Since tracking began in 2019, Boston has seen a 280% increase in the number of so-called “ghost guns” recovered during the course of criminal investigations, reflecting a national trend highlighted by President Biden last week.
“Since statistics have been tracked, the numbers have been going up. All firearms are a concern for the department, but these are all connected to criminal cases,” officer Andrew Watson, a Boston Police spokesperson, told the Herald.
In 2019, the city recovered 15 unserialized or homemade weapons, Watson said. The next year it was 23. Last year the number jumped to 58. So far in 2022, there have been 16 recovered, he said, meaning the department is on track for another year with dozens of such firearms confiscated.
