Ghost Guns Proliferating
"[With most handguns, if police want to work at it, they can usually trace them-- even back to the United States or Europe, wherever they're made.""But with these [ghost guns], they could change hands multiple times. It can be very, very difficult to figure out where they originated."Blake Brown, professor, history of firearms control in Canada, Saint Mary's University"This presence [of 3D guns] is consistent with national and international trends observed, where privately made firearms are being used in criminal activity.""Privately made firearms ... can appeal to individuals intending to use them for criminal purposes since they do not have a serial number and are difficult to trace."RCMP statement"The best you can do is make possessing 3D printed parts for firearms ... illegal somehow.""That's still not going to deter people who weren't deterred from shooting other people in the first place."Rod Giltaca, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
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| Calgary police have seized 17 3D-printed firearms this year. Previously, they had seized only one. (Calgary Police Service) |
Ghost
guns are simple to produce, hard to trace and are becoming ubiquitous
at crime scenes in North America. These are firearms lacking serial
numbers, assembled from individual parts or 3D printers. Canada's
federal policing body has not yet seen fit to maintain a database on
these 3D firearms, or on printers -- much less how many shootings have
occurred with the use of the weapons. It has, however laid charges in a
number of cases where 3D guns were seized. 3D print files are available
for producing a range of firearms, including assault rifles.
There are reports the RCMP claims to be "anecdotally" aware of, regarding ghost gun seizures in Canada, but they report, they "do not collect statistics on this".
According to Professor Brown, whose study expertise is the history of
Canadian firearms control, national and regional statistics should be
kept with respect to the number of 3D-printed weapons seized, where and
on what occasion. Lack of data makes it more difficult to generate basic
facts.
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| Wisconsin-based gun designer Ethan Middleton shows a firearm he printed and assembled in less than a day. (Ousama Farag/CBC) |
Ghost
gun manufacturers and distributors might face discouragement, Professor
Brown suggests, should they face stiffer criminal penalties. The
presence of these firearms has been a growing concern of police
continent-wide. An anti-gun unit based in Quebec, this year along with
RCMP, arearrested 45 people, seizing 440 guns in raids targeting makers
of 3D-printed firearms in eight provinces: Quebec, Ontario Alberta,
British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
A
coroner's inquest heard last month that weapons used to murder three
people in the Montreal area in August 2022 were homemade by the killer,
who shot at random. The U.S. Justice Department informed the Supreme
Court that local law enforcement agencies seized over 19,000 ghost guns
at crime scenes in 2021, over a tenfold increase in just a five-year
period.
Canada,
noted Professor Brown, maintains rigorous regulations on firearms, in
particular handguns, but 3D-printed guns bypass regulations since they
are absent serial numbers. According to experts, it's relatively easy
for anyone to produce a gun. It takes a 3D printer which uses a laser to
secrete a liquid resin that hardens to form the gun parts, and
instructions for its use, found readily online.
There
is nothing in the Firearms Act or other associated laws to prohibit
anyone from possessing a digital blueprint for a 3D-printed gun,
although possession of the firearm sans licence and registration
certificate can lead to weapons seizure and criminal charges.
 |
| Ben Lawson, acting staff sergeant of the Calgary Police Service's Firearms Investigative Unit, shows 3D-printed firearms that were seized by his unit. (Ellen Mauro/CBC) |
Labels: 3D Firearms, 3D Printers, Absent Serial Numbers, Criminal Activity, Ghost Guns, Police, RCMP
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, October 10, 2023
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