自去年11月以来，至少有四起校园枪击事件与执法部门和活动人士有着惊人的关联;嫌疑枪手使用了一把“幽灵枪”
“幽灵枪”是一种包装成零件的枪支，可以在网上购买，然后不留痕迹地组装起来，专家警告说，这种枪支正变得越来越危险。
“当我们第一次听说这些武器时，我们认为任何人都可以得到它们，甚至是一个孩子。约翰·霍普金斯大学枪支暴力预防和政策中心的助理教授亚历克斯·麦考特告诉ABC新闻。
undefined更多:美国有枪支暴力问题。我们该怎么办?
McCourt，执法部门和其他专家一直在研究“幽灵枪”的扩散，他们告诉ABC新闻，除非政策制定者采取行动，否则这种趋势可能会继续超出学校设置。
根据麦考特的说法，有两种武器被称为幽灵枪。
第一种是可以用3D打印机制造的塑料枪，通常发射一颗子弹。
他说，第二个版本越来越多地出现在犯罪现场，这是一种自己动手组装枪支的套件，包括枪支的所有部件，但没有序列号或特定部件。麦考特说，这些自制枪支绕过了要求追踪的州和联邦法律。
由于联邦枪支法律的漏洞，这些套件不被视为枪支，因为它们缺少特定的完整组件。此外，根据现行法律，用户不允许向联邦政府注册他们制造的武器。
美国酒精、烟草、火器和爆炸物管理局的一名女发言人告诉ABC新闻，执法部门从犯罪现场回收的“私人制造的枪支”或PMF的数量近年来有所增加。据该机构称，2016年，全国执法机构从犯罪现场没收了1750件PMF，2020年这一数字跃升至8712件。
“从2016年1月1日到2020年12月31日，大约有23，906名嫌疑人向ATF报告，执法人员从潜在的犯罪现场回收了这些嫌疑人，其中包括325起杀人案或杀人未遂案，”ATF发言人卡罗琳·格瓦斯梅(Carolyn Gwathmey)在一份声明中说。
Gwathmey表示，这些数据可能被低估了，因为并非所有执法机构都向联邦政府提交了PMF和“幽灵枪”的数量。
McCourt说，法律漏洞允许“幽灵枪”套件在网上销售，只需要普通的房屋工具就可以在半小时内建造完成。
“这远没有你想象的那么复杂，”他说。“如果你能组装宜家家具，你就能组装这些武器，”他说。
非营利枪支安全组织Everytown for Gun Safety的联邦法律总监罗布·威尔科克斯(Rob Wilcox)告诉美国广播公司新闻，有几个在线网站不仅出售“幽灵枪”套件，还为任何年龄的客户提供逐步说明，没有任何监督或背景调查。威尔科克斯说，尽管联邦政府关于这些在线市场的数据有限，但他的小组的研究发现，基于互联网的“幽灵枪”零售商的数量近年来一直在增加。
“你可以把它运到一个没有监视的地方，”他说。
这些武器最近进入了校园。
根据凤凰城警察局的说法，11月29日，一名15岁的学生涉嫌在凤凰城的凯萨·查维斯高中用“幽灵枪”开枪打伤了一名16岁的同学。警方发言人告诉ABC新闻，调查正在进行中。
警方称，1月21日，马里兰州罗克维尔市马格鲁德高中17岁的学生小史蒂文·奥尔斯顿(Steven Alston Jr .)在一场争执中开枪打死了一名15岁的同学。调查人员说，正在以二级谋杀未遂罪作为成年人受审的阿尔斯通据称使用了“幽灵枪”
“三个不同的部分被送到了他的家，”蒙哥马利县警察局长马库斯·琼斯在枪击案发生几天后的新闻发布会上告诉记者。
新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基警方表示，2月25日，14岁的马科斯·特雷霍在西梅萨高中外因一把幽灵枪而打架时开枪打死了他的同学。警方称，特雷霍已被控谋杀。
最近的一次事件发生在3月4日，一名18岁的嫌疑人用“幽灵枪”打伤了学校的两名教师和一名学生堪萨斯州奥拉西东高中据检察官称。据约翰逊县地方检察官史蒂夫·豪称，杰伦·迪肖恩·埃尔莫尔被指控犯有谋杀未遂罪。
在所有的调查中，警方和检察官告诉ABC新闻，他们仍在调查这些枪支是如何落入青少年嫌疑人手中的，并警告他们在他们的社区中传播。
蒙哥马利县州检察官办公室的一名女发言人正在调查马格鲁德高中枪击案，她在一份声明中告诉ABC新闻，“自本学年开始以来，已从五所县立学校发现了幽灵枪。”
鉴于这些事件，一些州已经采取立法行动反对“幽灵枪”
据枪支安全组织Everytown for Gun Safety称，包括纽约和加利福尼亚在内的九个州已经通过法律来规范“幽灵枪”的销售，要求对套件中的所有组件进行背景调查和序列号。
纽约州的“幽灵枪”条例开始生效今年秋天，立法者表示，在过去三年中，全州的“幽灵枪”缉获量增加了479%。
纽约州参议员安娜·卡普兰去年在一份声明中说:“如果你不能通过背景调查获得枪支，那么你就不应该有持枪期限。”
丹佛、旧金山和费城等城市也通过了类似的法律。
一些州也在考虑类似的立法。例如，马里兰州的立法者正在辩论一项法案，SB 387，禁止“任何人购买、接收、出售、要约出售或转让未完成的框架或接收器。”
在上个月的听证会上，执法团体和地区检察官办公室，包括蒙哥马利县州检察官约翰·麦卡锡，推动马里兰州立法者通过该法案。
麦卡锡告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“如果你看到全国暴力犯罪的增加，特别是在我的县，这与幽灵枪有关。”“幽灵枪的真正危险是双重的。第一，被禁止的人，我们在马里兰州已经决定不应该拥有枪支，可以得到这些枪支。第二，我们发现越来越多的枪支落入儿童手中。”
马里兰州参议员贾斯汀·雷迪告诉巴尔的摩太阳报在1月25日的听证会之前，他认为禁止“幽灵枪”不会有效，因为罪犯仍然会找到获得武器的方法。
“如果这些枪支控制团体强烈支持打击暴力犯罪的法案，我会更加尊重他们，”Ready告诉巴尔的摩太阳报。
McCourt说，立法者一直在追赶不断发展的技术，这些法案是一个良好的开端，但由于在线销售的影响，联邦政府需要介入。
“拼凑各州法律没什么用，”他说。
