Authorities say the man accused of killing no fewer than five men in the Stockton, California area used a so-called “ghost gun” created on a 3-D printer out of a polymer, making the weapon untraceable by law enforcement, NBC News reports.
Using the technology, 43-year-old felon Wesley Brownlee was able to circumvent gun background checks at brick-and-mortar gun stores to make his own handgun, which he used in a series of killings that include five police in Stockton have linked him to as well as two more in which he’s suspected. Plus, Brownlee is believed to be involved in a murder in Oakland as well as a non-fatal shooting in Stockton.
Gun control advocates have warned about the ability of people to produce unregulated weapons via a 3-D printer, urging manufacturers of the printers to adopt technology that would prevent certain components from being created. Gun violence advocates say that’s illegal because something something Second Amendment and tyranny and cold dead hands and unsatisfied wives.
Standard copiers and scanners include technology that prevents them from accurately copying and scanning US paper currency and some foreign currency, and gun safety advocates say similar restrictors can be put on 3-D printers.