PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration had been planning to sue two “ghost gun” manufacturers for weeks before Monday’s deadly mass shooting in Kingsessing.
That shooting, which claimed the lives of five people ages 15 to 59, tragically underscored why the city wants to combat the untraceable and increasingly widespread firearms that can be purchased without background checks and assembled at home.
The suspect, Kimbrady Carriker, had two firearms in his possession when he was cornered by police: an AR-15-style rifle and a 9mm handgun. Both turned out to be ghost guns, Deputy Police Commissioner Frank J. Vanore Jr. said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the city’s litigation.
“If he were to drop that weapon and got away, we would have no way to trace them,” Vanore said.
The city’s lawsuit against Polymer80 and JSD Supply argues that ghost gun manufacturers are circumventing state and federal laws requiring background checks for gun purchases. They do so by claiming that they do not sell whole firearms, but parts of them, the suit alleges.
“Defendants Polymer80 and JSD Supply ship their products to any address in Philadelphia without a required legal background check or any other efforts to verify buyers identity or age, as is required by Pennsylvania’s state law,” City Solicitor Diana Cortes said.
Police had not yet made a final determination on the origins of the weapons used in the Kingsessing shooting, Vanore said Wednesday, making it impossible to say if they were made by either of the defendants. Firearms like those used by Carriker are produced by different manufacturers and can also be made with a 3D printer.
Later Wednesday, District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office described the weaponsas “a long gun with no serial number” and “a black polymer 80 9mm handgun (or ghost gun).”
Neither of the companies responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
In addition to a court order stopping the companies’ “negligent and illegal business practices,” the city is seeking “payment of damages and the creation of an abatement fund to remediate the harms caused by the defendants due to the use of ghost guns in Philadelphia communities,” according to a news release from Kenney’s office.
”There is no greater priority for our administration than to reduce violence,” Kenney said at Wednesday’s announcement in City Hall. “The root of the problem is the proliferation of guns in our city and our country. Guns are the common denominator in every single shooting.”
Why is Philly suing ghost gun manufacturers?
Philadelphia is prohibited by state law from enacting its own gun regulations, and Harrisburg Republicans have long opposed attempts to allow the city more latitude over firearms.
The ghost gun lawsuit, which Philadelphia filed in partnership with the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Hausfeld law firm, is the latest in a series of attempts by the city to gain some control of the flow of guns into the city through the courts.
Previous attempts, such as proposals to require gun owners to report if their weapons are lost or stolen, have been repeatedly blocked by the courts. Council President Darrell L. Clarke, who led several of those past efforts, applauded the administration’s new lawsuit but said it shouldn’t have to be necessary.
“Today we stand here one more time doing the what we shouldn’t have to do,” Clarke said, “because of the unwillingness, the lack of courage of legislators on the state side and on the federal side.”
The use of ghost guns in crimes has grown rapidly over the last five years. Prior to 2019, Philadelphia police discovered five or fewer of the privately manufactured firearms per year during criminal investigations. By last year, 575 ghost guns turned up in investigations, and this year there have already been 292 discovered.
As of Wednesday, 87% of ghost guns recovered in criminal investigations in Philadelphia this year were manufactured by Polymer80, the city said.
Vanore said the unserialized firearms are now the third most common “crime gun” in Philadelphia, behind Glocks and Tauruses.
“In the last four years, the use of ghost guns have exploded all across America,” Kenney said. “Let this be a warning to these manufacturers: We are coming and we will not stop.”
Previous attempts to use litigation against those companies in other states have not slowed the rapid spread of untraceable firearms. But Kenney said he had hope that this case will be different.
“We have a great law department,” he said. ”I have faith in the courts to do the right thing at some point.”
