Austin gun store owner selling device to build 'ghost guns'
AUSTIN, Texas - It's called the Ghost Gunner 2.
"It's so that you can build your products with the program at home, you don't need to go to the store to do it you can actually build it at home," said Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gunworks.
When Cargill is finished using the hi-tech milling device he demonstrated for Fox 7 on Monday, he'll have the completed lower receiver of an AR-15.
"When you buy a completed lower receiver from a gun store, there is a background check and it will have a serial number on it," Cargill said.
But an incomplete lower receiver, Cargill said anyone can buy and have it shipped to their front door, No background check required.
And once Cargill is done building the AR-15, there won't be a serial number on the firearm.
"Because I don't need the government to be concerned about what I'm doing at home. With any of my products inside my home it's not the government's business to worry about what I have in my house, this is about me being able to build a gun at my home, build it with my family," Cargill said.
"We don't have a problem with people manufacturing a firearm for their own personal use; they're certainly allowed to do that as long as they're not prohibited. The problem is when these guns turn up at crime scenes; they don't have a serial number on them. Because they don't have a serial number on them, we have no way to trace them," said Nicole Strong with the ATF.
Strong said that's happened before with home-made guns and she's afraid those problems will increase.
But with devices like the Ghost Gunner 2, which Cargill is selling for nearly $2,000, Strong points out, it's a lot of work.
"You'll have to build the firearm, taking that firearm from unfinished to finish requires several hours, That's a lot of work. I think people that want to get a gun very quickly to use on the streets, there's other ways you can get those guns more quickly," Strong said.
Another concern the ATF has is safety for the do-it-yourself gun-makers.
"When you're building a gun in your garage, that safety tends to come into question and we don't want to see people get injured when they're making their own firearms," Strong said.
"Every machine has been tested before it leaves that factory," Cargill said.
Ed Scruggs with Texas Gun Sense calls "ghost guns" a security issue and told Fox 7 in a statement:
"Failure to provide some form of government oversight could make it more difficult for law enforcement to solve gun related crimes. It would also likely be easier for people who have no business owning a firearm to obtain one."
By the way Cargill said gun stores have the right to refuse a sale to anyone. Cargill said if it seems like someone buying a gun has bad intentions they don't have to sell the gun to them. Cargill said he'll have the same policy when selling the Ghost Gunner 2.