building a handgun

Building A Handgun - Authorities nationwide and in Sonoma County have confiscated a record number of guns that lack serial numbers and are therefore untraceable.|

Since the ghost gun problem was rampant not only in California but throughout the country, my editors wanted me to see how easy it is to get a firearm that doesn't have a serial number and can't be traced.

Building A Handgun

"Glocktober is FINALLY here!" stated that on October 1, an email from JSD Supply appeared in my inbox.

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The Pennsylvania-based company is one of the nation's leading retailers of so-called ghost tool kits. This is a term for a firearm that does not have serial numbers and therefore cannot be traced by law enforcement. Some have had their serial numbers removed, while others have been assembled from kits or even 3D printed.

Although these weapons have been around for about a decade, law enforcement in Sonoma County and across the country has recently seen a dramatic increase in the number of ghost weapons being used in violent crime. The problem is particularly acute in California, where a lawsuit was pending on October 13 against three companies that make and sell ghost weapons.

After seizing three illegal mass-produced unused guns in 2018 and 10 in 2019, Santa Rosa police confiscated another 15 weapons last year. As of Wednesday Sgt. Chris Mahurin, officers found 37 ghost pistols - more than a quarter of all the firearms they collected for evidence.

As of October 13, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has confiscated 28 ghost pistols compared to last year, the sergeant said. Juan Valencia. This is more than the 23 they collected last year. According to him, most of these weapons "are associated with drugs and criminal activity."

Homemade .22lr Webley(ish) Revolver

Communities across the state are facing similar rates of seizures, which the Los Angeles Police Department describes as an epidemic with deadly consequences.

In 2013, a prefabricated AR-15 was one of the weapons that killed five people in a mass shooting at Santa Monica College; and a Tehama County shooter who was banned from owning firearms killed five and injured nine people in 2017 with weapons he illegally made at home.

To help us better understand the issue, the Press Democrat editors asked me to buy and build a ghost pistol. They had many questions, but the main one was: how easy is it to buy and build one of these guns?

At The Press Democrat, our editors have begun discussing ways to study the spread of ghost weapons in a way that readers can understand and understand.

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But in order to solve or explain a problem, you have to understand it, and to be honest, we didn't understand much about ghost weapons.

To better address this issue, we asked one of our seasoned reporters, Austin Murphy, to do two things: tell readers how serious the problem is, and also see how easy it is to get weapons that don't have a serial number. .

I had no problem ordering a lower receiver or pistol frame when I bought it online. As a separate deal, I requested a kit for this pistol, including the bolt, barrel, and trigger—“everything you need to finish your pistol like a pro, with no paperwork,” the supplier promised.

Both parcels arrived to me a few days after I ordered them. In fact, it was harder for this clumsy reporter to build a gun. Even with the help of two friends, it took about a day longer than I expected.

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But in general, it took less than eight hours to create a smoothly working deadly weapon, stretching over several days.

Press Democrat writer Austin Murphy builds the Polymer80 Glock 19 "ghost gun" at his home Thursday, October 14, 2021 with details sourced from online sellers. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

It seemed a bit surreal - I've never owned a firearm - as did the $109.98 fee in a recent expense report for the Polymer80 PF940C bottom receiver - essentially a Glock 19.

But I still needed the bolt, barrel, and other components to complete the gun. Then hit the shock of the sticker. It turned out that parts cost about $450.

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JSD Supply in Prospect, Pennsylvania came to the rescue. With a hefty Glocktober discount, I got the PF940C "Complete Assembly Kit" - minus the frame I already had - for $319.

To legally manufacture a homemade firearm in California, you must request a unique serial number from the state Department of Justice. Although I have jumped those bureaucratic hurdles, many of those who buy and manufacture ghost weapons do not, for the simple and obvious reason that they do not pass background checks.

According to JSD Supply's online terms, customers are asked to certify that they have never been convicted of a felony or domestic violence, have not been "committed to a psychiatric hospital or found mentally handicapped" and that they are "not currently under a court order. prohibiting you from harassing, threatening or harassing a child or intimate partner.”

But it is unlikely that the company could be more open to its potential buyers who want firearms but cannot pass the test for the above reasons. On his website, he asks the question, "Why build your own weapons?"

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For other firearms, the answer is, “You go to a gun store, fill out a bunch of forms. They do a background check and depending on your condition, you may have to wait a bit.

When you order from JSD, you get an 80 percent lower receiver and all the parts you need to complete a firearm. No documents. And without serialization, it is impossible to track your purchase.

Press Democrat writer Austin Murphy ordered the parts needed to build the Polymer80 Glock 19 "ghost gun" through online retailers. Photo taken Thursday, October 14, 2021. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

As my three brothers never tire of reminding me, I am not around. I was a Cub Scout with a Pinewood Derby car swinging across the finish line with no wheel. I've fired a gun twice in my life. And now I... build one?

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A white P80 cardboard box with a PF940C "bottom receiver" came in the mail with a cool sticker but no instructions. For instructions, I went to the Polymer80 website and clicked "Users". To properly drill holes for the various pins, I would need a drill press equipped with a cross vise, which is not in my modestly motley toolbox.

In a panic about the instructions, I wrote to my neighbor Nathaniel, who has several pistols and access to a serious workshop. The next day, we went to his store with the kit.

Hole drilling went smoothly. Polymer80 makes these steps pretty secure by adding a fixture that holds the gun's bottom frame in place, making sure the holes are in the right place.

The 80 Glock 19 polymer "ghost gun" parts are held in place by pins inserted into pre-drilled holes in the firearm. Photo taken Thursday, October 14, 2021. (John Burgess/Press Democrat)

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More time was spent cutting and drilling and then smoothing the block of barrels. After using a drill, X-acto knife, and sandpaper to finish the job, we used a pair of pliers to cut rectangles out of the resin to get in the way of the trigger guard bar and then the notch for the front locking block.

At some point during the process of hosting the file - which, frankly, turned out to be more time-consuming than Polymer80 had led me to believe - Nate noticed that the time it took to assemble this weapon acted, in a sense, as "its own recovery period."

Life intervened and a number of other deadlines. Two weeks later I finished the pistol on the dining table.

I didn't know when I placed the order that it was the same Polymer80 model gun that was fired by the man who shot two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in the head during an ambush last year. The perpetrator had previous convictions. Both officers survived.

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In response to a new rule proposed by the Justice Department in May to regulate ghost weapons, conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that it was a "fictitious issue" that did not need new regulation.

“There is nothing ghostly about ghost guns. They look like guns. They shoot like guns. They kill like guns."

“There is nothing ghostly about ghost weapons,” he said. “They look like guns. They shoot like guns. They kill like guns."

Another pistol, made from Polymer80 components, was used in an April 2019 triple homicide in Glendale, according to a lawsuit filed against the company by the City of Los Angeles along with gun rights group Everytown For Gun Safety.

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More than 700 unidentified Polymer 80 firearms found in Los Angeles

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