Ghost gun use in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1,000% since 2017, federal report says

The use of ghost guns — homemade firearms that can be built from parts bought online or with 3D printers — in U.S. crimes has risen more than 1,000% since 2017, the Department of Justice said in a federal report released Wednesday. The findings are based on tracing data collected by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and present the most comprehensive data in two decades on crime and guns in the U.S.  

The collected information provides intelligence into previously unknown patterns in the use of guns and crime. 

While there's no data on how many ghost gun parts are sold, or how many ghost guns exist, the dramatic rise in the use of these privately-made guns in crime provides some insight into the explosive number of such guns in the hands of the American public.