A ghost gun is an untraceable firearm without a serial number. The ATF, the federal agency tasked with regulating firearms, also calls them “privately made firearms.”
These firearms, including the frame and receiver, have been completed, assembled or otherwise made by someone other than a licensed manufacturer. Ghost guns are made without a serial number placed by a licensed manufacturer when the firearm was made. Not all ghost guns are illegal and not all firearms require a serial number, according to the ATF.
Ghost guns are often made with 3D printers or from “buy build shoot” kits. There are 10 different types of ghost guns, according to the ATF. They are: pistol, revolver, rifle, shotgun, frame or receiver, machine gun conversion device (MCD), destructive device, machinegun, firearm silencer and any other weapon.
They got the name ghost guns because it can be difficult to track them, according to the ATF. Ghost guns have made it difficult for law enforcement to trace the origins of a firearm and link it to related crimes. From 2016 to 2021, approximately 45,240 ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement from potential crime scenes, according to data reported to the ATF. And 692 of them were tied to homicides or attempted homicides.
In 2022, a new ATF rule went into effect to modernize the definition of a firearm and curb the proliferation of ghost guns, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The “Frame or Receiver” Final Rule makes it clear that readily convertible to functional weapons are subject to the same regulations as traditional firearms.