去年，拜登政府和司法部提出了新的规则这将允许ATF重新定义“枪支框架或接收器”和“框架或接收器”，以便该机构可以监管“幽灵枪”。
据白宫称，ATF目前正在审查公众对该提案的意见。
威尔科克斯说，拜登的提议将有效地削弱“幽灵枪”的网上销售，并使执法机构更容易跟踪这些工具包。
与此同时，威尔科克斯说，父母和照顾者需要经常与他们的孩子谈论自制枪支套件。
“你必须知道，如果你的孩子处于危机中，你必须限制他们获得枪支，”他说。"这包括访问销售幽灵枪的网站."
'Ghost guns' showing up in school shootings, experts fear trend will get worse
Since November, at least four school shootings had an alarming connection to law enforcement and activists alike; the suspected shooters used a "ghost gun."
A "ghost gun" is a firearm that comes packaged in parts, can be bought online and assembled without much of a trace, which experts warn are becoming increasingly dangerous.
"When we first heard about these weapons, we thought anyone can get them, even a kid. It's not a hypothetical anymore," Alex McCourt, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, told ABC News.
McCourt, law enforcement offices and other experts who have been studying the proliferation of "ghost guns" told ABC News this trend is likely to continue beyond the school setting unless policymakers take action.
There are two types of weapons that fall under the ghost gun moniker, according to McCourt.
The first is a plastic gun that can be made with a 3D printer and usually fires one bullet.
The second version, which he said has been increasingly found at crime scenes, is do-it-yourself gun assembly kits that include all the parts of a gun, but without serial numbers or specific components. McCourt said these homemade guns bypass state and federal laws requiring tracing.
Due to loopholes in federal gun laws, the kits are not considered firearms because they are missing specific completed components. In addition, under current laws, users aren't allowed to register their constructed weapons with the federal government.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told ABC News that the number of "privately made firearms" or PMF recovered from crime scenes by law enforcement has increased over the years. In 2016, law enforcement agencies across the country confiscated 1,750 PMFs from crime scenes, and the number jumped to 8,712 in 2020, according to the agency.
"From Jan. 1, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2020, there were approximately 23,906 suspected PMFs reported to ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement from potential crime scenes, including 325 homicides or attempted homicides," ATF spokeswoman Carolyn Gwathmey said in a statement.
