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Phantom guns, also known as privately manufactured or non-serial firearms, have become a major concern for law enforcement and anti-firearms activists.
These weapons are usually made up of parts that are not regulated by federal firearms laws.
Among the most recent cases of people affected by this misuse of weapons, are two agents of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) who were injured in a shooting, while they were inside their patrol in the city of Compton.
On Monday both agents filed a lawsuit against the Nevada-based company Polymer 80, Inc., creator of parts ” ghost ”to assemble the gun.
The lawsuit alleges that the company allegedly sold the kit to make the firearm used in the shooting, thus What other kits used to build hundreds of other ghost weapons recovered from crime scenes in Los Angeles.
Anti-firearms activists indicate that Polymer’s business practice 80, of selling gun construction kits without background checks or serial numbers, violates federal and state laws and is negligent.
Eric Tirschwell, Managing Director of Everytown Law, a firearms advocacy, stressed that Polymer’s reckless practices 80 made it easy for a person with a long criminal history of serious crimes to hold a non-serial weapon that he used to shoot sheriffs.
“Our customers know too well the damage that Polymer ghost weapons can cause 80, ”Tirschwell said. “They are far from the only people whose lives have changed forever and they are committed to holding the company accountable for its reckless business model.”
Spencer Pahlke, agent’s legal representative and employee of the Walkup law firm, said ghost gun kit manufacturers should be held accountable when someone is killed, or injured, as a result of reckless and illegal business practices.
“These kits DIY (homemade) weapons allow anyone, including those looking to do harm, to build deadly weapons at home without asking questions. ”
In In a May report from 2020, Everytown Support Fund examined a sample of more than 100 federal prosecutions related to ghost weapons and found, that ghost weapons are easy to buy and are often owned by those who are prohibited possess one, due to prior criminal activity.
A follow-up report published in December found that, the online market for untraceable ghost weapons , reached unprecedented levels during the covid – 19, and dozens of these sellers reported shipping delays due to “exceptionally high demand” .
Incredibly And despite record sales, an analysis found that 19 companies offering phantom weapon components, or frames and receivers of the “80 percent ”, received a total of more than $ 8 million in funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).