A ghost gun is displayed before the start of an event about gun violence in the Rose Garden of the White House April 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The Maine Gun Safety Coalition is asking state lawmakers to ban ghost guns after an untraceable firearm was used by the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter.
Firearms known as “ghost guns” do not have a serial number as they are usually constructed at home with a kit or with the assembly of separate pieces. They could also be made with a 3D printer.
Previous attempts from Maine lawmakers to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of ghost guns have been unsuccessful. A 2019 proposal died before receiving a vote in the Maine House of Representatives or Senate. Another bill in 2021 made it to the chamber floors, but was voted down.
The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the National Rifle Association testified in opposition to both bills for various reasons, including the argument that law-abiding enthusiasts should be allowed to handmake firearms without government overreach.
“I don’t see any reason for manufacturers to market unserialized gun components other than to allow purchasers to circumvent the law,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director for the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, in a statement Thursday.
Police suspect the alleged shooter, Luigi Mangione, used a ghost gun that may have been made with a 3D printer to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month in New York. The firearm was capable of firing 9 mm rounds. Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania days after the shooting.
Earlier this summer, the Portland Police Department held a press conference about the increase in gun violence and drug activity it was seeing in the city, including a rise in these untraceable firearms. Police said they recovered three ghost guns in two weeks this summer.
The Biden administration has taken steps to try to address untraceable guns on the federal level. In 2022, it announced new rules that require certain parts of a firearm to have a serial number.
However, that has drawn pushback from gun rights organizations, such as the National Rifle Association which has been part of the effort to challenge this rule in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that it violates a constitutional right to privately build firearms.
But the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which advocates for more robust state and federal gun policy, said there is more that states like Maine could do to prevent the untrackable spread of homemade guns.
For instance, state law could require those who finish assembling a ghost gun to ensure that the complete firearm is serialized, which in effect would ban the possession of unserialized or untraceable guns. The gun safety group argues this would still allow those who want to assemble their own guns to do so, as long as they make sure the final product has a serial number.
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