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NEWSCENTER 5 AT 6:00. ED: 5 INVESTIGATES TONIGHT FINDING A NEW KIND OF WEAPON MAKING INROADS HERE IN MASSACHUSETTS AND AROUND THE COUNTRY. MARIA: THEY CAN BE PURCHASED BY ANYONE ON THE INTERNET AND IN LESS THAN AN HOUR THEY CAN BE TURNED INTO WORKING FIREARMS. OUR KAREN ANDERSON TALKING WITH A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL ABOUT THE GROWING CONCERNS, KAREN. KAREN: WELL, MASSACHUSETTS HAS SOME OF THE STRONG TEST GUN LAWS IN THE COUNTRY, BUT THESE SO-CALLED GHOST GUNS ARE A WAY CRIMINALS ARE ARMING THEMSELVES WITH WORKING FIREARMS, NO BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIRED. A 9 MILLIMETER HANDGUN LOADS AND FIRES LIKE ANY OTHER FIREARM. WHAT MAKES THESE GUNS DIFFERENT IS THEY WERE BOUGHT IN PARTS AND ASSEMBLED AT HOME. WHILE THESE ARE REGISTERED AND LEGAL, ANYONE WILLING TO BREAK THE LAW COULD PUT ONE TOGETHER BUT NEVER REGISTER IT AVOIDING ANY RECORD THAT IT EXISTS. NO BACKGROUND CHECK NEEDED. IT THEN BECOMES A GHOST GUN. >> THEY ARE TERRIFYING. KAREN: DISTRICT ATTORNEY MARIAN RYAN SAYS POLICE ARE SEEING MORE AND MORE GHOST GUNS IN MASSACHUSETTS. >> IT'S A WAY TO GET YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO RELATIVELY QUICKLY PUT TOGETHER A GUN THAT IS A FIREABLE FIREARM AND EVEN IF YOU LEAVE IT AT THE SCENE, IT'S COMPLETELY UNTRACEABLE BECAUSE IT DOESN'T HAVE A SERIAL NUMBER. KAREN: THE D. TAJ BECAME ESPECIALLY CONCERNED AFTER LEARNING ABOUT A 13-YEAR-OLD IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY WHO BUILDS DOZENS OF GHOST GUNS AT HOME. WAS HE ABLE TO DO IT ALL BY HIMSELF? >> YES. KAREN: RIGHT HERE, ALL OF THE GHOST GUNS THAT YOU CAN IMAGINE. WE DISCOVERED THE PARTS YOU NEED TO MAKE THEM ARE EASY TO FIND ONLINE. NOW WE PROCEED TO CHECKOUT, THERE IS NO BACKGROUND CHECK. SOLD AS 80% KITS, CALLED THAT BECAUSE THEY'RE 80% BUILT. THE BUYER DOES THE OTHER 20% USING STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS AND ORDINARY HOUSEHOLD TOOLS TO TURN IT INTO A WORKING GUN, NO SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED. WITH A LITTLE EXPERIENCE, YOU CAN BUILD ONE IN HALF AN HOUR, FROM NEARLY 30C'S IN CAMBRIDGE AND ANOTHER ON A GANG MEMBER, 5 INVESTIGATES DISCOVERED THE HOME BUILT UNREGISTERED FIREARMS ARE BEING FOUND ACROSS THE STATE. ON THE NORTH SHORE, THIS MAN IS ONE OF THREE CHARGED WITH SELLING AT LEAST EIGHT GHOST GUNS TO AN INFORMANT AND BRAGGED ABOUT SELLING MORE. ON THE SOUTH SHORE, THE HEAD OF THE LOCAL OUTLAWS MOTORCYCLE GANG ARRESTED AFTER A SEARCH OF HIS HOME FOUND THIS A.R.15 STYLE GHOST GUN HIDDEN INSIDE HIS BAR. HERE IS ANOTHER A.R.15 SEIZED DURING AN INVESTIGATION INTO A GROUP SUSPECTED OF SELLING GLOCK STYLE GHOST GUNS IN AND AROUND THE FITCHBURG AREA. >> HOW MANY KITS ARE YOU ORDERED? >> FIVE. KAREN: 5 INVESTIGATES RECEIVED VIDEO. ANOTHER SUSPECT SEEN HERE IN UNDERCOVER VIDEO OF ONE OF THE SALES. >> THAT'S THE BIGGEST PART OF THE PROBLEM IS HAVING THE MONEY UP FRONT TO ORDER. STUFF HE NEEDS TO MAKE IT. KAREN: GHOST GUNS ARE SHOWING UP ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY, WHITE SUPREMACISTS CHARGED IN MARYLAND, A SCHOOL SHOOTING IN CALIFORNIA. >> IT'S A HUGE LOOPHOLE IN THE GUN LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY AND IT'S AN INCREDIBLE THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY. KAREN: ADAM SKAGGS IS THE CHIEF COUNSEL OF A GROUP CO-FOUNDED BY OFFICIAL CONGRESSWOMAN GABRIELLE GIFFORDS. THESE KITS SHOULD BE TREATED THE SAME WAY AS EVERY OTHER GUN. >> IF YOU'RE A CHILD THAT CAN'T LEGALLY BUY A GUN OR A CONVICTED FELON OR A DOMESTIC ABUSER AND YOU COULDN'T GO TO A GUN STORE AND PASS A BACKGROUND CHECK TO GET A GUN, YOU CAN GO ONLINE AND BUY THESE KITS, BUILD YOUR OWN GUN, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. KAREN: WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THAT, WHAT GOES THROUGH YOUR MIND? >> IT'S CRAZY. KA

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From a 13-year-old in Middlesex County to an alleged gang member on the North Shore, unregistered and untraceable "ghost guns" are finding a growing customer base in Massachusetts among people legally barred from owning a firearm."They are terrifying," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said. "It's a way to get what you need to be able to relatively quickly put together a gun that is a fireable firearm. And even if you leave it at the scene, it's completely untraceable because it doesn't have a serial number."They're called ghost guns because there is no record of them existing with police or any government agency. They are built from parts or kits, often being shipped to the buyer as 80 percent built.The buyer does the final 20 percent, a job that can usually be accomplished with ordinary household tools, no special knowledge required, to create a workable firearm. With a little experience, a Glock-style handgun can be made in a half-hour.Massachusetts' relatively strong gun laws don't apply to the kits because they aren't considered firearms by the state or federal government. Once they're built, the law requires they be registered with the state. But for people willing to break the law to have a gun, it's a relatively easy way to obtain one.Ryan said police are seeing more and more ghost guns in Massachusetts. She became especially concerned after learning about a 13-year-old in Middlesex County who built dozens of ghost guns at home.And in Cambridge, police found nearly 30 ghost guns in the home of a man who didn't have a firearms license. 