Gwathmey said the data might be undercounted as not all law enforcement agencies have submitted their PMF and "ghost gun" numbers to the federal government.
Legal loopholes allow the "ghost gun" kits to be sold online, and all it takes is common house tools to construct in under half an hour, McCourt said.
"It's much less complicated than you might think," he said. "If you can put together IKEA furniture, you can assemble these weapons," he said.
Rob Wilcox, the federal legal director at Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit gun safety organization, told ABC News there are several online sites that not only sell the "ghost gun" kits but also provide step-by-step instructions to customers of any age without any oversight or background check. Wilcox said even though the federal government has limited data on these online marketplaces, his group's research has found that the number of Internet-based "ghost gun" retailers has been increasing over the years.
"You can ship it to a place where there is no watchful eye," he said.
The weapons have recently made their way into school grounds.
On Nov. 29, a 15-year-old student allegedly shot and wounded a 16-year-old classmate with a "ghost gun" at Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix, according to the Phoenix Police Department. The investigation is ongoing, a police spokeswoman told ABC News.
Steven Alston Jr., a 17-year-old student at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland, allegedly shot and critically wounded a 15-year-old classmate on Jan. 21, during a dispute, police said. Investigators said Alston, who is being tried as an adult with attempted second-degree murder, allegedly used a "ghost gun."
"Three different parts were literally delivered to his home," Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters at a news conference days after the shooting.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, police said on Feb. 25, 14-year-old Marcos Trejo shot his classmate outside West Mesa High School during a fight over a ghost gun. Trejo has been charged with murder, police said.
The most recent incident took place on March 4, when an 18-year-old suspect used a "ghost gun" to wound two teachers and a student atOlathe East High School in Kansas, according to prosecutors. Jaylon Desean Elmore has been charged with attempted capital murder, according to Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.
In all of the investigations, police and prosecutors told ABC News they are still looking into how the guns got into the hands of the teen suspects and have been warning about their spread in their communities.
A spokeswoman for the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office, which is investigating the Magruder High School shooting, told ABC News in a statement that "ghost guns have been recovered from five county schools since the start of the school year."
Some states have taken legislative action against "ghost guns in light of these incidents."
Nine states, including New York and California, have responded to the growth of "ghost guns" with laws that regulate the sales of them by requiring background checks and serial numbers for all of the components in the kits, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.
New York state's"ghost gun" regulations went into effectthis fall after legislators said it saw a 479% increase in "ghost gun" seizures across the state over the last three years.
""If you can't pass a background check to get a gun, then you shouldn't be able to get a gun--period," State Sen. Anna Kaplan, who introduced one of the New York bills, said in a statement last year.
Cities like Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia have also adopted similar laws.
Some states are also considering similar legislation. For example, Maryland state lawmakers are debating a bill,SB 387, which would prohibit "a person from purchasing, receiving, selling, offering to sell, or transferring an unfinished frame or receiver."
During a hearing last month, law enforcement groups and district attorney offices, including Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy, pushed Maryland legislators to pass the bill.
"If you're looking at an increase in violent crime across the country and in my county in particular, ghost guns are involved," McCarthy told ABC News. "The real danger of ghost guns is really two-fold. Number one, prohibited persons, who we in Maryland have decided should not have guns, can get these guns- and number two, we're finding increasingly they fall into the hands of children."
Maryland Sen. Justin Ready toldthe Baltimore Sunbefore the Jan. 25 hearing that he didn't think banning "ghost guns" would be effective because criminals would still find a way to obtain a weapon.
"I would have a lot more respect for these gun control groups if they came in strong supporting the bills cracking down on the people that commit violent acts," Ready told the Baltimore Sun.
McCourt said lawmakers have constantly played catch up with evolving technology and these bills are a good first start, but because of the reach of online sales, the federal government needs to step in.
"Having a patchwork of state laws doesn't do much," he said.
Last year, the Biden administration and Justice Departmentproposed a new rulethat would allow the ATF to redefine "firearm frame or receiver" and "frame or receiver" so the agency can regulate "ghost guns."
The ATF is currently reviewing public comments for the proposal, according to the White House.
Wilcox said Biden's proposal would effectively cripple the sale of "ghost guns" online and make it easier for law enforcement agencies to track the kits.
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In the meantime, Wilcox said parents and caregivers need to be in frequent conversation with their children about the homemade gun kits.
"You have to know if your child is in crisis, you have to limit their access to guns," he said. "That includes access to the sites that sell those ghost guns."
