Thread by @VICENews

NEW: We 3D-printed a glock to see how far homemade guns have come. trib.al/GcdOa9A

We even ended up taking third place in the 3D-printed pistol category at the “Gun Maker’s Match” in Florida, the first-ever shooting competition exclusively for home-assembled firearms. trib.al/GcdOa9A

3D-printed guns have advanced radically since the first ones were printed in 2013, becoming easier to make and more reliable.

Now, the sudden proliferation of ghost guns is prompting alarm among law enforcement nationwide. trib.al/GcdOa9A

Nearly 24,000 “privately-made firearms” were recovered at crime scenes from 2016-2020, according to a DOJ report obtained by The Trace, and the number of cases where felons and other “prohibited persons” were found with such guns doubled in a single year. trib.al/GcdOa9A

Ghost guns have also turned up in the hands of white supremacists and far-right extremists, including a self-proclaimed Boogaloo Boi who pleaded guilty last month to possession of 3D-printed machine gun parts and a homemade silencer. trib.al/GcdOa9A

Building our ghost glock was a lot of work—it took around 22 hours from start to finish. Making a fully-functioning semi-auto handgun from plastic and a few metal parts, it turns out, is totally legal (at least in Florida). trib.al/GcdOa9A

The most common and controversial ghost guns cost a few hundred dollars online and come “80 percent” finished in a box with all the necessary tools. The Biden administration is moving to regulate these kits. trib.al/GcdOa9A

But even if “80 percent” kits are regulated, anyone with access to a printer, a few hundred dollars, and some free time will still be able to crank out a semi-auto pistol, one with no paper trail to identify the owner. trib.al/GcdOa9A

Read our full story: trib.al/GcdOa9A