By Robert Jordan
Ghost Guns in Schools: A Rising Concern for K-12 Safety. In Pennsylvania, a 15-year-old killed one teen and injured another at a corner store. In Wisconsin, two 15-year-olds were shot and killed by another 15-year-old with a gun he stole from a family member. In Maryland, a four-year-old playing hide-and-seek found a gun and accidentally shot herself in the arm. In Oregon, a 20-year-old shot and killed two teenage sisters with gun parts she ordered online. All of these tragedies happened in 2024 and are just a snapshot of the many incidents involving ghost guns and young people last year.
Ghost guns were more recently thrust into the spotlight after investigators determined the firearm used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson allegedly was a ghost gun.
What Are Ghost Guns?
Ghost guns, sometimes referred to as privately made firearms (PMFs), are homemade firearms assembled by someone other than a licensed manufacturer. The parts are sold together in a kit or separately to create a fully functioning firearm. Downloadable kits can also be bought online and made using 3D printers.
A majority of 80 online ghost gun sellers began selling the product kits within the past five years, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention organization.
Ghost guns are hazardous because they are entirely accessible to people who are legally prohibited from purchasing firearms. Unlike firearms sold by licensed manufacturers, these kits or parts are sold without background checks and serial numbers. Some PMFs have counterfeit markings that can be easily mistaken for authentic serial numbers, making tracing a PMF used in a crime even more challenging.
Because of this, a new report published in March 2024 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) notes that law enforcement’s ability to identify PMFs correctly remains primarily limited, leading the bureau to conclude that its current data significantly underestimates the absolute number of PMFs recovered in crimes.
How Does the U.S. Trace Guns Used in Crimes?
Before diving into how standard ghost guns have become, let’s look at how they are traced in the first place.
According to ATF, the National Tracing Center is the country’s only gun tracing facility. In February 2023, the Department of Justice released its first study on criminal gun trafficking in over two decades. The report found gun trace requests from law enforcement agencies spiked from 338,000 in 2017 to more than 460,000 in 2021 — a 36% increase.
According to USA Facts, the requests reflect the increasing availability of manufactured, privately made and imported firearms. Fortunately, the share of crime guns traced by ATF has risen over time. The data shows ATF traced 79% of weapons from crimes in 2021. Of those traced guns, 22% belonged to people ages 18 to 24.
Comparatively, from 2017 to 2021, the federal government traced merely 1% of submitted PMFs to their original purchasers, highlighting the difficulty in tracking ghost guns.
Using data from ATF’s 2024 report, USA Facts created a chart to show how successful each state has been in tracing guns used in crimes.
According to USA Facts, Texas submitted the highest number of gun trace requests (231,784), with a trace rate of 83%. California had the second-highest number of gun trace requests (177,786), with a 62% trace rate. On Oct. 1, 2024, the California Department of Justice released statistics on ghost gun recoveries by county for 2013 through 2023:
- 3 in 2013
- 11 in 2014
- 48 in 2015
- 174 in 2016
- 326 in 2017
- 687 in 2018
- 1,572 in 2019
- 5,490 in 2020
- 10,877 in 2021
- 10,098 in 2022
- 8,340 in 2023
How Prevalent Are Ghost Guns?
From 2016 to 2021, ATF received around 45,000 reports of suspected PMFs that were used in crimes, including 692 homicides or attempted homicides.
ATF’s 2024 report also revealed the number of privately made firearms that law enforcement submitted to ATF increased by over 1,000% between 2017 and 2021 — up from 1,629 in 2017 to 19,273 in 2021.
What’s the Most Common Type of Ghost Gun?
Pistols are the most common type of ghost gun, making up 59% of all recovered and traced PMFs from 2017 to 2021, followed by rifles (14%) and machine guns (12%).
However, pistols weren’t always the most common PMFs. In 2017, rifles comprised 35% of all recovered ghost guns compared to 19% of pistols. Since then, rifles have declined as a share of PMFs from 30% in 2018 to 10% in 2021, according to USA Facts.
Minors and Ghost Guns
Since 2019, more than 50 ghost gun incidents have involved teens, according to a list compiled in 2023 by Everytown for Gun Safety.
In 2021, 17-year-old Stephen Abrams, the national chapter coordinator of Team ENOUGH, the youth-led initiative of Brady, the country’s oldest gun violence prevention group, demonstrated how easy it is for minors to purchase ghost gun kits.
Abrams did a quick Google search for “ghost guns.” Within 30 minutes, Abrams could purchase a frame kit for $149.99 and have it shipped to his home. The kit came with a slide, a barrel, a slide spring, and a lower receiver. He then found a video online about how to assemble the 9mm handgun.
In 2024, the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department in Wisconsin disbanded a ghost manufacturing ring run by high school-aged teens, according to K-12 Dive.
Are Ghost Guns Used in School Shootings?
Ghost guns have also been used in school shootings. According to Sandy Hook Promise, the gunman in the Nov. 14, 2019, shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., used his father’s ghost gun. Killed in the shooting were 14-year-old Dominic Blackwell and 15-year-old Gracie Muehlberger. Three others were injured, and the 16-year-old shooter fatally turned the gun on himself.
Since the Santa Clarita tragedy, there have been at least four other school shootings that have involved a ghost gun, according to NBC News.
What’s Being Done to Mitigate Ghost Guns?
In 2022, under the Gun Control Act, the Justice Department finalized a rule that makes PMFs subject to the same rules as traditional firearms, meaning manufacturers of ghost gun kits now need to serialize their firearms, and sellers must conduct background checks, among other requirements.
Some states have taken matters into their own hands. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, nine states, including New York and California, have responded to the proliferation with laws that regulate the sales of ghost guns by requiring background checks and serial numbers for all of the components in the kits.
The Call to Action
School safety is a shared responsibility that demands vigilance and proactive measures. At SITE|SAFETYNET℠, we provide real-time, actionable insights to help schools protect their students and staff from evolving threats, including the dangers posed by ghost guns. Our cutting-edge platform offers tailored safety assessments, data-driven solutions, and continuous updates to stay ahead of potential risks.
Don’t wait for a tragedy to spark change. Empower your school community with tools that make a difference today. Visit SITE|SAFETYNET℠ to learn more about our comprehensive school safety solutions and join us in creating safer learning environments for all.
