UnitedHealthcare suspect had a ghost gun. Are they legal in Canada?

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When police arrested Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old now charged in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, they found in his backpack a gun believed to be the one used in last week’s shooting. Police said it was a black, 3D-printed pistol with a metal slide, a plastic handle and a metal threaded barrel, and a 3D-printed black silencer. Such home-made weapons are also known as ghost guns. Here’s what to know about them.

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What is a ghost gun?

Basically, a ghost gun is any firearm constructed from home-made or store-bought parts. Some are sold in do-it-yourself kits, and the receivers — roughly speaking the housing for the various firing components — are typically made from metal or polymer. They can include semiautomatic handguns and rifles.

Why are they called ghost guns?

Licensed gun manufacturers are required to include a serial number on every gun they make. Ghost guns don’t have serial numbers, making them harder to trace and easier to move from place to place, like a ghost.

How long have they been around?

Hobbyists were making DIY guns as far back as the 1990s, but ghost guns started to become more prominent in the mid-2010s, thanks in part to the availability of 3D printing technology, but also the work of Cody Wilson, a gun advocate who founded Defense Distributed, which provides the schematics needed to make a gun.

Are they legal in the United States?

It is legal in the U.S. to build a firearm for personal use. Until recently, ghost gun kits were available online that allowed people to assemble the weapons at home without background checks or age verification. But in 2022, the Biden administration added age requirements and background checks to the process, making it more like buying a regular gun.

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Gun groups have challenged those changes, and the U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing the matter, but has yet to hand down a ruling.

Also, their numbers continue to grow, with almost 26,000 ghost guns confiscated in the U.S. in 2022, compared to some 1,600 in 2017.

Are they legal in Canada?

No. Section 99 of the Criminal Code prohibits any person from manufacturing “a prohibited firearm, a restricted firearm, a non-restricted firearm, a prohibited weapon, a restricted weapon, a prohibited device, any ammunition or any prohibited ammunition knowing that the person is not authorized to do so under the Firearms Act.”

However, illegal construction and smuggling continue to be a problem. Last summer, Jerry Armas, a U.S. citizen from California, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for possessing and attempting to smuggle a loaded, prohibited handgun into Canada. He had been stopped at the border and found to be in possession of a privately-made, un-serialized 9mm ghost gun, along with 118 rounds of ammunition.

Where and when have they been used?

A notable instance was in 2013, when a man killed six people, including his father and brother, on the campus of Santa Monica College in California. The man, who was later shot and killed by police, used an AR-15-style weapon he built after failing a background check at a gun dealer.

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More recently, after a man shot and killed five people in Philadelphia in 2023, the city’s Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said the AR-15 used in the shooting and a 9mm handgun that the killer was carrying, but which wasn’t used during the attack, were ghost guns.

And just last week, police said a ghost gun was used in a shooting that critically wounded two kindergartners at a religious school in Northern California.

Are ghost guns a problem outside the United States?

According to the BBC, ghost guns are becoming an international problem, even in countries with tight restrictions on weapons. “I would say that if ghost guns has not been an issue for those other countries, then it’s probably going to be eventually,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Charlie Patterson.

David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at the Giffords Law Center, a gun-control advocacy group, added that in Western Europe, 3D printers have been used to make ghost guns.

In Japan, which has strict gun laws, a ghost gun was reportedly used in the 2022 assassination of Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister of Japan.

With files from The Associated Press

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