Baltimore Mayor Announces Lawsuit Against Ghost Gun Manufacturer
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott announced Wednesday that his city is filing a lawsuit against Ghost Gun manufacturer Polymer80, Inc.
According to local station WJZ, the mayor will be joined by the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence’s Kris Brown, Joseph Sakran, Director of Emergency General Surgery at Johns Hopkins, and Baltimore Police Department Deputy Commissioner Michael Harrison in the suit.
The Baltimore Police Department has previously noted that it’s been powerless to stop the proliferation of unregistered firearms in the city as ghost guns are easily ordered on the web, assembled at home, and impossible to trace on the streets.
Commissioner Harrison says the “self-made, homemade handguns” create a new danger for citizens and law enforcement.
“It’s a gun you can buy in parts,” Harrison said last spring, according to WJZ. “It’s my understanding that it is not considered a firearm until it is assembled and it comes with instructions on how to assemble it and it has no serial number, so it can’t be traced to someone who purchased it. It can’t be traced to the previous person who was in possession of it.”
According to data provided to WJZ, the number of ghost guns confiscated by officers has grown by 20 times since 2018. Last year, Harrison noted that the police department noticed a “large jump” in the number of phantom guns used to commit crimes in Baltimore.
“Twenty-three percent of the ghost guns were found on people under the age of 21, with the youngest being 14,” Harrison said, noting the alarming age of some of the people obtaining ghost guns. “So yes, people are committing violent crimes at younger and younger ages.”