5 Investigates found growing evidence that criminals or others who could not lawfully own a firearm are turning to ghost guns to arm themselves, from the Cambridge weapons maker to the traffic stop of an alleged Latin Kings gang member that netted a ghost gun and drugs.On the North Shore, an informant for the U.S Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bought at least eight ghost guns from a group of three alleged gang members. One of them bragged that "he had just sold pistols in Woburn, Dorchester and Mattapan," according to an affidavit filed in court. He sold numerous Glock-style handguns plus what the affidavit described as an "AR-style, 9mm short barrel rifle."On the South Shore, the head of the local Outlaws motorcycle gang, Bruce Sartwell, was arrested after a search of his home found an AR-15-style rifle hidden inside a bar in his garage.Agents also found a silencer and tools used to build ghost guns, according to court records.In central Massachusetts, State Police tipped off the ATF about a man they had heard was "selling Glock-style ghost guns in and around the Fitchburg area."An undercover agent went on to buy ghost guns from Terrick Bishoff, according to a criminal complaint in federal court. Authorities say that John Shaw, another defendant, was helping him make them."How many 80 percent frame kits have you ordered," an ATF agent asked Shaw in an interview conducted while they were searching Shaw's home in Templeton. "I think like five probably," Shaw replied. "They're really easy to do."Ghost guns are showing up elsewhere in the country. White supremacists charged in Maryland this year had a home-built AR-15, and they've been used in a school shooting in California and in crimes around the country.The ATF declined 5 Investigates' requests for an interview. In Massachusetts, state ballisticians have received 44 ghost guns submitted by state and local police in 2019, according to state public safety officials. "It's a huge loophole in the gun laws of this country. And it's an incredible threat to public safety," said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel of the Giffords Law Center, a group co-founded by former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., that supports stricter gun laws.Skaggs said the kits should be treated the same way as guns."If you're a child who can't legally buy a gun, or if you're a convicted felon or you're a domestic abuser and you couldn't go to a gun store and pass a background check to get a gun, you can just go online and buy these kits, buy these parts, build your own gun, no questions asked," he said. "I think it's crazy."In Massachusetts, state Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, argues that new laws are needed requiring serial numbers on gun parts so they can be traced, and to require buyers to undergo the same background checks and permitting that's necessary to buy fully manufactured firearms."The message that that sends, unfortunately, is that there are ways to get around our gun law and that we have to do everything we can to close those loopholes," Linsky said.A letter from the ATF to the manufacturer of one of the kits has helped create the whole controversy. The ATF determined that the kits are not guns and so should not be regulated like them.But some states are taking action on their own. In Pennsylvania, the state attorney general has asked police to treat the kits like guns. California and Connecticut now require anyone who builds a gun to request a serial number from the state and have it engraved on the gun. New Jersey went a step further, requiring serial numbers on the major parts when they're sold.Not everyone agrees on the need for more regulation. Jim Wallace, executive director of GOAL, the Gun Owners Action League, said we don't need new laws, we need current laws to be enforced."I don't think it's a ghost gun problem. It's a criminal problem," he said. "What's the issue you're trying to solve? Because if they're criminals, if they're prohibited people, it's already illegal for them to possess a gun or to transfer a gun or to make a gun."Skaggs, of the Giffords Law Center, disagreed." All that we're asking is if you have to pass a background check when you go to a gun store, you should have to pass a background check before you get a hold of one of these," he said.