Ghost gun manufacturer agrees to stop sales to Maryland residents
A leading manufacturer of ghost guns has agreed to stop selling its untraceable, unassembled firearms to Maryland residents
BALTIMORE — A leading manufacturer of ghost guns has agreed to stop selling its untraceable, unassembled firearms to Maryland residents under a settlement agreement announced Wednesday by the city of Baltimore.
City leaders sued the company, Nevada-based Polymer80, two years ago “in response to the rapid escalation of ghost guns appearing on Baltimore streets and in the hands of minors,” according to the mayor’s office. Officials said the settlement grants the city all measures of relief requested in the lawsuit, including $1.2 million in damages.
“Nine out of ten homicides in Baltimore City are committed with guns,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “This settlement — and the statement it sends about the harmful impact of these ghost guns — is a critical victory for the effort to confront gun violence in our communities.”
A spokesperson for Polymer80 didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The suit accused Polymer80 of intentionally undermining federal and state firearms laws by designing, manufacturing and providing gun assembly kits without serial numbers to buyers who don’t undergo background checks. It was filed the same day Maryland’s statewide ban on ghost guns went into effect in 2022 following a law change that expanded the definition of a firearm to include “an unfinished frame or receiver.”
The Biden administration in 2022 announced new federal regulations aimed at curbing the proliferation of ghost guns, which authorities say have been turning up at crime scenes across the nation in increasing numbers. The regulations, which include expanding the definition
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