'Ghost gun' restrictions revived by SCOTUS, Racine sees uptick in unregulated firearms

RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- As the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) upholds regulations on ghost guns, the weapons continue popping up in Southeastern Wisconsin.

Ghost guns are homemade firearms from a kit people can buy online, but without regulations, they have no serial number and do not require background checks, making them hard to track.

"They're put together, and essentially they're untraceable because there is no serial number attached to the gun," Racine Police Sgt. Krisi Wilcox said.

Critics say these weapons appeal to people who cannot legally own a gun, like felons and minors. In May of 2022, as CBS 58 reported, a 14-year-old was taken into custody in Racine for possessing a 9mm pistol. According to police, it was a fully automatic "ghost gun."

"We've had more than one juvenile that we've had with ghost guns," Wilcox said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) updated its regulations to define the kits as firearms, requiring background checks and serial numbers to make the weapons traceable.

"Congress said that if something is readily convertible to being a firearm, right, it is a firearm? It needs to be regulated like a firearm," ATF Director Steve Dettelbach said in an interview with CBS News last week.

"We have laws against narcotics, all sorts of things, right? People try to break the law. We have to use every ounce of public safety law that we have to try to enforce it."

Many gun owners felt ATF overstepped, challenging them in court. On Tuesday, SCOTUS upheld the regulations while the legal challenges play out.

Meanwhile, more ghost guns are appearing on the streets of Southeastern Wisconsin.

"We've had an uptick in them. I don't know if it's been drastic, but we have been seeing more and more over the last few months," Wilcox said.

"They're dangerous for everybody, they're hard for us to keep track of, they're hard for the federal government, and they're getting in the hands of people who shouldn't have them."