BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Campbell is urging lawmakers to set tough restrictions on “ghost guns” as they consider tightening the state’s firearm laws.
Campbell held a briefing Tuesday with reporters where she and members of a state police unit targeting illegal firearms displayed dozens of untraceable handguns, rifles, high-capacity magazines and other “ghost” gun components seized during criminal investigations over the past several years.
Campbell said unlike commercially-made serialized firearms, “ghost” guns can be assembled using parts manufactured on milling machines and 3D printers. The weapons circumvent background checks, convicted felon restrictions and waiting periods because they are sold as components rather than a completed gun, she said.
“It’s not only troubling that ‘ghost’ guns can be assembled, bought and sold so easily, but they are untraceable and that makes it hard for law enforcement to investigate crimes that occur using these types of weapons,” she said.
Campbell said the AG’s office will be forming a new “gun violence prevention unit” that will be specifically targeting “ghost” guns and other illegal firearms.
The calls to set restrictions on “ghost” guns comes as Democratic lawmakers on Beacon Hill consider tough new gun regulations in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutional right to carry firearms.
A 140-page proposal expected to be taken up by the House of Representatives calls for setting new restrictions on the open carry of firearms in public spaces, requiring tracking and monitoring systems for handguns, and imposing tougher gun licensing requirements, among other provisions.
In 2018, then-Attorney General Maura Healey issued a directive advising gun owners that plastic firearms are illegal under federal and state law because they are untraceable, do not have serial numbers, and wouldn’t require a background check to print.
Campbell and gun control advocates want lawmakers to enshrine that policy in state law, along with other changes such as setting criminal penalties for the manufacturing, possession or sale of “ghost” guns and unlawful possession of gun parts.
Police in Massachusetts seized more than 2,400 illegal “crime” guns last year — at least 17% of which — or 316 — were “ghost guns” or privately made firearms that cannot be traced, according to the latest data from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. That’s a 75% increase over 2021, the agency said.
Overall, Massachusetts police have seized 13,196 “crime guns” since 2016, according to the data. The number of seizures has increased by 40% from 2016 to 2022, it shows.
While Massachusetts already has some of the toughest gun control laws in the nation, advocates say the state needs to close loopholes in the laws that have allowed untraceable “ghost” weapons to proliferate.
But Second Amendment groups argue tougher gun controls are unnecessary and would punish law-abiding owners while ignoring the issue of illegal firearms.
On Tuesday, the National Association for Gun Rights issued a “travel advisory” warning legal firearm owners to avoid Massachusetts, citing the proposed gun control regulations.
The NRA-affiliated group, which has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s “assault” weapons ban, said proposal would “ostensibly ban” more firearms than any state, making Massachusetts “the most hostile state in the union to gun owners.”
“Your gun rights and your freedom are at serious risk in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Dudley Brown, the group’s president, said in a statement. “If you live there you might want to pack your bags and if you are thinking of traveling there, you need to reconsider.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com