can be modified into suppressors with the single pass of a drill press.
The greatest pushback to the pending regulation appears to be coming from businesses and lobbyists with the largest monetary stake. They claim the interference will not only stifle free commerce, but is the first step in a much more nefarious plan.
On April 20th, the company 80% Arms sent out a newsletter prominently titled: Complete Your Build Before the Feds Ban Guns. The prevailing narrative in certain parts of the political spectrum is that this is the beginning of Biden’s – and by extension all Democrats – plan to abolish the Second Amendment and seize all firearms in America, thereby cementing their takeover of the nation and preventing self-proclaimed patriots from obtaining the tools needed to overthrow them.
Such notions are questionable.
Many of the same outlets that magnify conspiracies in their articles and forums simultaneously report on the success of the ATF’s actions. The same day the newsletter from 80% Arms was sent out, TheFirearmBlog reported on a story by the Associated Press. The prior year, over 300,000 gun sales were blocked. At least 42% of the denials were the result of the applicant having felony convictions on their records. This means at least 126,000 convicted felons were prevented from buying a gun in 2021 because of a simple background check. Until the ATF’s new ruling takes effect, that same background check does not apply to 80% guns.
“I’m not a fan of [80% firearms], because of invisibility,” said Shawn Poulin, owner of Nova Armory. “I don’t think they need to be registered, any firearm, but I’m 100 percent confident there are people out there who do not deserve to have a gun. I think people should get a background check.”
Nova Armory is a gun shop located in Arlington, Virginia. Its sister location in Washington DC, District of Columbia Security Associates (DCSA), does not sell firearms. DCSA almost exclusively performs background checks and firearm transfers to citizens interested in legally owning a firearm in the city’s jurisdiction. DCSA is so responsible for firearm transfers in Washington DC that when asked for information on legal firearm ownership, the Metropolitan Police Department outsourced its work and instructed this reporter to contact them instead.
Poulin previously stocked ghost gun components at Nova Armory, but stopped two years ago after reevaluating the services and goods his businesses provided.
“My customers that come in, I’d say 95 percent of them, are not interested in taking a piece of plastic home and making a firearm themselves,” Poulin said. “If you’re not going to commit a felony and you’re not a criminal… who cares? Unless you’re a criminal, there’s no value.”
None of the business owners interviewed for this story were able to provide information on how many 80% firearm frames or receivers they’d sold. According to McCourt, that is not surprising. In an email interview, he put plainly just how unregulated and untraceable these products truly are.
“The ATF notes that from 1/1/16 – 3/4/21 it could only successfully trace a privately made firearm in 151 out of 23,946 attempts (about 0.6%). These are, unfortunately, the most comprehensive numbers available.”
Polymer80 and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms did not respond to requests for an interview or comment on this story.