Washington AG to file new lawsuit against ghost guns

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says he’s going back to court against the Trump administration. This time to fight what are called "ghost guns."

The guns are assembled from plastic parts created by a 3D printer. The 3D printer follows instructions from computer software that is in effect a recipe for constructing a gun. The plastic guns can be just as deadly as guns made of metal.

Ferguson calls them ghost guns because they are untraceable and undetectable.

“In other words, you go to a Seahawks game there's a metal detector as you walk in. Ghost guns can bypass through those metal detectors -- that's a problem. Airports, Seahawks games, you name it,” Ferguson told KIRO-7 in an interview at his Seattle office.

The software was distributed by a Texas man, Cody Wilson.

In 2018 Ferguson got a federal judge to order Wilson to take the software off the internet. But now, Ferguson says the U.S. Commerce Department just proposed a new federal rule that would allow widespread distribution.

Even though the Commerce Department's own rule-making document says, it "shares the concerns raised over the possibility of widespread and unchecked availability of the (gun printing) software and technology Internationally…"

“At its most basic level what they are saying is it's OK for an individual to email the files for 3D printed guns,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson has organized 20 other states in another federal lawsuit to stop ghost guns.

“Second Amendment? Support it. But ghost guns are an entirely different animal. Undetectable, untraceable. They’re called ghost guns for a reason,” Ferguson said.

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