EXHIBIT A 

Case 4:22-cv-00691-O Document 48-1 Filed 08/30/22 Page 1 of 33 PageID 615
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH DIVISION

JENNIFER VANDERSTOK, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

MERRICK GARLAND, in his official

capacity as Attorney General of the United

States; et al.,

Defendants.

No. 4:22-CV-00691-O

District Judge Reed C. O’Connor

AMICUS BRIEF OF 16 MAJOR CITIES, THE DISTRICT ATTORNEYS FOR THE

COUNTIES OF BEXAR, DALLAS AND TRAVIS, TEXAS AND PROSECUTORS

AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ OPPOSITION TO

PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR A PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

PERKINS COIE LLP

Lee S. Richards

Arthur S. Greenspan

David B. Massey

Rachel S. Mechanic

Jacob J. Taber

Rebecca L. Salk

1155 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036 

Clarissa R. Olivares

3150 Porter Drive

Palo Alto, CA 94304-1212

John R. Hardin

SDTX Federal ID # 37689

500 N. Akard Street, Suite 3300

Dallas, Texas 75201

(214) 965-7700

Attorneys for Amicus Curiae Prosecutors Against Gun 

Violence 

(counsel information continued on next page)

Case 4:22-cv-00691-O Document 48-1 Filed 08/30/22 Page 2 of 33 PageID 616
James L. Shea

City Solicitor

100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101

Baltimore, MD 21202

James.shea@baltimorecity.gov

Attorney for the City of Baltimore, MD

Adam Cederbaum

Corporation Counsel

1 City Hall Sq., Room 615

Boston, MA 02201

617-635-4030

adam.cederbaum@boston.gov

Attorney for the City of Boston, MA

Celia Meza

Corporation Counsel

City of Chicago Department of Law

121 N. LaSalle St., Room 600

(312) 744-0220

Celia.meza@cityofchicago.org

Chicago, IL 60602

Attorney for the City of Chicago, IL

Zachary M. Klein 

City Attorney

City of Columbus, Department of Law

77 N. Front Street

Columbus, OH 43215

(614) 645-7385

Attorney for City of Columbus, OH

Barbara J. Doseck

City Attorney

City of Dayton, Ohio

101 W. Third St.

Dayton, Oh 45401

Attorney for the City of Dayton, OH

Howard G. Rifkin

Corporation Counsel

550 Main Street, Room 210

Hartford, CT 06103

Attorney for the City of Hartford, CT

Michael N. Feuer

Los Angeles City Attorney

200 N. Main Street, 6th Floor 

Los Angeles, CA 90012 

Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, CA

Hon. Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix

Corporation Counsel of the City of New York

100 Church Street

New York, NY 10007

Attorney for City of New York, NY

Barbara J. Parker

City Attorney

OAKLAND CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Oakland City Hall

1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza

Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 238-3601

BParker@oaklandcityattorney.org

Attorney for the Oakland City Attorney’s 

Office

Ann Davison

City Attorney

701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2050

Seattle, WA 98104

Attorney for the City of Seattle, WA

Case 4:22-cv-00691-O Document 48-1 Filed 08/30/22 Page 3 of 33 PageID 617
Diana P. Cortes

City Solicitor

City of Philadelphia Law Department

1515 Arch Street, 17th Floor

(215) 683-5003

diana.cortes@phila.gov

Attorney for the City of Philadelphia, PA

Jeffrey Dana

City Solicitor

444 Westminster St., Ste. 220

Providence, RI 02903

Attorney for City of Providence, RI

Linda S. Kingsley

Corporation Counsel

City of Rochester

30 Church Street, Room 400A

Rochester, New York 14614

Phone: (585) 428-6986

linda.kingsley@cityofrochester.gov

Attorney for City of Rochester, NY

David Chiu

City Attorney

City Hall Room 234

One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.

San Francisco, CA 94102

Attorney for the City and County of San 

Francisco, CA

Susan R. Katzoff

Corporation Counsel

City Hall Room 300

233 East Washington Street

Syracuse, New York 13202

Phone: (315) 448 – 8400

Skatzoff@syrgov.net

Attorney for City of Syracuse, NY

Nora Frimann

City Attorney

City of San José, California

200 E. Santa Clara Street

San Jose, California 95113

Attorney for the City of San José, CA

Joe D. Gonzales

Bexar County Criminal District Attorney

101 W. Nueva St., 7th Floor

San Antonio, TX 78205

210-335-2311

John C. Creuzot

Dallas County Criminal District Attorney

133 N. Riverfront L.B. 19

Dallas, TX 75207

214-653-3620

José P. Garza

Travis County District Attorney

Ronald Earle Building

415 West 11th St.

Austin, TX 78701

512-854-9400

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i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE........................................................................1

INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................2

ARGUMENT...................................................................................................................................3

I. Law Enforcement in Cities Across the Country Are Increasingly Recovering Ghost Guns, 

Underscoring the Urgent Need for Federal Regulation ...................................................... 3

II. Ghost Guns are Increasingly Used in Connection with Criminal Activity by High-Risk 

Individuals........................................................................................................................... 5

A. Persons Previously Convicted of a Violent Crime ................................................. 6

B. Domestic Abusers................................................................................................... 8

C. Minors................................................................................................................... 11

D. Gun Trafficking by Individuals and Organized Crime Syndicates....................... 13

E. Domestic Terrorists and Violent Extremists......................................................... 15

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................18

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Page(s)

CASES

United States v. Trujillo,

817 F. App’x 634 (10th Cir. 2020) ..........................................................................................13

United States v. Villasenor,

2:20-cr-00050-KJM (E.D. Cal.), Dkt. No. 1............................................................................10

STATUTES

Cal. Penal Code §§ 30500-30685 ..................................................................................................15

Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53-202a to 53-202c........................................................................................15

Md. Code, Crim. Law §§ 4-301 to 4-306 ......................................................................................15

N.J. Stat. Ann. §§ 2C:39-1 to 2C:39-20.........................................................................................15

N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00-265.55 ................................................................................................15

N.Y. Penal Law § 265.02...............................................................................................................16

N.Y. Penal Law § 265.10...............................................................................................................16

OTHER AUTHORITIES

A Father Used a Ghost Gun to Kill His Three Daughters. It’s a Sign of a Growing 

Crisis, The Guardian, Mar. 8, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2022/mar/08/a-father-used-a-ghost-gun-to-kill-his-three-daughters-its-asign-of-a-growing-crisis...........................................................................................................11

Aaron Edward Brown, This Time I’ll Be Bulletproof: Using Ex Parte Firearm 

Prohibitions to Combat Intimate-Partner Violence, 50 Colum. Human Rights 

L. Rev. 159 (2019)...............................................................................................................9, 10

Aaron Marquez, 2 School Shootings, 1 Common Problem: Teens Had Easy 

Access to a Firearm, AZ Central, Dec. 6, 2021, available at

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/12/06/school-shootingsshow-arizona-do-more-ghost-guns-gun-safety/8852461002/..................................................11

Aaronn Katersky, Mark Crudele, and Ivan Pereira, 17-year-old arrested in 

connection with Bronx high school shooting that left teen dead, ABC News, 

Apr. 9, 2022, available at https://abcnews.go.com/US/17-year-arrestedconnection-bronx-high-school-shooting/story?id=83981645..................................................12

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Alain Stephens, The Feds are Increasingly Worried About Extremists Acquiring 

Ghost Guns, Leaked Report Shows, The Trace, Aug. 6, 2020, available at 

https://www.thetrace.org/2021/08/ghost-gun-government-report-3d-printextremism-terrorism/..........................................................................................................15, 16

Alleged Oakland, Ben Lomond Gunman Steve Carillo Linked to Far Right 

‘Boogaloo’ Movement, CBS SF Bay Area, June 16, 2020, available at

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/16/steven-carrillo-davidunderwood-murder-santa-cruz-deputy-fatal-shooting-fatal-oakland-federalbuilding-shooting/....................................................................................................................16

Andrew Blankstein and Eric Leonard, Ex-con who killed California cop used 

homemade ‘ghost gun’, NBC News. Aug. 15, 2019, available at 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/ex-con-who-killed-californiacop-usedhomemade-ghost-gun-n1042811.................................................................................7

Associated Press, Police officer charged with illegally making, selling guns, ABC 

News, Mar. 2, 2019, available at 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-officer-charged-illegallymaking-selling-guns-61430183 ...............................................................................................14

Biden’s Ghost Gun rule could bolster San Diego’s ban, ABC News 10 San Diego, 

Apr. 11, 2022, available at https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/bidensghost-gun-rule-could-bolster-san-diegos-ban ...........................................................................4

