NASH COUNTY, N.C. — There’s been a sharp rise in the number of privately made firearms (PMF), known as ghost guns, in North Carolina in recent years, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

What You Need To Know

  • Ghost guns are privately made firearms that are unserialized and untraceable through parts bought online and assembled at home 
  • According to ATF data, from 2020 to 2023, there has been a spike of more than 1,700% in ghost gun recoveries in North Carolina
  • Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone says his team has recovered an increasing amount of privately made firearms used in criminal activity

According to ATF data, from 2020 to 2023, there has been a spike of more than 1,700% in ghost gun recoveries in North Carolina.

Data from 2022 shows where the PMFs recovered in North Carolina:

  • 250 – Charlotte 
  • 97 – Greensboro PD
  • 57 – Raleigh PD
  • 50 – Durham PD
  • 27 – Winston Salem PD
  • 19 – High Point
In 2022, there were also 692 PMFs involved in firearm-related crimes; 64 were used in a violent crime and nine were used in a homicide, according to data from the ATF.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone says his team has seen a sharp rise in the number of ghost guns used in violent crime in the region. 

Narcotics Sergeant Colin Sykes says ghost guns are legal, but the nature of the weapons makes them much harder to trace.

“It is a problem we've seen a uptick in, especially in our seizures of them,” Sykes said. “But I wouldn't say that just the ghost guns are the problem. It's guns in general in the hands of people that don't need to have guns to begin with."

Some of the PMFs the NCSO has recovered include 3D printed parts of firearms, which Stone says brings up an issue of the soundness and safety of a constructed firearm.

Stone said, “The amount of firearms and what our law enforcement officers, our deputies, our state troopers are going up against every day, walking up to the unknown, responding to cars. It's a dangerous time in America, and it's even more dangerous for these law enforcement officers when they're faced with this type of firearm out here.”

ATF Special Agent in Charge Bennie Mims says there are two big reasons for the jump in the popularity of ghost guns.

“Over the past couple of years, with the increasing technology and availability and the social media and the advertising of these devices, I think that's why it has gotten increased,” Mims said. “You have more education that has been done. It's easier to recognize them. [If] you don't know what you're looking for, then you never would account for them.”

Mims says the ATF is working on education and training of these weapons, so they can track them down and bring criminals to justice.

In August, the Supreme Court voted to allow the Biden Administration to enforce regulations of ghost guns, which in part, classify portions of the individual components to be classified as firearms. It would require licensed dealers to require background checks before purchase and shipment of gun parts.

As of now, there are no North Carolina laws regulating ghost guns, but Stone says it’s something his team will not tolerate.

“In Nash County, we're proactively enforcing the gun, gang and drug laws,” Stone said. “I just urge criminals to go somewhere else, because if they don't, they're going to end up with a weapon in here and maybe them in prison.”