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

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.

 

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)