DC Sues Nevada Ghost Gun Maker

The District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against a manufacturer of partially-assembled and untraceable firearms, commonly called “ghost guns.” The lawsuit alleges that Nevada-based Polymer80 Inc. violates the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act by falsely representing that what it sells is legal in the District. The complaint cites the  Polymer80 website, where it offers a number of weapons, including an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and several types of handguns, that are no more than 80 percent complete when delivered and thus not subject to federal law. Customers can then, according to the complaint, purchase the remaining parts off the website, along with instructions that will allow them to complete the fabrication in a matter of hours. When it’s complete the product has no traceable serial number or other identification. DC law, cited in the complaint, defines a firearm as any weapon, “regardless of operability, which will, or is designed or redesigned, made or remade, readily converted, restored, or repaired, or is intended to, expel a projectile or projectiles by the action of an explosive.” The words “readily converted” are in bold and underlined in the complaint. Ghost guns are increasingly used to commit crimes in the District, says the attorney general, and the majority of the 250 ghost guns recovered by District law enforcement since 2017 were made by Polymer80, including guns linked to nine homicides.