![]() ![]() State Police and many other law enforcement agencies told the Times Union last year they had not seized or encountered so-called 3D guns in criminal investigations. Those firearms, which are undetectable by standard security screening devices, are rarely encountered by law enforcement despite swift action from New York lawmakers last year to outlaw them. ![]() Police said many of the firearms made by Marinelli were ghost guns, which he had sold to members of "outlaw motorcycle groups" and convicted felons - sometimes delivering the guns in his marked police car.ĭespite the proliferation of the underground firearms, there is still confusion among some law enforcement officials who may wrongly believe the term "ghost guns" refer only to the high-tech plastic firearms that can be produced using expensive 3D printers. In February 2019, State Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) charged 38-year-old Gregg Marinelli of Ulster County, who was a police sergeant for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, with illegally manufacturing dozens of handguns and assault rifles, including one fully automatic rifle. Potential expert witness questioned in accused driveway shooter case.Neil Golub resigns after tense exchange with Metroplex leader Ray Gillen.High school football Week 6: Friday’s and Saturday’s scores.Court of Appeals judge recuses herself from influential case Churchill: Professor's support for Hamas amid atrocities stokes outrage.And in many instances, they are being illegally resold to convicted felons. Their owners often lack the proper state permits or have not undergone the federal background check needed to legally possess them. They have been dubbed ghost guns because the self-manufactured weapons have no serial numbers and are unregistered. Last year, those agencies have recovered an additional six ghost guns, five of which were semiautomatic handguns, according to data provided by the Onondaga County district attorney's office. Two years ago in the Syracuse area, police agencies seized 15 ghost guns in six months - including 10 semiautomatic handguns, three semiautomatic rifles, and an illegally modified fully automatic rifle. ![]() Schumer, have focused their legislative efforts largely on strengthening background checks for firearms permits and cutting off easy access to certain assault weapons. The increase in self-manufactured guns has taken place as New York's political leaders, including U.S. Thousands of kits used to build the guns are being sold annually across the nation by online mail-order companies, which exploit a loophole in federal and state gun control laws by providing "unfinished" hardware with the drill bits and instructions - including video tutorials - needed to make a fully functioning firearm.Īn Arkansas company that was highlighted in the Times Union's story last September subsequently shut down its website. Latham did not have legal authority to carry a loaded handgun in public. Latham was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for having a loaded pistol that police said was a ghost gun. In June, Noah Latham, 21, a 10th Mountain Division drone operator with the rank of specialist E-4, and Nathaniel Shepard, 31, of Averill Park were among four men arrested on weapons charges after an investigation that began when they were spotted at a protest in Troy, some of them carrying guns. Police say the untraceable firearms, including assault-style rifles and semiautomatic handguns, have increasingly found their way into the hands of criminals, or anyone with the minimal skills needed to assemble them. The companies operating these websites have specifically been marketing their lower receivers as “80 percent” complete, in order to evade federal regulations." "However, an incomplete lower receiver - lacking certain holes, slots, or cavities - is not considered a firearm. "Aside from a fully assembled firearm, the lower receiver is the only piece that is independently considered a firearm and is thus subject to federal regulation," the attorney general's office said in a statement. Previously: What is a ghost gun and are they legal?Īlthough the attorney general's office has pursued criminal cases against ghost gun companies and their customers in prior years, the letter to the companies was issued 10 days after the Times Union published a story highlighting how law enforcement agencies across New York had been seizing more of the guns - which are sold 80 percent finished to avoid federal regulations that do not define them as firearms until they are fully built.Īccording to the attorney general's office, the 17 sites were selling unfinished lower receivers - composed of either metal or plastic - that hold the upper, lower and rear portions of a semiautomatic rifle make it capable of firing. ![]()
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