Caroline Ramsey, Firearms in the Family, 78 Ohio St. L.J. 1257 (2017).......................................8

The City of New York v. Arm or Ally LLC (S.D.N.Y. 2022), available at

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/press-releases/2022/ghostgun-complaint.pdf......................................................................................................................4

City of Syracuse, NY, et al., v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 

Explosives, et al., 1:20-cv-06885-GHW (S.D.NY. 2020), Complaint at ¶ 131, 

available at https://assets.nationbuilder.com/firearmspolicycoalition/pages

/5834/attachments/original/1648681797/Syracuse_v_ATF_Complaint.pdf?16

48681797..................................................................................................................................11

Corey Arwood, Vero Beach boy shot, killed Jan. 30 while playing with gun made 

from parts bought online, TC Palm, March 15, 2022, available at

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-rivercounty/2022/03/15/14-year-old-vero-beach-boy-shot-killed-friend-playinggun-made-parts-bought-online/7049145001/ ..........................................................................12

Dakin Andone, The gunman in the Saugus High School shooting used a ‘ghost 

gun,’ sheriff says, CNN, Nov. 21, 2019, available at

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/us/saugus-shooting-ghost-gun/index.html ........................11

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Dan Krauth and Brett Cohen, Ghost Guns: Eyewitness News Investigates A 

Growing Menace, ABC News, Apr. 28, 2022, available at

https://abc7ny.com/ghost-guns-nypd-atf-street-crime/11798077/.............................................3

Dan Morse, Magruder High School student charged as adult with attempted 

second-degree murder, The Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2022, available at

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/22/magruder-highshooting-ghost-gun-student-charged/ ......................................................................................12

Everytown for Gun Safety, Domestic Violence, available at

https://www.everytown.org/issues/domestic-violence/ .............................................................8

Everytown for Gun Safety, Ghost Guns: A Weapon of Choice for White 

Supremacists Arrested Ahead of Virginia Rally, Jan. 27, 2020, available at

https://www.everytown.org/press/ghost-guns-a-weapon-of-choice-for-whitesupremacists-arrested-ahead-of-virginia-rally/........................................................................15

Everytown for Gun Safety, Guns and Violence Against Women, Oct. 17, 2019, 

available at https://everytown research.org/report/guns-and-violence-againstwomen-americas-uniquely-lethal-intimate-partner-violence-problem/.....................................9

Executive Office of the Mayor, Mayor Bowser Announces New Intelligence-Led 

Policing Unit Focusing on Violent Crime, Apr. 25, 2022, available at

https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-new-intelligence-ledpolicing-unit-focusing-violent-crime (2021 data)......................................................................4

First Responder’s Toolbox, NCTC, DHS & FBI, June 22, 2021, at 3, available at 

https://www.documentcloud.org/ documents/21037764-privately-madefirearms....................................................................................................................................15

Ghost Gun Kit Seller Polymer80 Sued Over Gun Used to Shoot Two Los Angeles 

Sheriff’s Deputies Last September, Everytown for Gun Safety, Aug. 9, 2021, 

available at https://everytownlaw.org/case/ghost-gun-kit-seller-polymer80-

sued-over-gun-used-to-shoot-two-los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-lastseptember/..................................................................................................................................7

Giffords Law Center, Domestic Violence & Firearms, available at 

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-agun/domestic-violence-firearms/ ...........................................................................................8, 9

Giffords Law Center, Firearms Prohibitions, https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gunlaws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/firearm-prohibitions/...............................................6, 9

Giffords Law Center, Who can have a gun Firearm Relinquishment, available at 

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-agun/firearm-relinquishment/ ......................................................................................................9

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Glenn Thrush, ‘Ghost Guns’: Firearm Kits Bought Online Fuel Epidemic of 

Violence, The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2021, available at

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/ghost-guns-homemade-firearms.html....................12

Jan Murphy, Lawmakers Call For Extending Attorney General’s Jurisdiction to 

Address Philadelphia Gun Violence (2021 data).......................................................................4

Jane K. Stoever, Intimate Partner Violence and Restorative Justice: Firearms and 

Domestic Violence Fatalities: Preventable Deaths, 53 Fam. L.Q. 183 (2019).....................8, 9

Jeff Pegues, Rise in Crime Fueled in Part by “Ghost” Guns, ATF Says, CBS 

News, Feb. 2, 2022, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghost-gunscrime-increase-atf/ .....................................................................................................................4

Jennifer L Vainik, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang: How Current Approaches to Guns and 

Domestic Violence Fail to Save Women’s Lives, 91 Minn. L. Rev. 1113 (2007)..................8, 9

Jennifer Mascia, Once Every 16 Hours, an American Woman Is Fatally Shot by a 

Current or Former Romantic Partner, The Trace, Feb. 9, 2016, available at

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/02/women-domestic-violence-death-statistics/........................8

Jodie Fleischer, Rick Yarborough, Jeff Piper, and Skye Witley, Record Number of 

Ghost Guns Found in DC in 2021, NBC News, Nov. 19, 2021, available at

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-gun-violence/record-numberof-ghost-guns-found-in-dc-in-2021/2888734/ .........................................................................11

John Finerty, State Struggles to Bolster PFA Orders, June 27, 2020, available at

https://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/local_news/state-struggles-to-bolsterpfa-orders/article_618d2d90-0d07-5f0e-bcb8-8a0e667a201e.html ........................................10

Justin Rohrlich, NJ National Guardsman Charged in Neo-Nazi ‘Ghost Gun’ 

Conspiracy, The Daily Beast, July 2, 2021, available at

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-jersey-national-guardsman-josephmaurino-charged-in-neo-nazi-ghost-gun-conspiracy...............................................................16

Kellie Descrochers, Municipalities Are Not Kingdoms: Regulating Gun 

Ownership in Cases Involving Domestic Violence in Light of the Pauler 

Decision, 29 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 277 (2020) ..............................................................................9

KTSM, Aaron Bracamontes Document names El Paso man shot, killed by law 

enforcement after killing K-9 agent, updated Dec. 19, 2019, available at

https://www.ktsm.com/crime/document-names-el-paso-man-shot-killed-bylaw-enforcement-after-killing-k-9-agent/ ................................................................................14

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Los Angeles Police Department, 2021 Crime & Initiatives, available at 

https://lapdonlinestrgeacc.blob.core.usgov cloudapi.net/lapdon 

linemedia/2022/01/2021_crime_initiatives.pdf (2020 and 2021 data; Los 

Angeles did not track ghost gun recoveries until 2020) ............................................................4

Marcia Moore, UPDATE Fernanders’ Murder Charges Headed to Snyder County 

Court, Sept. 29, 2020, https://www.dailyitem.com/news/fernanders-murdercharges-headed-to-snyder-county-court/article_41052d22-0285-11eb-9aa6-

630b1abad5ed.html..................................................................................................................10

Mark Morales and Pervaiz Shallwani, NYC announces lawsuit against ghost gun 

retailers who illegally sell parts in the city, CNN, June 29, 2022, available at

https://www.wktv.com /news/state/nyc-announces-lawsuit-against-ghost-gunretailers-who-illegally-sell-parts-in-the-city/article_3b44c8ac-8ccc-5ee8-9e9c2f9a52dfed7f.html......................................................................................................................4

Mary Schenk, Champaign 18-year-old charged with producing, selling ‘ghost 

guns’, Thew News-Gazette, Nov. 10, 2021, available at, https://www.newsgazette.com/news/local/courts-police-fire/champaign-18-year-old-chargedwith-producing-selling-ghost-guns/article_3e10de2a-b841-54b8-814a8352082ad134.html .................................................................................................................13

Mayor Ras Baraka’s and Public Safety Director O’Hara’s Joint Statement on 

President Biden’s Strategy to Reduce Gun Crime, Feb. 4, 2022, available at

https://www.newarknj.gov/news/mayor-ras-barakas-and-public-safetydirector-oharas-joint-statement-on-president-bidens-strategy-to-reduce-guncrime ..........................................................................................................................................4

Michael Woyton, Former NYC Environmental Cop Admits Selling Illegal 

Weapons, The Patch, Dec. 5, 2019, available at https://patch.com/newyork/midhudsonvalley/former-nyc-environmental-cop-admits-selling-illegalweapons....................................................................................................................................14

Oakland City Councilmembers Propose Ban on Ghost Guns, CBS Bay Area, Jan. 

