Police find ghost gun after raid on Pittsburgh's North Side
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Allegheny County police took another ghost gun off the streets Thursday night after a raid at a home on Pittsburgh's North Side.
SWAT teams were called to Perrysville Avenue to execute a sealed search warrant at a home on the 1700 block where they recovered an illegal firearm, ammunition, marijuana and electronic devices.
Investigators said the firearm was a black 9mm semi-automatic 3D-printed Glock-style handgun, also known as a ghost gun.
Authorities said the firearm was found in 18-year-old Chalais Ramey's bedroom along with a magazine with 9mm ammo.
Police said Ramey is prohibited from lawfully possessing or manufacturing a firearm due to several crime violations. Police said Ramey is on active probation through Allegheny County Juvenile Probation.
According to online records, Ramey was charged two years ago with robbery, burglary, possession and theft in connection to a carjacking incident.
Ghost gun use reportedly on the rise
The use of ghost guns is on the rise in Pennsylvania and across the country.
According to the ATF, from 2017-2021, there was a more than 1,000% increase in local law enforcement reporting ghost guns to the ATF. State police also report the number of ghost guns seized has doubled from 2022 to 2023.
"Individuals can make PMFs [privately made firearms] from scratch or they can buy weapon parts kits, including 'buy-build-shoot' kits. 'Buy-build-shoot' kits are essentially pre-manufactured, disassembled, complete firearms," a spokesperson with CeaseFirePA said.
Ghost guns are untraceable due to the fact that they are self-manufactured.
"Unserialized firearms are incredibly difficult to trace. For instance, over the past five-year period, the ATF was only able to successfully trace to an individual purchaser 0.98% of the suspected "ghost guns" submitted by law enforcement around the country," CeaseFirePA said.
According to CeaseFirePA, many Pennsylvanians have been impacted by ghost guns.
"In June of 2022, ghost guns were used to carry out a mass shooting in Philadelphia's South Street entertainment district that left three people dead and 11 injured. In September 2022, a ghost gun was used by a 14-year-old in a shooting that killed a recreation center worker. In July 2023, a ghost gun was used to carry out a mass shooting in the Kingsessing neighborhood of Philadelphia, leaving five people dead. And more recently, on March 16, 2024, a gunman in Bucks County used a ghost gun to kill his stepmom, sister, and the mother of his children," a spokesperson said.
Late last year, state Rep. Melissa Shusterman announced plans to introduce legislation to regulate the use of 3D-printed firearms, including prohibiting anyone from printing a firearm without a proper gun manufacturing license from the federal government.
