Example of how the MSM misrepresents “Ghost Guns"

[cathouse01]

Headline (and link to story):

Springfield man found guilty of ghost gun and drug charges in Southampton​

What he was actually found guilty of is in the body of the story:

"possession of a gun with a destroyed serial number while in the commission of a felony"

Just like they conflate suicides with violent gun crime to increase the number of “gun deaths”, they conflate guns with obliterated serial numbers with “ghost guns” to increase the number used in crimes.

 

[tuna]

Yeah, like the serial number is the soul of the gun, and once removed then that gun is soul-less, and must walk the earth like a........ghost.



Everyone knows the soul of the gun is in the grain of the wood. That's why the real ghost guns are the plastic fantastics that everyone has now.

 

[VetteGirlMA]

Well in all fairness if a criminal removes the serial number the gun does become invisible, in fact it doesn't even need to be conceal carried due to it's invisibility.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

So far I've never heard of one of the millions of the pre S/N guns around being used in a violent crime. Why is that? Jack.

 

[LakeTrout]

If this is a misrepresentation, what is a real ghost gun then?

 

[Gasgunner]

So far I've never heard of one of the millions of the pre S/N guns around being used in a violent crime. Why is that? Jack.

I just saw a story last week, guy held up a CVS in Caribou ME with a Brown Bess. Made off with a snare trap, three trout lures and the “take a penny” tray.

 

[cathouse01]

If this is a misrepresentation, what is a real ghost gun then?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A privately made firearm (also called ghost gun) is a term for a (typically) homemade firearm that lacks commercial serial numbers. The term is used mostly in the United States by gun control advocates, gun rights advocates, law enforcement, and some in the firearm industry. Because home-manufacture of firearms for personal use is not considered to fall under the federal government’s authority to regulate interstate (as opposed to intrastate) commerce, individuals making their own firearms are not subject to federal or state commercial background check regulations. Persons otherwise prohibited from owning firearms are still legally barred from the manufacture, transfer, or possession of firearms or ammunition, regardless of the method of manufacture or acquisition.

By conflating guns with defaced serial numbers with guns that have been privately made (and therefore do not require a serial number) they can make it appear that more privately made firearms are being used in crimes than is the actual case.

 

[LuvDog]

If this is a misrepresentation, what is a real ghost gun then?

 

[LakeTrout]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:



By conflating guns with defaced serial numbers with guns that have been privately made (and therefore do not require a serial number) they can make it appear that more privately made firearms are being used in crimes than is the actual case.

Right, but I’m wondering if we call privately made guns “ghost guns”. I wasn’t aware of people calling their privately, legally-manufactured guns “ghost guns”. The story is about “ghost guns”, referencing guns which have had their serial numbers illegally removed (which I think is a rediculous and unconstitutional thing to be considered illegal).

Unless I didn’t read the full story and missed where they made the reference to legally manufactured firearms without serial numbers. If I did, forgive me. My mistake.

 

[Yazz]

When will they start identifying the Ghost Voters?

 

[MGnoob]

This ghost gun thing is getting pretty funny. It’s a classic case of cooking the books..

If I wear night vision and have a gun is it a ghost gun?

 

[cathouse01]

Right, but I’m wondering if we call privately made guns “ghost guns”. I wasn’t aware of people calling their privately, legally-manufactured guns “ghost guns”. The story is about “ghost guns”, referencing guns which have had their serial numbers illegally removed (which I think is a rediculous and unconstitutional thing to be considered illegal).

Unless I didn’t read the full story and missed where they made the reference to legally manufactured firearms without serial numbers. If I did, forgive me. My mistake.

The media (and most folks, including most gun enthusiasts - see Ghost Gunner ) initially referred to unserialized, home made guns made from incomplete (“80%") lowers/frames as “Ghost Guns”. It’s only lately that the media and the anti-gun folks have started to include any “untraceable” gun (meaning any gun either without a serial number or with an obliterated serial number) as a “Ghost Gun”. By including all untraceable guns under the “Ghost Gun” umbrella, they are trying to use the numbers of such guns used in crimes to justify their attempts to pass laws to treat incomplete frames as complete firearms.

It’s the same as including gun suicides in the total of gun deaths and then saying we must do something about “gun violence”, implying to the uninitiated that all these gun deaths are the result of criminals using guns in the commission of crimes.

This article’s lede refers to a “ghost gun” charge, which a majority of the readers would take to be a privately made firearm without a serial number , which is totally legal. A firearm with an obliterated serial number is not.

 

[LakeTrout]

I see your point now. Well explained.

And this is exactly how they do it. To us, these things are home made legally compliant firearms, standard capacity magazines, autoloading firearms, etc. but the goal of the left is to scare enough soccer moms to keep them in power so these things become "ghost guns", "high capacity magazines", "assault weapons", etc.

And then when some crime is commited with a tool that resembles anything like above, it becomes the center of the attention with some scary aforementioned phrase attached to it, and how dare those evil white supremacist ring wing trump nuts dare to want to preserve the right to keep one of those horrible inanimate objects that are corrupting otherwise good citizens, in the process of turning their lives around, into committing mass violence in the streets.

 

[enbloc]

Maybe it's time for a trade organization? "Ghost Gun Manufacturers of America" has a ring to it...

 

[AHM]

So far I've never heard of one of the millions of the pre S/N guns around being used in a violent crime. Why is that? Jack.

Those operators have flair.

 

[MGnoob]

So far I've never heard of one of the millions of the pre S/N guns around being used in a violent crime. Why is that? Jack.

I’m surprised No one’s making non serialized firearms of Models that existed before it was a requirement.

Now that would make an interesting court case. Especially if it was made out of steel from that era.

 

[Zappa]