Investigation into Chinese shipments leads to discovery of ’ghost guns’ in MA; rifle, silencers and more seized
An investigation into items shipped from China to Massachusetts has led to the discovery of several ghost guns, according to court records detailing several investigations.
Ghost gun is a term used to describe untraceable, privately made firearms that lack the traditional serial numbers found on firearms.
Federal and state authorities were tracking illegal gun parts being shipped to the United States from China when they began to notice other items coming overseas as well.
Massachusetts State Police detectives, agents from the U.S. Department and Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Service and Customs and Border Protection discovered in the fall of 2019 items that could be converted into silencers for guns were coming in from China.
Silencers are still illegal in some states including Massachusetts, where manufacturers and police are only allowed to possess them.
As authorities began tracking the parts used to make the silencers, they began to find people with ghost guns.
The details surrounding many of the discoveries are listed in a lengthy search warrant filed in Worcester District Court in connection with the investigation of a Worcester man who authorities say was receiving shipments of gun parts to make an AR-15 style rifle along with items that can be made into silencers.
The ghost guns discovered by authorities can be made from legally purchased kits and then assembled with household items.
“The legal purchase of these kits, whether through online retailers or at brick and mortar gun shops, can lead to the illegal possession of an untraceable firearm once the firearm manufacture process is complete,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said in a news release just last month.
The kits to make these guns do not require someone to have an LTC or FID card or a background check, making it easier for people to skirt gun laws.
Just a few days ago, Syracuse, New York and a handful of other city mayors in the U.S. filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seeking to curb the emerging issue of ghost guns, Syracuse.com reported.
The lawsuit says the ATF allows online retailers to sell guns parts that are nearly complete, many times about 80%, along with instructions on how to finish the firearm to make it...
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