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Local law enforcement say Supreme Court ruling on ghost guns will help track firearms

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Published  August 11, 2023 6:02pm EDT
Camden
FOX 29 Philadelphia

Law enforcement say Supreme Court ruling on ghost guns will help

The Supreme Court is reinstating a regulation aimed at curbing the number of ghost guns, or firearms without serial numbers. Area law enforcement say it will help them track firearms.

CAMDEN, N.J. - Area law enforcement sources tell FOX 29 a Supreme Court ruling this week backing new ghost gun rules will help them track the firearms.

Camden County Deputy Police Chief Michael Shomo picks up a ghost gun taken off the streets of Camden. It’s considered the "scourge" of the illegal gun trade.

A ghost gun is not only deadly, but untraceable, easy to build and simple to enhance. Shomo snaps a long bullet clip into the handle of the gun. "You get an individual who doesn’t care about anybody, and they can fire off 30 rounds within seconds," he says, as he examines the weapon.

In this city of 72,000, struggling with pockets of deep poverty, police have pulled 182 ghost guns off the streets in the last four years, including 30 so far in 2023.

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Assembled from kits bought online, or at gun shows, there are no serial numbers for tracking. Shomo said, "We don’t know where it came from, who had it, who possessed it, who bought it, who bought the parts to make it."

In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in an effort to limit ghost guns, forced the makers and sellers of gun kits to get licenses, etch the parts with serial numbers and do background checks. The rule was challenged, but this week the Supreme Court kept the restrictions in place.

Great news say police in Camden, and over the river in Philadelphia, where more than 900 ghost guns have turned up since last year. Shomo believes the new rules will enhance the ability of police to trace the weapons and learn more about their purchase.

As guns in boxes are piled high in the evidence room of Camden County Police, officers take hundreds of guns off the streets here yearly. The revived ghost gun rules may help them get to the source of this new wave of weapons.