11, 2022, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/oaklandcity-councilmembers-propose-ban-on-ghost-guns/ ...................................................................5

Priya Krishnakuma, Emma Tucker, Ryan Young, and Pamela Kirkland, Fueled by 

Gun Violence, Cities Across the US are Breaking All-Time Homicide Records 

This Year, CNN, Dec. 12, 2021, available at

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/us/homicides-major-cities-increase-end-ofyear-2021/index.html.................................................................................................................5

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Priya Krishnakumar, High Number of Firearm Recoveries Underscores 

America’s Worsening Gun Violence Epidemic, CNN, Jan. 30, 2022, available 

at https://www.pennlive.com/news/ 2022/01/lawmakers-call-for-extendingattorney-generals-jurisdiction-to-address-philadelphia-gun-violence.html...............................4

Queens District Attorney’s Office Press Release, Cache of Ghost Guns Seized 

Following Investigation; Queens Couple Charged with Illegal Possession and 

Sale of Firearms, Oct. 15, 2021, available at https://queensda.org/cache-ofghost-guns-seized-following-investigation-queens-couple-charged-withillegal-possession-and-sale-of-firearms/..................................................................................13

Rebecca Panico, Fatal shooting of 8-year-old is ‘horrible and tragic,’ Newark 

mayor says and calls for accountability, NJ.com, updated Aug. 31, 2021, 

available at https://www.nj.com/essex/2021/08/fatal-shooting-of-8-year-oldis-horrible-and-tragic-newark-mayor-says-and-calls-for-accountability.html ........................12

Richard Allyn, Untraceable “ghost gun” allegedly used in fatal Gaslamp 

shooting spree, CBS8, Apr. 23, 2021, available at

https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/untraceable-ghost-gun-allegedlyused-in-fatalgaslamp-shoot ing -spree/509-cc352272-85d9-4e4b-bc1b7446dcb96660............................................................................................................................8

Richard Winton, L.A. Gangs stockpile untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that members 

make themselves, Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2018, available at 

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homemade-guns20180706-story.html................................................................................................................14

Stephen Stock and Jeremy Carroll, Ghost Guns Sought by Violent Extremists, 

Tied to Thousands of Potential Crimes, Feds Warn, NBC Bay Area, Aug. 7, 

2021, available at https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/ghost-gunssought-by-violent-extremists-tied-to-thousands-of-potential-crimes-fedswarn/2624959/ .........................................................................................................................16

T. Taniguchi, K. Hoogesteyn, K. Renouard, and D. Esserman, The Proliferation 

of Ghost Guns: Regulation Gaps and Challenges for Law Enforcement,

National Police Foundation, 2021..............................................................................................4

Thomas Tracy and Michael Else-Rooney, 21 Weapons Recovered at Brooklyn 

High School Campus Day After Student Caught with Gun and $30,000, Daily 

News, Dec. 2, 2021, available at https://www.nydailynews.com/newyork/education/ny-weapons-brooklyn-high-school-campus-20211203-

kg4k7xxpmbcepnocoj2j2rf4py-story.html...............................................................................12

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Tony Rhodin, Man had 2 ghost guns, 3 shotguns near Nazareth area pot grow 

operation, authorities say, LehighValleyLive, Dec. 7, 2021, available at

https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2021/12/man-had-2-ghost-guns-3-

shotguns-near-nazareth-area-pot-grow-operation-authorities-say.html.....................................8

Two Queens Men Charged After Buying Three Illegally Defaced Firearms and 

Two Assault Rifles, U.S. Dep’t Justice (May 13, 2020), available at 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-queens-men-charged-after-buyingthree-illegally-defaced-firearms-and-two-assault....................................................................16

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland Press Release, Baltimore Man 

Sentenced to 21 Years in Federal Prison for Five Bank Robberies, Five Armed 

Robberies of Liquor Stores, and Related Firearms Charges, Nov. 12, 2020, 

available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/baltimore-man-sentenced-21-

years-federal-prison-five-bank-robberies-five-armed-robberies ...............................................7

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland Press Release, D.C. Felon Pleads 

Guilty in Federal Court in Maryland to Illegal Possession of a “Ghost Gun” 

Firearm and Ammunition, Sept. 22, 2020, available at

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/dc-felon-pleads-guilty-federal-courtmaryland-illegal-possession-ghost-gun-firearm-and .................................................................7

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia Press Release, Ghost Gun and 

Machine Gun Conversion Device Dealer Pleads Guilty, Sept. 29, 2020, 

available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/ghost-gun-and-machinegun-conversion-device-dealer-pleads-guilty............................................................................14

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California Press Release, 15 Charged 

on Drugs and Guns Charges as Part of Anti-Gang Sweep in Concord and 

Surrounding Areas, Sept. 15, 2020, available at https://www.justice.gov/usaondca/pr/15-charged-drugs-and-guns-charges-part-anti-gang-sweep-concordand-surrounding-areas..............................................................................................................14

United States v. Paul Jarvis, Western District of Texas Case No. EP:19-M-9978-

MAT, Criminal Complaint (Dec. 16, 2019) available at

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd. 

1074713/gov.uscourts.txwd.1074713.1.0.pdf..........................................................................14

Untraceable: The Rising Specter of Ghost Guns, Everytown For Gun Safety, May 

14, 2020, available at https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-rising-specterof-ghost-guns/ ............................................................................................................................6

USAO Press Release, Felon sentenced to more than five years in prison for 

arsenal of ‘ghost guns’ and smuggled silencers, Oct. 9, 2020, available at

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/felon-sentenced-more-five-yearsprison-arsenal-ghost-guns-and-smuggled-silencers...................................................................8

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Yaron Steinbuch, Georgia boy, 13, accused of accidentally killing sister with 

‘ghost gun’, New York Post, Dec. 3, 2021, available at

https://nypost.com/2021/12/03/georgia-teen-accidentally-killed-sister-withghost-gun/ ................................................................................................................................12

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IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE

Amici curiae are a group of 16 major cities across the United States (the “Amici Cities”), 

the District Attorneys for the Counties of Bexar, Dallas and Travis, Texas (the “Amici District 

Attorneys”), and Prosecutors Against Gun Violence (“PAGV,” and together with the Amici Cities

and the Amici District Attorneys, the “Amici”). 

The Amici Cities include: Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois;

Columbus, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Hartford, Connecticut; Los Angeles, California; New York, New 

York; Oakland, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; Rochester, 

New York; San Francisco, California; San Jose, California; Syracuse, New York; and Seattle, 

Washington. The Amici Cities, which have a collective population of over 24 million Americans, 

are deeply concerned with the growing spread of ghost guns. They are a coalition of 

municipalities, diverse in terms of geography, size and composition, that are all united by a 

common purpose―to protect the health and safety of their residents from the rising tide of gun 

violence on their streets and across the country. 

PAGV is an independent, nonpartisan group that identifies and promotes prosecutorial and 

policy solutions for the national public health and safety crisis of gun violence. PAGV’s 

membership comprises over 70 elected prosecutors, who serve over 65 million Americans in 30 

states. Its mission includes sharing best practices for prosecuting gun offenders and defending 

common-sense gun safety policies. 

The Amici District Attorneys include Joe D. Gonzalez, the Bexar County Criminal District 

Attorney, John C. Creuzot, the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney, and José Garza, the 

Travis County District Attorney. The Amici District Attorneys serve a collective population of 

over 5.8 million Texans. PAGV’s members, the Amici District Attorneys, and the local law 

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2

enforcement officers with whom they collaborate daily, play a critical role in promoting citizen 

safety—the highest objective of state and local governments. As local leaders in the nationwide 

effort to curb gun violence and promote public safety, prosecutors witness the tragic effects of the 

proliferation of unregulated ghost guns on a daily basis. 

Amici believe that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (“ATF”) 

rule regulating ghost guns (“87 FR 24652” or the “Final Rule”), is urgently needed to stop the 

dangerous proliferation of ghost guns and to protect public safety. Amici therefore respectfully 

submit this brief to illustrate, based on specific, real-world examples and numerical trends, the 

increasing prevalence of ghost guns on the streets of the Amici Cities―as well as other cities 

across the United States―and the unique challenges they present to prosecutors and local law 

enforcement agencies that are tasked with preventing and prosecuting gun crime and protecting 

public safety. 

INTRODUCTION

The Amici have witnessed firsthand the damage being done by the drastic rise in the use 

of internet-ordered gun-building kits, which purchasers can easily access without undergoing a 

background check and use to assemble what are known as “privately manufactured firearms” or 

“ghost guns.” Indeed, prosecutors and other law enforcement agencies in the Amici Cities have

reported dramatic increases in the use of ghost guns in connection with criminal activity in their 

cities, and the ghost gun market has been thriving, especially during the pandemic. As detailed 

infra, the ready acquisition of ghost guns by high-risk individuals, including minors, has led to 

horrific incidents of gun crime in the Amici Cities and elsewhere—incidents that might have been 

prevented if ghost guns had been subject to more stringent federal regulation. 

