'This is way too easy right now': Windsor police see rise in prevalence of 'ghost guns'

It looks like a gun, it acts like a gun, and police say ghost guns are indeed on Windsor’s streets.

The Windsor Police Service (WPS) wants the public to be aware that they are very much illegal.

Ghost guns are homemade guns, made without serial numbers and typically with at-home 3D printing technology, which police admit has come a long way.

“3D printers [are] great technology, they do a lot of amazing things every day,” said Windsor police Const. Adam Young. “This is just good technology being used by the wrong people for the wrong way.”

Plans and instructions to make the guns are readily available on the internet. Because they’re not made by a licensed manufacturer, they lack identifying marks, making them virtually untraceable.

“With these guns, we don't know who's making them, who has them, where they are or what they're doing. So they’re a ghost,” said Young.

A ‘ghost gun’ seized by Windsor police seen at Windsor police headquarters on March 19, 2024. (Rich Garton/CTV News Windsor)

The cost of a standard 3D printer is just $300.

Some parts of the gun — which is made of plastic — are printed. Then gun “replacement parts” such as a slider or a handle can be ordered online and once assembled, the maker has a fully functioning gun.

“It looks like a gun. It acts like a gun, and that's what makes it dangerous,” said Young.

Since 2020, police in Ontario have seen an exponential increase in ghost-guns. In that year, five guns were submitted to the Firearms Analysis and Tracing Enforcement program, which is run by the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario.

That number jumped to 54 in 2021, 63 in 2022, and in 2023, a massive jump in the number of police-reported ghost guns to 213.

Windsor police have found seven ghost guns during three investigations.

Police are quick to admit these are only counting the guns they seize.

“The numbers are starting to rise. And they're not going down,” said Young, noting this number in Windsor “scratches the surface.”

“If you're going to make an illegal weapon, you're probably going to make more than one illegal weapon,” he said.

Newly passed federal legislation — Bill C-21 — contains many provisions which make it illegal to sell, purchase, or transfer handguns by individuals within Canada. Homemade ghost guns are on the prohibited firearms list.

“This is way too easy right now, where people are acquiring weapons that have no business having this type of firepower at their disposal,” he said.

Police in Windsor have yet to intercept a ghost gun during the commission of a crime, but they know they’re out there and usually in the hands of unlawful gun owners, which is why police believe they pose a threat to the community.

Some believe the increase of ghost guns over the past few years could be linked to stiffer gun laws.

“The people that are possessing these weapons shouldn't have them. They're acquiring them illegally because they can't legally acquire these weapons,” said Young. “They're not using them for good; they're using them for bad.”