‘Ghost guns’ are legal to both manufacture and possess in Missouri
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The man accused of shooting and killing United Health Care's CEO last week may have manufactured the gun that was used, police stated in reporting from CNN.
The amount of "ghost guns" recovered by United States law enforcement increased from 2016-20, according to Everytown. The number rose 398% during that period and nearly 24,000 ghost guns were recovered during that five-year time span.
Ghost guns are often made at home from unfinished gun parts, such as frames and receivers.
Doug Alley, owner of the Ammo Alley gun shop in Hartsburg, clarified why they are called "ghost guns."
“Because it doesn't have a manufacturing model and or serial number associated with it because it's only a one off production," Alley said. "At least that's what the premise of the federal regulations are.”
Ghost guns have these three key characteristics:
- The gun does not have a serial number.
- The gun is untraceable.
- The gun and/or its parts can be acquired without a background check.
Weapon part kits have also become a large concern for law enforcement, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Kits can be used to create nearly untraceable "ghost guns" that go unregulated because they do not have a serial number
Of the 45,240 guns without serial numbers that were recovered from crime scenes and submitted for tracing from 2016-21, the ATF successfully traced only 445, or fewer than 1%, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
3D-printed weapons in Missouri
Missouri does not have any law that restricts untraceable guns.
“It’s a pretty new thing," Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson said. "And so my knowledge is also probably going to be fairly limited.”
Thompson said of the cases he has seen regarding 3D-printed guns, it is often not the entire weapon that is printed.
“We’ve seen a few cases here and there where there may be a ghost gun involved or parts used to modify," Thompson said. "Which I think is more often what we're seeing at this point.”
Alley said these guns are legal everywhere. Though, some states attempt to regulate them by requiring people to register them. If it is illegal for an individual to own a gun, those restrictions would still apply.
“There's nothing illegal about producing a firearm for your own use," Alley said. "There are provisions within the U.S. code that allows you to manufacture a firearm for your own purposes."
But the expenses required to 3D print is quite high, and for that reason he said many people do not possess these types of guns.
“We’re talking several thousands of dollars to even have a piece of equipment to to produce a 3D gun,” Alley said.
Thompson said that the presence of ghost guns will likely continue to grow across Missouri.
“We’re probably going to continue to see an increase in that," Thompson said. "As you do pretty much any time you have new technology available.”
Columbia Police Department spokesman Brian McNeill told ABC 17 News in an email that the department has seen guns without serial numbers, but have not seen many that appeared to be 3D-printed.
Thompson also sits on the Prosecutors Legislative Committee where he deals with proposed laws pertaining to law enforcement and criminal code.
“I could absolutely see someone proposing a law to outlaw ghost guns," Thompson said. "Whether or not that goes anywhere, that would be up to the legislature.”
Regulation of weapon part kits being considered
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case that will decide whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has the authority to regulate weapon part kits as firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968.
The ATF adopted the act's definition of a gun -- “Any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; the frame or receiver of any such weapon.”
But the ATF amended their definition to include weapon part kits and privately manufactured firearms in April 2022.
Although there are no federal laws that ban the creation or ownership of 3D printed firearms, individual states have established their own regulations regarding "ghost guns." 15 states in the U.S. have implemented laws to regulate ghost guns.