In short, the recent emergence and growing prevalence of ghost guns poses a genuine threat 

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3

to the residents of the Amici Cities and undermines the ability of law enforcement and prosecutors 

to effectively address and deter gun violence. For these and many other reasons, the Amici Cities, 

the Amici District Attorneys, and PAGV respectfully urge this Court to uphold the 

constitutionality of ATF’s Final Rule, which is urgently needed to stem the proliferation of ghost 

guns and promote public safety.

ARGUMENT

I. Law Enforcement in Cities Across the Country Are Increasingly Recovering Ghost 

Guns, Underscoring the Urgent Need for Federal Regulation

Over the past several years, there has been a dramatic and alarming increase in the criminal

use of unserialized ghost guns in cities across the country, including the Amici Cities. Indeed, 

every city in the chart depicted below saw a significant increase in ghost gun recoveries in 2021, 

and that trend is representative of the rapidly increasing rates of ghost gun recoveries in dozens of 

major municipalities across the United States. 

The increase in ghost gun recoveries shows no signs of slowing down in 2022. Indeed, by way of 

example, as of April 28, 2022, the New York Police Department reported an over 300% increase 

29

72

48

95

52

126

139

813

150

250

211

306

352

455

1921

263

571

545

439

BALTIMORE CHICAGO LOS ANGELES NEW YORK CITY PHILADELPHIA SAN DIEGO WASHINGTON 

D C

GHOST GUN RECOVERIES

2019 2020 2021

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4

in ghost gun recoveries as compared to January through April 2021.

1

 

Notably, ghost guns are nearly impossible to trace, and law enforcement in many cities 

have only recently begun to classify ghost guns separately from other recovered guns.

2

Accordingly, the figures reported above3—which represent only those firearms actually seized by 

police and classified as ghost guns—likely understate the true prevalence and rise of the use of 

ghost guns in each of the listed cities over the past several years. 

It is also worth noting that less populous cities than those reported above are similarly

seeing a dramatic increase in recoveries. For example:

• Law enforcement in Newark, New Jersey saw a 414% increase in ghost gun seizures from 

2020 to 2021.4

• Law enforcement in Hartford, Connecticut seized 29 ghost guns in 2021, an increase of 

314% from 2020. As of May 25, 2022, law enforcement in Hartford have already seized 

1 Dan Krauth and Brett Cohen, Ghost Guns: Eyewitness News Investigates A Growing Menace, ABC News, Apr. 28, 

2022, available at https://abc7ny.com/ghost-guns-nypd-atf-street-crime/11798077/. 2 See T. Taniguchi, K. Hoogesteyn, K. Renouard, and D. Esserman, The Proliferation of Ghost Guns: Regulation 

Gaps and Challenges for Law Enforcement, National Police Foundation, 2021. For example, law enforcement 

agencies with limited exposure to the recovery of ghost guns may “process them in the same manner as any other 

firearm.”

3 Data for 2019 and 2021 the chart on page 3 is sourced from the National Police Foundation report, unless otherwise 

indicated: T. Taniguchi, K. Hoogesteyn, K. Renouard, and D. Esserman, supra n. 2. The remaining data was sourced 

as follows: Baltimore, see Priya Krishnakumar, High Number of Firearm Recoveries Underscores America’s 

Worsening Gun Violence Epidemic, CNN, Jan. 30, 2022, available at https://www.pennlive.com/news/

2022/01/lawmakers-call-for-extending-attorney-generals-jurisdiction-to-address-philadelphia-gun-violence.html

(2021 data); Chicago, see Jeff Pegues, Rise in Crime Fueled in Part by “Ghost” Guns, ATF Says, CBS News, Feb. 2, 

2022, available at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghost-guns-crime-increase-atf/ (2021 data); Los Angeles, Los 

Angeles Police Department, 2021 Crime & Initiatives, available at https://lapdonlinestrgeacc.blob.core.usgov 

cloudapi.net/lapdon linemedia/2022/01/2021_crime_initiatives.pdf (2020 and 2021 data; Los Angeles did not track 

ghost gun recoveries until 2020); New York, The City of New York v. Arm or Ally LLC (S.D.N.Y. 2022), available at

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/home/downloads/pdf/press-releases/2022/ghost-gun-complaint.pdf (2019, 2020, and 

2021 data); Philadelphia, see Jan Murphy, Lawmakers Call For Extending Attorney General’s Jurisdiction to 

Address Philadelphia Gun Violence (2021 data); San Diego, Biden’s Ghost Gun rule could bolster San Diego’s ban, 

ABC News 10 San Diego, Apr. 11, 2022, available at https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/bidens-ghost-gunrule-could-bolster-san-diegos-ban (2021 data); Washington, D.C., Executive Office of the Mayor, Mayor Bowser 

Announces New Intelligence-Led Policing Unit Focusing on Violent Crime, Apr. 25, 2022, available at

https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-new-intelligence-led-policing-unit-focusing-violent-crime 

(2021 data). 4 Mayor Ras Baraka’s and Public Safety Director O’Hara’s Joint Statement on President Biden’s Strategy to Reduce 

Gun Crime, Feb. 4, 2022, available at https://www.newarknj.gov/news/mayor-ras-barakas-and-public-safetydirector-oharas-joint-statement-on-president-bidens-strategy-to-reduce-gun-crime. 

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26 ghost guns.5

• The Seattle Police Department seized 83 ghost guns between May 2019 and May 2022.

Year to date, the percentage of ghost gun recoveries has more than tripled, proportionally, 

since 2020.6 

• In 2019, only 6.7% of guns recovered by local law enforcement in Oakland, California

were classified as ghost guns. In 2020, that number jumped to 16.5%. As of March 2021, 

ghost guns accounted for 21.7% of confiscated firearms.7

If left unchecked, the use of ghost guns, including in connection with criminal activity, will 

only continue to surge throughout the United States. This is particularly true in large cities, where

the rise in ghost guns has only exacerbated the already massive problem of gun violence. More 

than two-thirds of the country’s most populous cities experienced more homicides in 2021 than in 

the year prior, and experts have reported that homicides are increasingly committed through the 

use of guns.8 Indeed, 77% of reported murders in 2020 were the result of gun violence―up from 

74% in 2019.9 ATF’s Final Rule is therefore critical to municipalities’ efforts to stem the already 

rising threat of gun violence in cities across the country.

II. Ghost Guns are Increasingly Used in Connection with Criminal Activity by HighRisk Individuals 

As the availability and accessibility of ghost guns increases, so too does their usage in 

connection with criminal activity. This is particularly true given the attractiveness of ghost guns 

to high-risk individuals, including those convicted of violent crimes, many of whom are prohibited 

from legally obtaining and possessing weapons and may be prone to violence. Indeed, as the 

5 See Ex. A-2, Decl. of C. Mastroianni, Intelligence Division Sergeant for the Hartford Police Department, filed in 

Division 80, LLC v. Garland, 3:22-CV-00148 (S.D. Tex. 2022). 6 See Ex. A-3, Decl. of A. Diaz, Interim Chief of Police for the Seattle Police Department, filed in Division 80, LLC 

v. Garland, 3:22-CV-00148 (S.D. Tex. 2022). 7 Oakland City Councilmembers Propose Ban on Ghost Guns, CBS Bay Area, Jan. 11, 2022, available at

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/oakland-city-councilmembers-propose-ban-on-ghost-guns/. 8 Priya Krishnakuma, Emma Tucker, Ryan Young, and Pamela Kirkland, Fueled by Gun Violence, Cities Across the 

US are Breaking All-Time Homicide Records This Year, CNN, Dec. 12, 2021, available at

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/12/us/homicides-major-cities-increase-end-of-year-2021/index.html. 9 Id.

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prevalence of ghost guns has risen over the past several years, prosecutors and law enforcement 

officers have seen an uptick in the use of these firearms by persons previously convicted of a 

violent felony, individuals who have committed domestic violence offenses, violent extremists,

organized crime syndicates, and minors. The ATF Final Rule is thus necessary to lessen the 

increasing and grave threat to public safety posed by the unfettered access to untraceable firearms 

by people who have committed violent crimes and other high-risk individuals. 

A. Persons Previously Convicted of a Violent Crime

Federal law and the laws of nearly every state prohibit individuals who have been convicted 

of, or who are under indictment for, a felony from acquiring or possessing firearms.10 Many states 

further restrict access to firearms by people convicted of specified misdemeanors, typically those

misdemeanors that involve the use of violence or the misuse of firearms.11 

The rapidly growing market for internet mail-order ghost gun kits offers individuals who 

are not legally able to purchase guns from licensed dealers the ability to easily and anonymously 

purchase unserialized firearm kits online without undergoing a background check. Although a 

black market for untraceable firearms has long existed, acquiring guns on the black market is 

typically a difficult, costly and dangerous proposition. In contrast, individuals previously 

convicted of a felony and others who cannot pass a background check can instead buy gun-building 

kits online, thereby bypassing the risks associated with participation in the black market. A recent 

study that looked at 114 federal prosecutions involving the use of a ghost gun found that nearly 

40% of those cases involved defendants who were legally prohibited from purchasing or 

10 Giffords Law Center, Firearms Prohibitions, https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-havea-gun/firearm-prohibitions/. 11 Id.

