NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- The homemade handgun and suppressor that police said were used in last week's killing of a UnitedHealthcare executive is intensifying the debate over the growing presence of such firearms in the United States.

The suspect in Brian Thompson's death, Luigi Mangione, was arrested on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, carrying a 9mm handgun and silencer that appeared to have some parts made in a 3-D printer, according to New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. Police said they believed the so-called "ghost gun" was the weapon used in the shooting outside a Manhattan hotel.

Mangione was detained on firearm, forgery and other charges in Pennsylvania and later charged in New York with five criminal counts, including second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon. After a hearing on Tuesday, Mangione's lawyer said that his client plans to plead not guilty to all of the charges. "I've seen zero evidence at this point," the lawyer said of the allegations.

Cody Wilson, director of Defense Distributed, a Texas-based nonprofit that develops digital schematics of firearms, and Defcad, an online site offering schematics for 3-D-printed guns, reviewed photographs of the gun police confiscated. He said the weapon's frame was likely manufactured by a 3-D printer, while the barrel and sliding mechanism likely came from a kit, which can be purchased legally online, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Tuesday.

Ghost guns are increasingly available because of technological advancements, including the prevalence of 3-D printers, as well as online blueprints, instructional videos and discussion boards about how to make such firearms. These weapons lack serial numbers, buyers aren't required to have background checks, and sellers aren't required to keep records of their sales, making the guns largely untraceable, noted the report.

"Efforts to regulate ghost guns have accelerated in recent years as the Biden administration pushed a rule requiring commercial manufacturers of firearm kits to stamp serial numbers on their products. Gun-rights activists are challenging the rule in a case awaiting a decision at the U.S. Supreme Court," it added. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)