The juvenile arrested in the recent Seattle Space Needle shooting was reportedly carrying what the media breathlessly calls a “ghost gun.” Right on cue, the scary music starts, the headlines get bigger, and the public is once again encouraged to panic and demand another round of gun bans.
For those who haven’t been keeping up with reality, a “ghost gun” is simply a homemade firearm without a serial number. The dramatic nickname makes it sound like it floated out of a haunted house. In truth, anyone paying attention knows that modern CNC machines and 3D printers have made manufacturing a functional firearm far less complicated than politicians and television commentators pretend. That technology is not going away because someone passes another statute.
The uncomfortable fact is that governments cannot legislate away knowledge. A law is still just words printed on paper. It only affects people who choose to obey it.
Washington State has already outlawed just about everything imaginable involving firearms, Second Amendment concerns notwithstanding. Yet somehow criminals continue committing crimes. Imagine that.
Now here’s the question nobody in the press seems eager to answer. Exactly how would a serial number have made this investigation easier? Did the serial number magically prevent the shooting? Did it identify the suspect before officers arrived? Did it solve the case all by itself? Go ahead. I’ll wait.
The answer is that this has very little to do with solving crimes and a great deal to do with branding firearms with emotionally charged labels that frighten people into supporting policies they might otherwise question. Calling it a “ghost gun” is simply more effective fear mongering than calling it “a homemade firearm without a serial number.”
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