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possessing a firearm.12 And the ATF has documented the fact that ghost gun distributors are 

regularly selling these gun-building-kits directly to individuals legally prohibited from possessing 

firearms.13 

The Amici Cities and prosecutors across the country have seen countless examples of 

violent criminal activity conducted with the use of a ghost gun by individuals otherwise unable to 

legally possess a firearm. For instance:

• In November 2019, a California man with a criminal record dating back to 

1992―including a decade in prison following his conviction for the attempted murder of 

a police officer―used an AR-15-style ghost gun to murder a California highway patrol 

officer and wound two others following a traffic stop outside Los Angeles.14

• In November 2020, a Baltimore man with a prior felony conviction was sentenced to 21 

years in federal prison for a string of armed robberies committed using a ghost gun that 

had been assembled from a gun-building kit.15 

• In September 2020, a Washington, D.C. resident with a prior felony conviction pleaded 

guilty to felony possession of a firearm and ammunition after he was found by law 

enforcement to be carrying a .40-caliber pistol, loaded with ten rounds of ammunition,

that he had constructed using a ghost gun kit.

16

• Also in September 2020, a man with multiple prior felony convictions obtained a ghost 

gun and ambushed two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies as they sat in their police 

car. Both Sheriff’s Deputies sustained multiple gunshot wounds.17

• In October 2020, a Washington man who had been convicted of multiple felonies, 

12 Untraceable: The Rising Specter of Ghost Guns, Everytown For Gun Safety, May 14, 2020, available at

https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-rising-specter-of-ghost-guns/. 13 ATF Search Warrant Affidavit for Polymer80, at ¶ 87, available at https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/

ghostraid- 121420-warrant.pdf. 14 Andrew Blankstein and Eric Leonard, Ex-con who killed California cop used homemade ‘ghost gun’, NBC News. 

Aug. 15, 2019, available at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/ex-con-who-killed-california-copusedhomemade-ghost-gun-n1042811. 15 U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland Press Release, Baltimore Man Sentenced to 21 Years in Federal Prison 

for Five Bank Robberies, Five Armed Robberies of Liquor Stores, and Related Firearms Charges, Nov. 12, 2020, 

available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/baltimore-man-sentenced-21-years-federal-prison-five-bankrobberies-five-armed-robberies. 16 U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland Press Release, D.C. Felon Pleads Guilty in Federal Court in Maryland 

to Illegal Possession of a “Ghost Gun” Firearm and Ammunition, Sept. 22, 2020, available at

https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/dc-felon-pleads-guilty-federal-court-maryland-illegal-possession-ghost-gunfirearm-and. 17 Ghost Gun Kit Seller Polymer80 Sued Over Gun Used to Shoot Two Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputies Last September, 

Everytown for Gun Safety, Aug. 9, 2021, available at https://everytownlaw.org/case/ghost-gun-kit-seller-polymer80-

sued-over-gun-used-to-shoot-two-los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-last-september/. 

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including a prior conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm, was sentenced to 70 

months in prison after agents seized a weapons cache of 17 pistols and 24 rifles from his 

home, nearly all of which were ghost guns that the defendant had manufactured using 

parts purchased online.18

• In April 2021, a man with a criminal record for unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon 

used a ghost gun to shoot five people, killing one, in San Diego.19

• In December 2021, law enforcement officers recovered an AR-15 ghost gun and an 

unknown caliber ghost gun from the home of a Pennsylvania man who had prior felony 

convictions for burglary and theft.20

These cases powerfully underscore the immediate need for ATF’s Final Rule in order to 

keep ghost guns out of the hands of individuals who are prohibited from legally obtaining and 

possessing firearms. 

B. Domestic Abusers

It has long been understood that domestic violence and gun violence are “deeply 

interconnected.”21 Where a domestic violence perpetrator has access to a gun, a survivor’s risk of 

death increases “at least five-fold.”22 Indeed, “a woman is shot by her domestic partner every 

sixteen hours [in the United States].”23 Moreover, even when they are not fired, guns are used by 

18 USAO Press Release, Felon sentenced to more than five years in prison for arsenal of 'ghost guns' and smuggled 

silencers, Oct. 9, 2020, available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/felon-sentenced-more-five-years-prisonarsenal-ghost-guns-and-smuggled-silencers. 19 Richard Allyn, Untraceable “ghost gun” allegedly used in fatal Gaslamp shooting spree, CBS8, Apr. 23, 2021, 

available at https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/untraceable-ghost-gun-allegedly-used-in-fatalgaslamp-shoot

ing -spree/509-cc352272-85d9-4e4b-bc1b-7446dcb96660. 20 Tony Rhodin, Man had 2 ghost guns, 3 shotguns near Nazareth area pot grow operation, authorities say, 

LehighValleyLive, Dec. 7, 2021, available at https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/2021/12/man-had-2-ghostguns-3-shotguns-near-nazareth-area-pot-grow-operation-authorities-say.html. 21 See Everytown for Gun Safety, Domestic Violence, available at https://www.everytown.org/issues/domesticviolence/.

22 Caroline Ramsey, Firearms in the Family, 78 Ohio St. L.J. 1257, 1274-75 (2017); see also Giffords Law Center,

Domestic Violence & Firearms, available at https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-agun/domestic-violence-firearms/ (“[D]omestic violence assaults involving a gun are 12 times more likely to end in 

death than assaults with other weapons or physical harm.”). 23 Jennifer Mascia, Once Every 16 Hours, an American Woman Is Fatally Shot by a Current or Former Romantic 

Partner, The Trace, Feb. 9, 2016, available at https://www.thetrace.org/2016/02/women-domestic-violence-deathstatistics/.

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domestic abusers to exercise control over domestic violence survivors:

24 “Abused women 

frequently report that their intimate partners brandish guns to threaten deadly force.”25 Of female 

survivors alive today, 4.5 million have reported that an intimate partner threatened them with a 

gun.26 Once threatened, “women are more likely to endure long-term abuse out of fear that leaving 

the relationship will result in their death or the death of their children.”27 Significantly, guns and 

domestic violence have been found to have a disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, and 

Hispanic women.28 

To address these risks, Congress and over half the states have passed laws that prohibit 

persons likely to threaten their intimate partners with violence from obtaining firearms.

29 Studies 

have shown that firearm relinquishment laws30 and background checks are critical to keeping 

domestic violence survivors safe.31 Firearm relinquishment laws have been linked to a 16% 

24 Jennifer L Vainik, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang: How Current Approaches to Guns and Domestic Violence Fail to Save 

Women’s Lives, 91 Minn. L. Rev. 1113, 1117 (2007); see also Jane K. Stoever, Intimate Partner Violence and 

Restorative Justice: Firearms and Domestic Violence Fatalities: Preventable Deaths, 53 Fam. L.Q. 183, 185 (2019) 

(“[A] domestically abusive individual is likely to use the firearm to perpetrate abuse against an intimate partner and 

children.).

25 Vainik, supra note 26, at 1117. 26 Stoever, supra note 26, at 186. 27 Vainik, supra note 26, at 1117. 28 Everytown for Gun Safety, Guns and Violence Against Women, Oct. 17, 2019, available at https://everytown 

research.org/report/guns-and-violence-against-women-americas-uniquely-lethal-intimate-partner-violenceproblem/(“Compared to non-Hispanic white women, Black women are twice as likely to be fatally shot by an intimate 

partner, and younger Black women—between the ages of 18 and 34—are at the greatest risk: They are nearly three 

times more likely to be shot and killed by an intimate partner than are white women in the same age group.”). 29 See Kellie Descrochers, Municipalities Are Not Kingdoms: Regulating Gun Ownership in Cases Involving Domestic 

Violence in Light of the Pauler Decision, 29 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 277, 285 (2020).

