A homemade firearm, also called a ghost gun or privately made firearm (PMF), is a firearm made by a private individual, in contrast to one produced by a corporate or government entity. The term ghost gun is used mostly in the United States, where it was coined by gun control advocates to describe the untraceability of such weapons, but has also been reappropriated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), some gun rights advocates and the firearm industry.
Production
United States
Under U.S. federal law, the creation of a firearm for non-commercial purposes (i.e., personal use) has, almost without exception, been unlicensed and legal. Second Amendment scholars note unconstitutional attempts to restrict access to homemade firearms is a problem as old as the Constitution itself. Since the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, however, anyone intending to manufacture firearms for sale or distribution is required to obtain a Federal Firearms License, and each firearm made is required to bear a unique serial number. In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) issued a rule that determined "buy build shoot" kits, which the ATF claimed could be assembled into functioning firearms in as little as 20 minutes, fit within the definition of "frame or receiver" used in the Gun Control Act of 1968. The ATF regulation, Final Rule 2021-05F, went into effect on August 24, 2022. This regulation expanded upon the current terms used in the Code of Federal Regulations by addition of the following:
"The term [firearm] shall [also] include a weapon parts kit that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive." The ATF rule thus required such kits to have serial numbers, required manufacturers of such kits to be licensed, and required commercial sellers of such kits to conduct background checks for purchasers. Under U.S. law, the frame or receiver of a firearm is treated as though it were a firearm itself; accordingly, both are subject to similar regulations.
The rule was challenged in court by gun advocacy groups, and a U.S. district judge in Texas, Reed O'Connor, ruled in 2023 that the ATF rule exceeded the agency's authority and issued a nationwide injunction blocking the rule. However, the U.S. has appealed to the Fifth Circuit, and O'Connor's injunction was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing the rule to go into effect pending further proceedings. While some states have passed laws restricting the creation of homemade firearms, in most states unfinished receivers are sold without requiring a federal or state background check.
History Most receiver blanks from the 20th century could be finished with hand tools, a drill press, or machine tools. Certain companies in the 1990s began to sell receiver kits that could include drill bits, stencils, or jigs to aid the finishing process.
Starting in the 2010s, polymer receiver blanks and kits became popular, which require only hand tools for finishing. Polymer80, based in Dayton, Nevada, became well known for being a top producer of such receivers.
It has always been possible to make firearms from raw materials, and more recently it has become popular among firearms hobbyists to produce receivers from plastic with a 3D printer, though the variety of materials and methods used to create these receivers are of varying quality.
A popular machine tool for completing receiver blanks is a CNC mill. The company Defense Distributed sells a CNC milling machine named the Ghost Gunner for this purpose. The Ghost Gunner was first sold in 2014, when the term "ghost gun" became popularized. AR-15-style firearms are often made as homemade firearms. AR-15s are modular firearms, and maker's marks are usually applied to the lower receiver, which houses the trigger group. A person with an AR-15 lower receiver can assemble a complete firearm using widely available, commercial and unregulated components, such as barrels, stocks, and upper receivers.
Pistols and AK-47-style semi-automatic rifles are also popularly made as homemade firearms. The Intelligence Division of the New York City Police Department has published a survey and compendium of homemade firearm types.
Non-U.S. jurisdictions Overseas production centers of clandestine homemade firearms include China, the Khyber Pass area of Pakistan, and the Philippines; the Philippines are especially known for the production of .45 caliber semi-automatic pistols.
Political controversy
Traceability Because they lack serial numbers and manufacturer identification, homemade firearms are more difficult to trace than conventional firearms. To help trace homemade firearms used in crime and assist detectives in criminal investigations, ATF officials have advised law enforcement agencies to submit evidence obtained in investigations to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). In a 2021 commentary on firearms in the journal Injury Epidemiology, firearm violence expert Garen Wintemute wrote that "The potential for large-scale, clandestine firearm manufacture in support of armed extremist groups is cause for great concern." Wintemute wrote that the relative inexpensiveness of 3D-printing equipment could facilitate the growths of arsenals held by violent extremist organizations. Mexican drug cartels are reported to be developing 3D-printed grenade launchers.
While there are no reliable statistics on how many homemade firearms are being recovered in crimes, since the issue rose to prominence in California, the ATF has documented recoveries of homemade firearms in 38 States plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The ATF noted an increasing number of homemade firearm seizures every year since 2016, and over 1,600 of these firearms have been entered into NIBIN.
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