In The Brian Thompson killer: which gun did he use? I pointed out the killer—Luigi Mangione—did not use a B&T Station Six, but a common semiautomatic pistol with an aftermarket suppressor. It turns out that was correct with one caveat: he apparently used a “ghost gun,” a semiautomatic handgun assembled at home. Media sources are claiming both the gun and suppressor were 3D printer made, but there is no evidence to support that contention. Were all the parts made that way, which is unlikely, or is this just more generic, media laziness?

Just as Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs) have been denying Daniel Penney’s heroism, they’re praising Mangione as a sort of hunky folk hero, who in the person of Brian Thompson murdered the twin evils of America and capitalism. Infatuation with a cowardly killer delayed cries for gun control, but only for a time and now the hue and cry about the evils of “ghost guns” has rung out. Despite there being no such term in firearm nomenclature, “ghost guns” are a new focus of the anti-liberty/gun left. Think of them as any gun without a serial number, or any gun made by Americans they don’t like—half the population.

Graphic: Palmetto State Armory

As I noted in Ghost guns and liberty Americans have always had the lawful power to make, modify and maintain their own firearms. Federal law mandating serial numbers on commercially manufactured firearms was late in coming and does not currently apply to homemade arms, though the issue is being litigated.  Possession of suppressors, manufactured or homemade, remains illegal without complete government paperwork, permission and a $200 tax.  

Are ghost guns the horrific threat anti-liberty/gun cracktivists claim? Here’s one such claim:  

More and more criminals are figuring that out. The number of ghost guns recovered at crime scenes has exploded 10-fold in just the past five years, from under 1,800 in 2016 to more than 19,000 in 2021, according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Just as I recently pointed out in Crime rate gaslighting, such statistics are surely either greatly exaggerated or entirely false. Not only is the federal government utterly politicized, at least 50% of law enforcement agencies aren’t reporting such statistics to the FBI or any other federal agency. This is particularly true for big, D/s/c-ruled cities who want to hide the failure of their pro-criminal policies. Another reason to reasonably think such statistics false is criminals are lazy sorts, not people prone to spending the time and money necessary to assemble guns, and they’re largely not stupid enough to leave guns laying around crime scenes. They’re far more likely to chuck them in the nearest body of water.

But aren’t serial numbers absolutely vital in solving crimes? During my police career I never solved a crime via a serial number, nor was I ever aware of anyone who did. That would require finding a gun at a crime scene, which in my experience virtually never happened. Even if I seized a gun from a criminal as evidence, possession was the point. A serial number was virtually always irrelevant to the crimes charged.

But let’s say a criminal left a gun at a crime scene. Ah ha! I have the serial number! I can identify them, right? Almost entirely wrong. I’ll start with an NCIC check of the serial number, and unless the gun was reported stolen that will come up dry. Even if it was stolen, that can’t tell me who stole it. There is—thankfully—no federal database with the serial number of every gun in existence, so I can get in touch with the manufacturer and they might be able to tell me when the gun was made and to which wholesale distributor it was sold. The distributor might be able to tell me to which retailer it was sold, and eventually I might be able to find the store. Then we get to go through every paper ATF form 4473. If we find that form, all I know is who originally bought it. I still have to place that gun, which might have been stolen, lost or given away, in the hand of the criminal at a particular place and time. Absent fingerprints or DNA, which rarely appear on guns, that’s a losing proposition.

But ghost guns! What about them? The question is what works and what is most effective in dealing with crime. Writing laws and spending scarce law enforcement time chasing “ghost guns” doesn’t work and doesn’t suppress crime. Infringe on the Second Amendment rights of honest Americans? That’s the actual point.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.