30 Seventeen states and the District of Columbia require those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors to turn 

in their firearms after conviction, and twenty-eights states have enacted laws that facilitate the removal of firearms 

from individuals when they become subject to protective orders. See Giffords Law Center, Who can have a gun: 

Domestic Violence & Firearms, available at https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-agun/domestic-violence-firearms/. The strongest state laws, such as New Jersey’s, require officers to remove firearms 

after the issuance of a protective order, while other’s permit judges to require domestic violence offenders to surrender 

their firearms. Id. 31 See Giffords Law Center, Who can have a gun Firearm Relinquishment, available at https://giffords.org/law 

center/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/firearm-relinquishment/ (citing M. Zeoli, et al., Analysis of the 

Strength of Legal Firearms Restrictions for Perpetrators of Domestic Violence and Their Associations With Intimate 

Partner Homicide, American Journal of Epidemiology 187, No. 11 (2018): 2365–2371).

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reduction in intimate partner gun homicides,32 and background checks have been shown to reduce 

domestic violence homicides by 47%.33 From 1994 to 2012, federal domestic violence-related 

firearm prohibitions blocked the sale of approximately 314,000 purchases of firearms.34 

These protective measures for domestic violence survivors, however, is severely 

undermined by the proliferation and accessibility of ghost guns. Indeed, the very existence of a 

market for unserialized ghost guns, which can easily be acquired without a background check,

obstructs the enforcement of laws requiring the relinquishment of firearms upon conviction of a 

domestic violence offense or issuance of a domestic violence restraining order. The Amici Cities 

and prosecutors across the country have seen the grave danger that ghost guns pose to domestic 

violence survivors. For example:

• In September 2019, police officers in Chico, California responded to a call regarding a 

domestic violence dispute between a man and his girlfriend. The man was already the 

subject of a restraining order filed by his estranged wife, which prohibited him from 

owning any firearms or ammunition. Officers found ammunition, a semi-automatic AR15 rifle with an extended magazine, and two loaded pistols at the man’s residence. The 

man was arrested for possession of illegal firearms and for being a prohibited person in 

possession of firearms. Two months later, when conducting a welfare check at the man’s 

residence, officers found the man holding a loaded AR-15 rifle with at least nine rounds 

and the safety selector switch set to “fire.” Officers also found a semi-automatic handgun, 

a .308 rifle, a 9mm handgun, and ammunition. The man later admitted that he knew he 

was not permitted to possess firearms pursuant to his restraining order. He explained, 

however, that all of his guns were ghost guns that were purchased “80% built from 

different online websites.” He added that “80% firearms were made for people ‘like me’ 

who needed to get around not being able to buy guns.”35

• In July 2020, a man in Pennsylvania was arrested for shooting and killing his ex-wife and 

her friend with a ghost gun. The man’s ex-wife had filed for two separate protection-fromabuse orders in the year prior to her murder and the man had been required to relinquish 

32 See Giffords Law Center, supra n. 33. 33 Stoever, supra note 26, at 185; see also Aaron Edward Brown, This Time I’ll Be Bulletproof: Using Ex Parte 

Firearm Prohibitions to Combat Intimate-Partner Violence, 50 Colum. Human Rights L. Rev. 159, 180 (2019). 34 See Brown, supra note 35, at 178. (noting that this number does not account for those who willingly surrendered 

their firearms to comply with federal law).

35 See United States v. Villasenor, 2:20-cr-00050-KJM (E.D. Cal.), Dkt. No. 1.

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his firearms pursuant to those orders.

36

• In August 2020, police officers in San Jose, California arrested an individual for felony 

domestic violence. The survivor reported that the abuser had pointed a gun at her during 

the incident. When the officer explained to the assailant that he would not be permitted to 

get his firearm back pursuant to a “Gun Violence Restraining Order,” the individual 

replied, “Then I’ll just build another one.”37 

• In February 2022, a man in Sacramento, California used an unregistered homemade 

semiautomatic rifle-style weapon to kill his three daughters, a chaperone who was 

supervising his visit with them, and himself inside of a local church. The man was subject 

to a domestic violence restraining order that barred him from possessing a firearm.38

• In May 2022, an Ohio man who wasin violation of an Aggravated Menacing and Domestic 

Protection Order pointed a firearm at two victims—an adult and a minor—and threatened 

to shoot the victims’ entire family. Dayton Police later found a ghost gun rifle with no 

serial numbers located in the man’s residence.39

C. Minors

There has also been an alarming rise in recent years in the use of ghost guns by minors. 

In 2021 alone, police officers in Washington D.C. arrested nearly 100 teenagers who were in 

possession of ghost guns.40 Moreover, as a result of the accessibility and proliferation of ghost 

guns among minors, prosecutors and law enforcement in the Amici Cities have seen an increase 

in school-related incidents involving these firearms. For example:

• In 2019, a sixteen-year-old killed two students and injured three others with a ghost gun 

36 John Finerty, State Struggles to Bolster PFA Orders, June 27, 2020, available at https://www.ncnewsonline.com/

news/local_ news/state-struggles-to-bolster-pfa-orders/article_618d2d90-0d07-5f0e-bcb8-8a0e667a201e.html; 

Marcia Moore, UPDATE Fernanders’ Murder Charges Headed to Snyder County Court, Sept. 29, 2020, 

https://www.dailyitem.com/news/fernanders-murder-charges-headed-to-snyder-county-court/article_41052d22-

0285-11eb-9aa6-630b1abad5ed.html. 37 City of Syracuse, NY, et al., v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, et al., 1:20-cv-06885-GHW 

(S.D.NY. 2020), Complaint at ¶ 131, available at

https://assets.nationbuilder.com/firearmspolicycoalition/pages/5834/attachments/original/1648681797/Syracuse_v_

ATF_Complaint.pdf?1648681797. 38 A Father Used a Ghost Gun to Kill His Three Daughters. It’s a Sign of a Growing Crisis, The Guardian, Mar. 8, 

2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/08/a-father-used-a-ghost-gun-to-kill-his-three-daughters-itsa-sign-of-a-growing-crisis. 39 See Ex. A-1, Decl. of J. Musto, Deputy Law Director at the City of Dayton Law Department, filed in Division 80, 

LLC v. Garland, 3:22-CV-00148 (S.D. Tex. 2022). 40 Jodie Fleischer, Rick Yarborough, Jeff Piper, and Skye Witley, Record Number of Ghost Guns Found in DC in 

2021, NBC News, Nov. 19, 2021, available at https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-gun-violence/recordnumber-of-ghost-guns-found-in-dc-in-2021/2888734/. 

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at a California high school.41 

• In November 2021, a sixteen-year-old boy in Arizona sold a ghost gun to a fifteen-yearold boy at school. After an altercation between the two boys, the purchaser of the gun used 

it to shoot and wound the teenager from whom he bought the ghost gun.42

• In December 2021, a teenager brought a loaded ghost gun to school in Brooklyn, New 

York.43 

• In January 2022, a seventeen-year-old Maryland student was charged with attempted 

second-degree murder after shooting a fifteen-year-old at his school with a ghost gun.44

• In April 2022, a 17-year-old shot and killed a 16-year-old and injured two other teens with 

a ghost gun outside of a high school in the Bronx, New York.

45

Disturbingly, many of the incidents of violence involving ghost guns and minors have 

been the result of accidents, which could have easily been prevented if ghost guns had been more 

stringently regulated and thus less accessible to the children involved. For example:

• In August 2021, an eight-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed himself in Newark, 

New Jersey with a ghost gun.46 

• In November 2021, a seventh grader in California was fatally shot with a ghost gun in his 

own home. Investigators are still trying to determine whether the 12-year-old boy 

accidentally shot himself or if his 15-year-old friend, who the police say brought the 

weapon into the apartment, discharged it while showing it off.47

• In December 2021, a 13-year-old boy in Georgia accidentally shot and killed his 14-yearold sister with a ghost gun that he himself had built. The boy had been manufacturing 

ghost guns and selling them out of his home. After two people tried to steal one of his 

ghost guns, the boy opened fire to prevent the theft and, in the process, accidentally shot 

41 Dakin Andone, The gunman in the Saugus High School shooting used a ‘ghost gun,’ sheriff says, CNN, Nov. 21, 

2019, available at https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/us/saugus-shooting-ghost-gun/index.html. 42 Aaron Marquez, 2 School Shootings, 1 Common Problem: Teens Had Easy Access to a Firearm, AZ Central, Dec. 

