Over the past several years, we’ve seen a drastic increase in ghost guns in the District. These are guns that are sold without background checks and lack identifying information, such as serial numbers, rendering them untraceable by law enforcement. The Metropolitan Police Department has recovered a steadily increasing number of ghost guns, from three in 2017 to 263 in 2020, a number that represents 13% of all guns recovered.
Getting ghost guns out of the District is one important piece of a larger effort to address gun violence, and I’m working to do my part.