A tip about the manufacture and sale of black-market “ghost guns” led police to a San Jose teen suspected of using a 3-D printer to make illegal firearms to sell, police said Tuesday.
San Jose police launched an investigation Jan. 12, identified an 18-year-old suspect from San Jose and obtained a warrant to search his home. On Thursday, officers raided the residence and seized two guns, material for making firearms and the 3-D printing machine allegedly used to create the ghost guns.
The teenager was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County’s Main Jail on suspicion of making and selling guns without serial numbers, police said.
In 2022, San Jose City Council voted unanimously to make it illegal to possess, make, sell or transfer ghost guns or their parts, in an attempt to combat the rapid spread of firearms with no serial numbers that can be bought online without a background check. The city ban attempted to fill a hole in state and federal legislation that addressed manufacture, trade and assembly of ghost guns but did not ban their possession.