6, 2021, available at https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/12/06/school-shootings-show-arizona-domore-ghost-guns-gun-safety/8852461002/. 43 Thomas Tracy and Michael Else-Rooney, 21 Weapons Recovered at Brooklyn High School Campus Day After 

Student Caught with Gun and $30,000, Daily News, Dec. 2, 2021, available at https://www.nydailynews.com/newyork/education/ny-weapons-brooklyn-high-school-campus-20211203-kg4k7xxpmbcepnocoj2j2rf4py-story.html. 44 Dan Morse, Magruder High School student charged as adult with attempted second-degree murder, The 

Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2022, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/22/magruder-highshooting-ghost-gun-student-charged/. 45 Aaronn Katersky, Mark Crudele, and Ivan Pereira, 17-year-old arrested in connection with Bronx high school 

shooting that left teen dead, ABC News, Apr. 9, 2022, available at https://abcnews.go.com/US/17-year-arrestedconnection-bronx-high-school-shooting/story?id=83981645. 46 Rebecca Panico, Fatal shooting of 8-year-old is ‘horrible and tragic,’ Newark mayor says and calls for 

accountability, NJ.com, updated Aug. 31, 2021, available at https://www.nj.com/essex/2021/08/fatal-shooting-of-8-

year-old-is-horrible-and-tragic-newark-mayor-says-and-calls-for-accountability.html. 47 Glenn Thrush, ‘Ghost Guns’: Firearm Kits Bought Online Fuel Epidemic of Violence, The New York Times, Nov. 

14, 2021, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/14/us/ghost-guns-homemade-firearms.html.

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and killed his older sister.48

• In January 2022, a 14-year-old boy in Florida was accidentally shot and killed by his friend 

who was “playing” with a loaded ghost gun in the boy’s bedroom. Authorities believe the 

boy who was killed ordered the weapon online and assembled it himself. 49

Simply put, subjecting gun-building kits to the same regulations as fully assembled 

firearms is essential to keeping children safe from intentional gun violence and fatal accidents. 

D. Gun Trafficking by Individuals and Organized Crime Syndicates 

Gun-building kits also make it easy and convenient for any individual or organized crime 

syndicate to become an unlicensed gun manufacturer and distributor. With just a few tools and 

some simple instruction, a criminal entrepreneur can easily turn nearly finished frames and 

receivers purchased over the internet into finished, usable, and untraceable guns. For example, the 

Tenth Circuit recently affirmed an 87-month sentence of a defendant who used gun-building kits 

to manufacture and sell ghost guns—including fully automatic pistols and silencers—out of his 

basement.50 The court took note of the extreme danger posed by the defendant’s illicit business 

and found the sentence necessary to deter others from manufacturing and selling illegal and 

untraceable weapons using easily accessible kits and tools.51 

The Tenth Circuit case is not unique, and the conduct at issue is becoming dangerously

common. For example:

• In November 2021, an 18-year-old in Illinois was charged with assembling and selling 

ghost guns to numerous people, including a minor, after purchasing the parts online.52 

• Just a few weeks earlier in Queens, New York, a couple was charged with the criminal 

sale of a firearm in the third degree after law enforcement found a stockpile of illegal ghost 

48 Yaron Steinbuch, Georgia boy, 13, accused of accidentally killing sister with ‘ghost gun’, New York Post, Dec. 3, 

2021, available at https://nypost.com/2021/12/03/georgia-teen-accidentally-killed-sister-with-ghost-gun/. 49 Corey Arwood, Vero Beach boy shot, killed Jan. 30 while playing with gun made from parts bought online, TC 

Palm, March 15, 2022, available at https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2022/03/15/14-

year-old-vero-beach-boy-shot-killed-friend-playing-gun-made-parts-bought-online/7049145001/. 50 United States v. Trujillo, 817 F. App’x 634, 635-36 (10th Cir. 2020). 51 Id. at 640. 52 Mary Schenk, Champaign 18-year-old charged with producing, selling ‘ghost guns’, Thew News-Gazette, Nov. 10, 

2021, available at, https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/courts-police-fire/champaign-18-year-old-chargedwith-producing-selling-ghost-guns/article_3e10de2a-b841-54b8-814a-8352082ad134.html. 

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guns in their basement apartment in which they lived with their child.53

• In 2020, a man in Fairfax, Virginia pleaded guilty to unlawfully dealing firearms without 

a license in connection with his practice of purchasing gun-building kits online, using them 

to manufacture untraceable ghost guns, and selling them to anyone with enough money to 

purchase them, regardless of whether the purchaser could lawfully possess a firearm.54

• In 2019, a New York City police officer pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal 

possession of a weapon after admitting to using gun-building kits to manufacture and sell 

dozens of handguns and rifles to people who could not legally possess them, including 

members of motorcycle gangs.55

• That same year, a Texas man who had been making and trafficking ghost guns from his 

home, was killed by law enforcement after he shot and killed a canine agent.56

The flourishing market for gun-building kits has also fueled the rise of larger illegal gundealing enterprises. In September 2020, federal prosecutors charged 15 members of the Sureños 

street gang in Concord, California with operating an illicit outdoor bazaar out of a shopping center 

parking lot where they distributed both drugs and illegal firearms, including ghost guns.57 

Similarly, the Los Angeles Police Department in 2018 arrested ten members of a street gang 

involved in the manufacture and sale of ghost guns, and seized approximately 50 rifles and 

53 Queens District Attorney’s Office Press Release, Cache of Ghost Guns Seized Following Investigation; Queens 

Couple Charged with Illegal Possession and Sale of Firearms, Oct. 15, 2021, available at https://queensda.org/cacheof-ghost-guns-seized-following-investigation-queens-couple-charged-with-illegal-possession-and-sale-of-firearms/. 54 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia Press Release, Ghost Gun and Machine Gun Conversion Device 

Dealer Pleads Guilty, Sept. 29, 2020, available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/ghost-gun-and-machine-gunconversion-device-dealer-pleads-guilty. 55 Associated Press, Police officer charged with illegally making, selling guns, ABC News, Mar. 2, 2019, available at 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/police-officer-charged-illegally-making-selling-guns-61430183; see also 

Michael Woyton, Former NYC Environmental Cop Admits Selling Illegal Weapons, The Patch, Dec. 5, 2019, 

available at https://patch.com/new-york/midhudsonvalley/former-nyc-environmental-cop-admits-selling-illegalweapons. 56 See KTSM, Aaron Bracamontes Document names El Paso man shot, killed by law enforcement after killing K-9 

agent, updated Dec. 19, 2019, available at https://www.ktsm.com/crime/document-names-el-paso-man-shot-killedby-law-enforcement-after-killing-k-9-agent/; see also United States v. Paul Jarvis, Western District of Texas Case 

No. EP:19-M-9978-MAT, Criminal Complaint (Dec. 16, 2019) available at

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd. 1074713/gov.uscourts.txwd.1074713.1.0.pdf. 57 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California Press Release, 15 Charged on Drugs and Guns Charges as 

Part of Anti-Gang Sweep in Concord and Surrounding Areas, Sept. 15, 2020, available at 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/15-charged-drugs-and-guns-charges-part-anti-gang-sweep-concord-andsurrounding-areas.

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handguns manufactured by the gang for sale on the black market.58 In addition to manufacturing 

and selling ghost guns at scale, street gangs (many of whose members are likely unable to pass a 

background check) also manufacture ghost guns for use in their criminal endeavors.59 

E. Domestic Terrorists and Violent Extremists 

Ghost guns have been deemed the “weapon of choice” by domestic terrorists and white 

supremacist extremists who seek to avoid detection by law enforcement.60 A June 2021 report by 

the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team―a coalition of federal law enforcement and 

intelligence agencies, including the FBI―states that violent extremists use ghost guns to 

“circumvent security, avoid some state government regulations, and evade detection of and 

complicate law enforcement and investigative efforts.”61 As Mike Sena, the director of the 

Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, has explained, the “go-to” for individual

extremists, whether they are “international terrorists, domestic terrorists, or violent extremists,” is 

to “try to get a hold of a [ghost gun] because of the belief that [law enforcement] will never be able 

to figure out where [the] weapon came from.”62 Indeed, in the absence of more stringent federal 

regulation, terrorists and other violent extremists can acquire and use “ghost versions” of militarygrade weapons, such as AR-15 assault rifles, even when such weapons are banned under local 

58 Richard Winton, L.A. Gangs stockpile untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that members make themselves, Los Angeles Times, 

July 6, 2018, available at https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homemade-guns-20180706-

story.html. 59 Id. (explaining that Southern California gangs are making their own weapons because they cannot buy them legally 

or are paying others to make them for them to get around gun laws).

60 See Everytown for Gun Safety, Ghost Guns: A Weapon of Choice for White Supremacists Arrested Ahead of Virginia 

Rally, Jan. 27, 2020, available at https://www.everytown.org/press/ghost-guns-a-weapon-of-choice-for-whitesupremacists-arrested-ahead-of-virginia-rally/. 61 First Responder’s Toolbox, NCTC, DHS & FBI, June 22, 2021, at 3, available at https://www.documentcloud. 

org/documents/21037764-privately-made-firearms. The authenticity of this report has been confirmed by The Trace 

and NBC Bay Area through federal law enforcement sources. See Alain Stephens, The Feds are Increasingly Worried 

About Extremists Acquiring Ghost Guns, Leaked Report Shows, The Trace, Aug. 6, 2020, available at 

https://www.thetrace.org/2021/08/ghost-gun-government-report-3d-print-extremism-terrorism/. 62 See Stephens, supra n. 61.

