Baltimore's Mayor Scott To Announce Lawsuit Against Ghost Gun Manufacturer
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Mayor Brandon Scott will announce on Wednesday that the city has filed a lawsuit against Ghost Gun manufacturer Polymer80, Inc.
Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence Kris Brown, Director of Emergency General Surgery at Johns Hopkins Joseph Sakran, and Baltimore Police Department Deputy Commissioner Michael Sullivan will join him.
Scott will make the lawsuit announcement at 11 a.m.
These ghost guns are easily ordered on the internet, easily assembled at home, and impossible to trace on the streets.
The Baltimore Police Department has previously noted that it has been powerless to stop the proliferation of unregistered guns flooding the city and ending up in the hands of those who will use them.
The "self-made, homemade handguns" create a new danger, Harrison said.
"It's a gun you can buy in parts," Harrison said last spring. "It's my understanding that 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."
That's what makes the weapons attractive to criminals and a nightmare for the police.
Last year, Harrison noted that the police department had noticed an "a large jump" in the number of phantom guns used to commit crimes in Baltimore.
In 2020, the number of guns jumped from 19 to 126—a 400% increase, he said.
On Tuesday, the Baltimore Police Department provided data to WJZ showing that the number of ghost guns confiscated by officers had increased greatly since 2018.
9 ghost guns in 2018
30 in 2019
128 in 2020
352 in 2021
187 as of May 31.
The alarming trend shows the number of guns exponentially increasing every year with 2022 on track to surpass previous years.
Equally alarming is the age of some of the people who manage to acquire ghost guns.
"Twenty-three percent of the ghost guns were found on people under the age of 21, with the youngest being 14. The youngest being 14," Harrison said. "So yes, people are committing violent crimes at younger and younger ages."