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law.63 Dangerous extremists have been able to acquire in the highly-accessible ghost gun market 

deadly weapons that they likely would not have been able to obtain had the Final Rule been in 

place―weapons that they have gone on to use in mass shootings and other violent crimes. 

Prosecutors and law enforcement in the Amici Cities have seen this become an all-toocommon occurrence. For example:

• In 2020, a man in California shot and murdered a federal security officer and a sheriff’s 

deputy using a “homemade” AR-15 style rifle.64 The man was linked to the Boogaloo 

Movement, “a right-wing extremist group that harbors a mistrust of law enforcement and 

government, and anticipates a second American Civil War.”65

• In May 2020, law enforcement in Queens arrested two men who were assembling an 

arsenal of weapons, including “an AR-15 style assault rifle ‘ghost’ gun with a silencer 

attachment and high capacity magazine,”66 which is illegal under New York law.67 One of 

the men’s social media posts suggested that these weapons were likely intended for use in 

a mass shooting: he had advocated for a “racial civil or holy war”; posted a picture of 

himself giving a Nazi salute with the caption that he “hate[s] women jews and n----rs”; 

posted a picture where he displayed a large knife with the caption that read, “overthrowing 

[Jews] is our Christian duty”; posted a photograph of a Planned Parenthood location being 

blown up by the comic book character The Joker; commented in response to a bloody 

crime scene photograph from the December 2019 machete attack at a synagogue in 

Monsey, New York that it was “pretty f------g exciting”; and “posted Instagram messages 

displaying suicidal ideations” and fantasies “about ‘martyring’ himself and ‘going out in 

a blaze of glory’ in a mass shooting.”68

• In July 2021, a grand jury in North Carolina indicted a 21-year-old New Jersey National 

Guardsman for allegedly supplying ghost guns to members of a white nationalist group 

63 Assault weapons are banned in California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York (and, as such, are 

banned in the following Amici Cities: Baltimore, Hartford, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, New York, 

Rochester, and Syracuse. See Cal. Penal Code §§ 30500-30685; Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53-202a to 53-202c; Md. Code, 

Crim. Law §§ 4-301 to 4-306; N.J. Stat. Ann.§§ 2C:39-1 to 2C:39-20, N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00-265.55. 64 Stephen Stock and Jeremy Carroll, Ghost Guns Sought by Violent Extremists, Tied to Thousands of Potential 

Crimes, Feds Warn, NBC Bay Area, Aug. 7, 2021, available at https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/ghostguns-sought-by-violent-extremists-tied-to-thousands-of-potential-crimes-feds-warn/2624959/. 65 Alleged Oakland, Ben Lomond Gunman Steve Carillo Linked to Far Right ‘Boogaloo’ Movement, CBS SF Bay 

Area, June 16, 2020, available at https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2020/06/16/steven-carrillo-david-underwoodmurder-santa-cruz-deputy-fatal-shooting-fatal-oakland-federal-building-shooting/. 66 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York Press Release, Two Queens Men Charged After Buying Three 

Illegally Defaced Firearms and Two Assault Rifles, U.S. Dep’t Justice (May 13, 2020), available at 

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-queens-men-charged-after-buying-three-illegally-defaced-firearms-andtwo-assault. 67 See N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.02, 265.10. 68 See U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York Press Release, supra n. 66.

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who had appeared in videos giving the “Heil Hitler” salute.69

ATF’s Final Rule is essential to keep untraceable ghost guns out of the hands of 

dangerous extremists.

69 See Stephens, supra n. 61; see also Justin Rohrlich, NJ National Guardsman Charged in Neo-Nazi ‘Ghost Gun’ 

Conspiracy, The Daily Beast, July 2, 2021, available at https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-jersey-nationalguardsman-joseph-maurino-charged-in-neo-nazi-ghost-gun-conspiracy. 

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CONCLUSION

There can be no doubt that ghost gun kits have enabled countless individuals in cities across 

the country to flout some of the most fundamental gun regulations, including the laws prohibiting

convicted felons and domestic abusers from possessing firearms; have led to a substantial increase 

in guns and gun violence in cities across the country; and have undermined the efforts of law 

enforcement and prosecutors across the country to deter and prosecute gun violence. ATF’s Final 

Rule is absolutely necessary to stop the dangerous proliferation of ghost guns and to promote 

public safety. For the foregoing reasons, Amici urge the Court to uphold the constitutionality 

of 87 FR 24652.

Dated: August 30, 2022 Respectfully submitted,

PERKINS COIE LLP

/s/ John R. Hardin

John R. Hardin

State Bar No. 24012784

SDTX Federal ID # 37689

500 N. Akard Street, Suite 3300

Dallas, Texas 75201

(214) 965-7700

Lee S. Richards

Arthur S. Greenspan

David B. Massey

Rachel S. Mechanic

Jacob J. Taber

Rebecca L. Salk

1155 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10036 

212-262-6900

Clarissa R. Olivares

3150 Porter Drive

Palo Alto, CA 94304-1212

650-838-4815

Attorneys for Amicus Curiae 

Prosecutors Against Gun Violence

Case 4:22-cv-00691-O Document 48-1 Filed 08/30/22 Page 31 of 33 PageID 645
James L. Shea

City Solicitor

100 N. Holliday Street, Suite 101

Baltimore, MD 21202

James.shea@baltimorecity.gov

Attorney for the City of Baltimore, MD

Adam Cederbaum

Corporation Counsel

1 City Hall Sq., Room 615

Boston, MA 02201

617-635-4030

adam.cederbaum@boston.gov

Attorney for the City of Boston, MA

Celia Meza

Corporation Counsel

City of Chicago Department of Law

121 N. LaSalle St., Room 600

(312) 744-0220

Celia.meza@cityofchicago.org

Chicago, IL 60602

Attorney for the City of Chicago, IL

Zachary M. Klein 

City Attorney

City of Columbus, Department of Law

77 N. Front Street

Columbus, OH 43215

(614) 645-7385

Attorney for City of Columbus, OH

Barbara J. Doseck

City Attorney

City of Dayton, Ohio

101 W. Third St.

Dayton, Oh 45401

Attorney for the City of Dayton, OH

Howard G. Rifkin

Corporation Counsel

550 Main Street, Room 210

Hartford, CT 06103

Attorney for the City of Hartford, CT

Michael N. Feuer

Los Angeles City Attorney

200 N. Main Street, 6th Floor 

Los Angeles, CA 90012 

Attorney for the City of Los Angeles, CA

Hon. Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix

Corporation Counsel of the City of New York

100 Church Street

New York, NY 10007

Attorney for City of New York, NY

Barbara J. Parker

City Attorney

OAKLAND CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Oakland City Hall

1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza

Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 238-3601

BParker@oaklandcityattorney.org

Attorney for the Oakland City Attorney’s 

Office

Ann Davison

City Attorney

701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2050

Seattle, WA 98104

Attorney for the City of Seattle, WA

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Diana P. Cortes

City Solicitor

City of Philadelphia Law Department

1515 Arch Street, 17th Floor

(215) 683-5003

diana.cortes@phila.gov

Attorney for the City of Philadelphia, PA

Jeffrey Dana

City Solicitor

444 Westminster St., Ste. 220

Providence, RI 02903

Attorney for City of Providence, RI

Linda S. Kingsley

Corporation Counsel

City of Rochester

30 Church Street, Room 400A

Rochester, New York 14614

Phone: (585) 428-6986

linda.kingsley@cityofrochester.gov

Attorney for City of Rochester, NY

David Chiu

City Attorney

City Hall Room 234

One Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl.

San Francisco, CA 94102

Attorney for the City and County of San 

Francisco, CA

Susan R. Katzoff

Corporation Counsel

City Hall Room 300

233 East Washington Street

Syracuse, New York 13202

Phone: (315) 448 – 8400

Skatzoff@syrgov.net

Attorney for City of Syracuse, NY

Nora Frimann

City Attorney

City of San José, California

200 E. Santa Clara Street

San Jose, California 95113

Attorney for the City of San José, CA

Joe D. Gonzales

Bexar County Criminal District Attorney

101 W. Nueva St., 7th Floor

San Antonio, TX 78205

210-335-2311

John C. Creuzot

Dallas County Criminal District Attorney

133 N. Riverfront L.B. 19

Dallas, TX 75207

214-653-3620

José P. Garza

Travis County District Attorney

Ronald Earle Building

415 West 11th St.

Austin, TX 78701

512-854-9400

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